Eat Grains

Archive for the ‘Grain Resource’ Category

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 our 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.

Best Blessings!
Donna
http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store

Go Green with the WonderMill Jr. Deluxe

We can search the web, go get a million recipe books, follow around a world class chef and huddle on to Mama's apron strings but one thing that will remain a rule in baking and cooking is: Break some rules! Play with your food!

Play with your food!

Sure there are some hard and fast ones like: Yeast breads need yeast. Too much salt is pretty gross. But for many 'rules' there are acceptations.

Take things like altitude and humidity into consideration. A loaf of bread baked at 3500 feet above sea level will not be the same as one baked AT sea level. Tweak a recipe.

Most recipes are written for sea level and adjusted for differing altitudes. Don't let that keep you in a box though, break out of the rules of recipes and tweak. Just keep good notes (that's my downfall, I often play but forget what I did when it worked!).

Have fun. Learn by playing with your food.
Just be prepared to be VERY creative if it doesn't work out and not waste it by tossing it in the trash.

Best Blessings and enJOY learning more!
Donna

If you already read Part One of this tip, then you may or may not have peaked the curiosity of former nay-sayers. You may still need more explanation for why you are thinking of or currently milling at home. After all, inquiring minds want to know.

The second tip to answering the questions of why you bother to mill at home is the benefits of cost and storage. Sure, we can buy ‘whole wheat bread’ at the store. Sure, ‘dead bagged flour’ lasts for a good while. Are these reasons to dismiss home milling all together? Hardly! In fact, look closer and you can see why milling at home is better.

Health benefits aside, which is the MOST important one in my opinion, storage and cost come up on the convenience end of considering milling at home. The ‘whole wheat’ loaf of bread we can buy in the store is not only made of old, processed whole wheat, but by the government regulations only has to be at least 51% – or mostly whole wheat – to be labeled as such. I digress, this is also a health reason. The cost of said loaf is approximately $2.29. A home milled, fresh WHOLE GRAIN flour, loaf of bread costs me about $.75 to make and that is using all organic (a bit pricier) grains and sugar. Also, I know what is exactly in that loaf!

Storage is the other thought. Admittedly, my fresh baked loaf does NOT last as long , not due to shelf-life but that we eat it so fast (no one in the house can resist cutting into a warm loaf when they smell it), but the grains last for years! ‘Dead bagged flour’ can’t say that. Either weevils, mites or simply staleness can render a dead bag of flour useless in mere months. The Creator made a perfect protection for that grain, the husk. There have been grains found in pyramids that were over 4000 years old that when planted, they grew just as they were intended. How’s that for storage. Just keep the grains in a sturdy container and from getting wet and you can store them for years. I don’t think you will be needing them in 4000 years though.

Best Blessings!
Donna Miller
http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store

The Mill I use.

One tip to answering those questions of ‘You do what?’ and ‘Why bother?’ is to know the two biggest benefits of milling at home. First are the health benefits and second are the storage/cost effect benefits. In this tip we will focus on the health reasons.

When grains are processed into flour for shelf storage, most of the grain ‘parts’ are removed to slow the spoilage time. When those things are removed, the flour is stripped of the Wheat Bran, Middlings, Wheat Germ and Wheat Germ oil. As we read that list – we see at least three things that are now sold in health food stores across the world. The Bran and Middlings provide the fiber (and more), the Germ and oil provide the vitamin E (and more), two things missing in the typical diet of the twentieth century.

The additives to ‘dead bagged flour’ can be just as bad or worse than what is missing. To make that white appearance, at first the manufacturers were actually using chlorine bleach! Now a new chemical has been approved., but chemicals are chemicals and not found IN the grain. Since the grain is stripped of so many nutrients in the processing – synthetic vitamins have been added. Personally, since I wouldn’t eat polyester, I also don’t want synthetic vitamins.

This is simply the tip of the health iceberg when it comes to the reason to mill grains at home. The list related to your families health goes on and on. Check out some of our other articles and studies for the healthy reasons to bother with milling at home. At least this is a tip to help you answer those questions when friends and family think you’ve slipped back into the dark ages.

Want more? Watch this vidoe:

Best Blessings!
Donna Miller, Owner of MILLERS GRAIN HOUSE

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The Wonder Mill

Here is a breakdown of wheat types and which recipe to use them:

~ HARD wheat is best for breads and items that require high rising.
~ SOFT wheat is best for pastries and flat breads such as pancakes, tortillas and biscuits.
~ Both types can be mixed equally to make a light texture for all purpose flour.

Color effects the flavor of the flour not the consistancy:

~ REDS will have a more 'nutty' (to me it's almost a bitter) flavor.
~ WHITES are usually just lighter tan or almost golden and have a smoother taste.
~ Both can be mixed equally to make a deliciously light bread without a bitter result.

Muffins, pancakes, cookies and biscuits can all be made from blending types and colors.
Loaf breads have the best result by using a HARD (either color) type only. It contains the most gluten for the rise of yeast bread.

Happy Milling!!
Best Blessings,
Donna Miller, Owner of MILLERS GRAIN HOUSE