Are you:

• Just starting out?
• Riddled with questions?
• Confused by techniques?
• Need help troubleshooting?

One option is to come to a class.  On line or in the actual kitchen – we offer classes to help you get hands on, real time assistance with your whole grain questions and more.

Another options (while you’re waiting for the next local or online class notice) is to read through our Baking & Grains FAQs.  Here you will find questions that have been sent in by others and they may have been asking advice for  the same whole grain topic!

Hope you enJOY learning more about and using good wholesome whole grains. We’re here to help!

Whole grains are an excellent dietary vehicle for delivering health-promoting nutrients that you body needs.  These substances are found mainly in the bran and germ of the grain kernel.  Thus, milling and baking with whole grains, like wheat, rye and oats, ensures that you get all the vital nutrients that are essential for wellness.

By milling whole grains and baking your own whole grain food, you’re using all three parts of the grain: the bran, the germ and the endosperm. On the other hand, refined flour only utilizes the carbohydrate-rich endosperm.  The bran contains fiber and trace minerals such as calcium and magnesium.  The germ imparts essential fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins B and E. Whole grains are capable of reducing cholesterol levels and Type II diabetes. Your risks of cardio-vascular diseases and colon cancer are also significantly reduced.

Tips for Milling Your Whole Wheat Grains

Here are a few critical tips to gain the most from milling your whole wheat grains:

• Use wheat berries. Hulled whole wheat kernels are referred to as wheat berries. Purchase them from grain stores by the pound, depending on how much flour you intend to mill.

• Flour measurements. A pound of wheat berries will give you approximately 4½ cups of flour. Whereas a cup of the same will produce about 1¾ cups of flour. Excess wheat berries can be stored indefinitely at room temperature.

• Current flour use. Mill only as much of the wheat berries as necessary to make flour for immediate use. The oil content in the milled whole grain flour will turn rancid within 72 hours and does not keep well in the fridge.

• Soak whole wheat grain flour overnight. Soaking the flour overnight will neutralize phytic acid, an anti-nutrient, in the grain. Phytic acid, found in the bran, will bond with minerals like magnesium, calcium and iron, preventing their absorption in the digestive system. It then passes through the gastro-intestinal tract and is expelled from the body as waste.

The numerous practical implications of milling and baking with whole grains emphasize benefits to your health and wellness. You can reduce the risks associated with major diseases by harnessing the nourishing goodness of whole grains. Follow the tips for milling perfect whole wheat grains and keep healthy!

Amaranth has been used for food by humans in a number of ways. The most common usage is to grind the grain into flour for use in breads, noodles, pancakes, cereals, granola, cookies, or other flour-based products. The grain can be popped like popcorn or flaked like oatmeal.  If you are looking to add this grain variety to your diet, be ready to do some experimenting with both the flour and the seed/grain in whole form.  The addition of Amaranth can prove to add to your nutrition. It is a gluten free food which is easily digested.

It is likely that you will want to store quinoa in an airtight container and keep it refrigerated, because of its higher fat content. You will want to rinse Quinoa out very well in a fine meshed sieve or cheese cloth or rinse it at least three times in a bowl because it comes with a coating of a natural substance called saponin that can taste quite bitter if not removed by rinsing.

Quinoa cooks more quickly than most other whole grains and is ready to eat in roughly fifteen to twenty minutes. Quinoa prepared on its own makes a great side dish or it can be cooked with a little olive oil or butter and onion to make a pilaf. It’s also great in salads or as dressed up as a warm breakfast cereal. We like to add them to veggie wraps to boost the protein intake from a low fat source of whole grains.

Photo from Health Food Nation

Photo from The Quinoa Corparation

Ingredients:
3 Cups of sliced fruits (berries, apples, pit fruits are best)
**Option – 2 Cans Fruit Pie Filling of choice**
2 TBS Corn Starch **omit if using canned
2 TBS Organic Evaporated Cane Crystals **omit if canned
2 Cups Organic Whole Rolled Oats
1 Cup Freshly Milled Organic Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup Organic Evaporated Cane Crystals
1/4 Cup Sucanant (may sub. Brown Sugar)
4 TBS softened butter
2 tsp vanilla

9 X 13 baking dish

Coat baking dish with either butter or non-stick spray.

In a large bowl cut up fruit to equal 3 cups (may mix and try fruit
combinations). Add Corn Starch and 2TBS Cane Crystals, toss to
coat. Pour out into baking dish. **If using canned pie filling,
simply empty cans into the baking dish.

In a clean large bowl, mix Oats, remaining Cane Crystals, Sucanant
and Whole Wheat flour until combined, Cut in butter then add
vanilla until combined.

Pour on top of fruit mixture (but do not pat down) to cover.
Bake at 350 degrees until top is crispy and fruit is bubbly.
Top with ice cream or whipped topping.

What a great way to ge whole grains into your family’s diet.
They’ll LOVE them.
EnJOY!

Best Blessings!
Donna at Millers Grain House

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1. The spouted grain is easier to digest.

2. The sprouted grain has a lower impact on the glycemic index scale, thus not quite the insulin spike.

3. The sprouted grain is sweet to the taste and gives a very good flavor twist on typical flours – even freshly milled flours.

Let’s take a closer look. Below is a photo of some organic soft white wheat, first dry and then sprouted:

When you take a look at the compared photos, you’ll notice tiny, white ‘tails’ on the wheat that is sprouted. That’s all it takes! Once they start to sprout, you’re done…they don’t have to grow in to what looks like typical bean sprouts.

Once sprouted, the grain has released much of it’s white, starchy inner ‘food source’ of the endo-sperm to feed the ‘embryo’ of the grain shoot and thus you have now virtually got an-almost vegetable.

By the way, this only takes about 2 days!

Well – now what do we do with it?

There are a few options at this point. Let me give you two:

Mill it now while it’s moist and use right away or dehydrate it at a low temperature to mill later into a fine flour.

With both options, you will not want to mill in an electric mill. The moisture from the sprouted grain will clog the motor of an electric mill (if you are milling it moist right away) and simply due to manufacturer warranty and the risk factor, I would avoid milling it after it has been home deydrated as well – just in case.

The best mill for this job is the Wondermill Jr. Deluxe:

The versatility of this mill makes it a must for milling moist and oily grains and seeds and nuts as well as the real stone heads for milling dried, or dehydrated grains into a fine flour.

If you choose to dehydrate your sprouted grain for using as a flour, there are a multitude of dehydrator options to fit almost every budget.  Here are just a few:

Whichever option you choose, the choice to sprout grains and add them into your healthy diet is a good choice.

Look for more information coming up about the steps and uses of sprouted grains visit our YouTube Chanel – The Wheat Guy.

Click this icon to go see and subscribe:

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Tastes change and you really can no longer eat what you want without heartburn or indigestion.  Your diet must change in order for you to fend off illness.   That is one of the reasons why the consumption of whole grains versus white flour or refined products is essential to reducing your chances of illness and disease.  That old adage that “you are what you eat” is certainly important.  I don’t want to go on a rant here, but it is certainly important to share information that will help people.

The fact is, refined products are more likely to lead you to problems such as heart disease and even diabetes.  Most refined products are turned into sugar in the body which is a no-no for diabetics.  Instead of subjecting your body and health to refined or processed foods, reach for whole grain products instead.

It all boils down to how the body processes the food that you eat.  As mentioned above, refined products can cause problems with blood sugar and you can gain weight in your belly area which contributes to the susceptibility of a variety of illnesses like high blood pressure.

By consuming whole grains, your body burns more calories to process them, thereby keeping unnecessary weight off and reducing your chances of diabetes and other health risks.  Whole grains are chock full of important minerals, fiber and vitamins, things that are often removed in the refining process.

If you start eating these whole grains at an early age, chances are that you will not experience higher cholesterol or heart disease.  In fact, whole grains coupled with other healthy eating habits will help you burn more calories. It’s a great weight motivator.

There are many ways to cut down on refined products and introduce whole grains into the picture.  Here are some helpful hints to get you started:

1.  Read food labels.  Some bread products say whole wheat bread or whole grain bread.  However, when you read the food labels, it is full of white flour with just a hint of grains.  You want to find products that are at least 75% to 100% whole grains.

2.  Substitutions for your favorite foods.  If you are a pasta lover, you can still indulge in your favorite spaghetti or pasta salad.  Just choose whole wheat or vegetable based pasta in place of the white version.  The switch will boost the flavor of your food and you will not likely notice too much of a difference anyway, especially if you put a sauce on the pasta.

3.  Substitutions also include those in recipes.  If you are baking a cake, muffins or even cookies, try and substitute whole wheat flour for the white flour.  Using whole wheat flour will take some redesigning of recipes but your health will thank you for them.

To thoroughly understand what whole grain means, the FDA published guidelines that define what they really are.  Simply put, whole grains consist of the ground, unrefined or cracked “fruit” part of the grains which include bran, germ and endosperm parts of the grain.  During a refining process like white flour, those “fruit” parts get taken out and that is what makes whole grains so healthy in the first place!

Getting Grain Specific: Sewing some (wild) oats on tonight’s Radio Show!

Home-made Granola, High Protein Granola Bars, Healthy ‘flavored’ Instant Oats, and more ideas for oats to go  where  no oat has gone before! Tune in and get your links,  recipes and inspiration to turn this ‘gruel’ into a useful  menu  stretching tool!  http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store

Challah, also known to many as a Braided Bread, has a rich tradition for each Friday night in the Hebrew nation of Israel.  I enjoy the braiding and decorating of the loaf, because it sets it apart from the regular loaves of bread I make thrthroughout the week. As usual the recipe makes enough to have two loaves of sweet and fluffy bread. One we eat with our pizza and the other makes us get through the weekend without having to bake again! So Mama gets a little break.

This tradition us not only found in the Bible, but the smell and texture of this special loaf of bread helps us to memtally prepare for a restful weekend to enjoy our family!

You don’t have to be Jewish or Hebrew to enjoy this tradition…give it a try.

Couscous (pronounced kuskus or kooskoos) is a typical North African food that has become popular in many countries. Couscous is often confused with being a grain, but in fact is more of a pasta and not a whole grain at all. The couscous granules are made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat, the same wheat from which most dry pastas are made. It is then coated them with finely ground wheat flour to assist in the tiny granules of pasta to keep from sticking.

Traditional couscous requires considerable preparation time and is usually steamed. In many places, a more-processed, quick-cook couscous is available and is particularly valued for its short preparation time. Couscous is traditionally served under a meat or vegetable stew. It can also be eaten alone, flavored or plain, warm or cold, or as a side dish.

If you thought you were eating a whole grain product (such as rice) when eating couscous, perhaps making the transition to millet will be of interests.  Millet is a whole grain, low in gluten and high in protein. When soaked overnight and then boiled (the same duration as couscous) it has a very similar end product as couscous, but all the benefits of whole grain and bonus benefits of protein. Use soaked millet exactly as you would instant couscous. It too can be flavored with stock or juice in the boiling and makes a fantastic side dish or main course with additions.

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Best Blessings!

The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House which offers Chemical Free and Organic Grains, Grain Mills, Bread Machines, Grain buckets, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.