Milling and Cooking with Fresh Whole Grains - Tip #2 Part 1: The Waste Not Want Not War

Tip #2 - The Waste Not Want Not War - Part One.

For some people, being a good or frugal steward of their resources is learned by example or it just comes naturally.  Not so for me.  Learning how to measure and gauge the amount of whole grains to mill each time I baked took some time and effort.  Along the way I wasted excess grain or used 'old' flour which had been milled days before only to keep from waiting it - all the while knowing the older flour was not what was BEST for us nor was using ’old’ four the reason I mill grains in the first place.  Because of my desire not to waste our supply of grain and to not eat 'old' flour, I had to devise a cunning plan to keep from wasting the flour once it had been milled. 

By trial and error, I found that there are two means of being sure to make the most of the grains and not waste the flour they produce.  Measuring accurately before milling is the first of my two weapons in this Waste Not Want Not War.

Let us look at how to measure properly before we mill those little kernels of nutritional 'gold'.  Most wheat, spelt and rye (kernels that are the size and shape of a grain of rice) will make one third again as much flour as the measured whole grain itself.  For example:  If I place 1 cup of the described type of grain in my Nutrimill and grind it on the finest ground setting, I will end up with approximately 1 and 1/3 cups of flour.  So to make my usual whole wheat bread recipe which calls for 3.25 cups of flour, I know that I can measure 2.5 cups of wheat (I mix 1 cup of Hard Red Winter and 1.5 cups of Hard White Spring) and end up with about 3 and 1/3 cups of fresh, ready-to-use whole flour. The tiny bit left that does not go in the recipe, dusts the counter for forming the loaf!  

The larger the grain the more flour/meal it will produce, up to half again as much.  Buckwheat and corn will mill almost half again as much flour per measured grain. After a little bit of figuring I have not had nearly any waste of fresh flour for most of my regularly prepared recipes. Also, don’t forget, I have another weapon in my arsenal of this Waste Not Want Not War.  That is your NEXT Tip!

Part Three of Tip 1 - Milling with Fresh Whole Grains, Milling Wheat at Home Tip 1 - Part 3, Whole Grain Milling Tip 1 - Part 3, Grain Milling from Home - Do It Yourself, Convince Yourself of the Benefits to Milling at Home

This is part three of tip #1 on why to bother milling your own wheat and grains at home. Many people may ask "You do WHAT?" and "Why bother?". This brief tip helps you convince yourself that you can do this and enjoy the benefits to milling grains at home.

Tip #1 - “You do WHAT?  Why bother?” - Part Three

Now that you have tried the previous tips and attempted to reason with friends and family that it is more healthy, and you can make a cheaper/healthier loaf of bread and that the storage life is longer, you may be like I was, trying to convince yourself that you can DO this (I can, right?). 

Here are a few more little tips I have learned to show myself ‘why to bother’:

• It takes no more time than grabbing a bag of dead flour.  Throw the grains in the Nutrimill, turn it on and by the time I’ve gathered the other ingredients for the recipe, the mill is done.

• Even the Nutrimill has saved us money!  We eat pizza every Friday night.  We used to order 3 Large pizzas from Papa Johns, Dominos or Little Caesars.  At the tune of between $30-$40 any given Friday.  Now I make pizza crusts ahead of time and use fresh ingredients (and I might add less fats/grease) and make 3 16 inch pizzas for $10.00 total!  In less than three months, we had paid for the mill on pizza nights alone!

•  Last but not least, you don’t have to start out as a purist.  If you HAVE to add, change or substitute a pinch here and there to get your family to eat the freshly milled grains that are so packed with nutrients, then just do that until you have experimented enough to use only the grains you mill.  Using even 3/4 of a cup of freshly milled wheat vs. the usual ‘dead bagged flour’ gives your family more fiber, E and other phyto nutrients than they can get from fast foods or frozen waffles. 

Relax.  EnJOY it!

Now not only are you convinced because of these little tips, but your friends and family will see the confidence in you and not worry that you will soon begin brushing your teeth with sugar or go back to believing the world is flat, just because you mill grains at home.  Milling grains at home is not old fashioned, it just makes good sense.