Step 1: You will need a Grain Mill
A home grain mill is just that - it mills whole grains, corn and beans into beautiful, fresh, full of nutrition flour in the comfort of your own kitchen whenever you need it. Simply pour your grains, corn or beans into its hopper, choose how fine or coarse you desire and voila - fresh flour! Can't get any easier or nutritious than that!
After much research and experience, I chose
NutriMill Grain Mills
Their family of mills are work-horse durable and super easy to use
NutriMill makes a mill to suit every need:
Step 2: You will need some Grain
Whole grains, especially wheat, can go by many different names: whole grain, wheat berries, wheat kernels, wheat seeds
There are also many different grains: hard wheat, soft wheat, spelt, rye, Kamute, oat groats, millet, amaranth, barley, buckwheat and corn just to name a few. We will discuss the different grains as well as gluten free grains on a different page, but for now let's work on the basics to get you started.
I recommend starting with Hard White Wheat and Hard Red Wheat.
- Hard White Wheat has a very mild flavor, similar to store-bought white bread. I like to use Hard White when making flavored breads: garlic bread, cinnamon rolls, etc.
- Hard Red Wheat has a more nutty, heartier flavor, more of a “wheat” bread taste
- My loaf bread and English muffins, I use half & half of the Hard White and Hard Red wheat
- Experiment with both to find what you and your family prefer
- Then venture out to the other grains
Where to buy grains
Usually a food co-op is the most budget friendly source. Depending on where you live, some health food stores carry, in stock, the wheat berries. Check out my page: Buying & Storing Grains & Beans
Here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast:
- We order from a food co-op: www.AzureStandard.com (Which has drops all over the country)
- Local health food store: wwwCoastHealthandNutrition.com
I recommend to my clients to start with 25 pounds of each. 50 pounds will last the average family approximately 2-3 months. Obviously, that will depend on the number in your family and how much baking you do.
Thank you so much for the information about all the equipment and grains you need to start milling! When I was young my mother used to mill Hard Red Wheat to make bread and I always loved it. Twenty years later I came across her bread recipe and it looks like it’s time to get into milling!
I’m so glad you have been inspired. 🙂