Eat Grains

Posts Tagged ‘wheat’

Russia has experienced one of the worst draughts in history. Due to this and the current economic climate, this once huge exporter of wheat will NOT be exporting wheat until further notice. The wheat exporting ban in Russia is likely to do more than hurt only neighboring countries.

What does that mean for the US?

What does this mean for the USA? There is the potential on the horizon that wheat will again rise substantially in price per pound.

Asia is now consuming more wheat than ever before in areas traditionally dominated by rice, the historical grain of choice. With Russia, a major exporter of wheat ceasing it's regular activity, and the global demand still high, prices across the world will begin to reflect the rule of supply and demand.

Even in our line of business, we see the prices fluctuate from month to month, order to order and season to season. The likelihood of this ban effecting local prices within the next two months is high.

The time to order in bulk is NOW!

If you do not have a local way of getting whole foods, dry pantry goods, wheat and grains, please feel free to contact us and we will do the best we can to serve you:

Go to the About Us page above for more info!

If you are looking for a hand powered manual mill for milling grains, and dry items into flour, but also want to mill moist, sprouted and oily seeds – there are very few on the market. The BEST manual grain mill I have EVER had the chance to get my hands on is: The Wondermill Junior Deluxe.

This mill has options that you won't find in an electric mill but is not at all hard to use. It is extremely sturdy and user friendly. With two milling head options, you can mill both a super fine pastry flour or almonds into nut butter. You can adjust the coarseness with the easy dial of a knob!

Take a look at this little short demo I made when I first got the mill and found out how very much I enjoyed it! Manual grain milling was never so easy…..

Meet my Wondermill Jr. Deluxe

Go watch the video!

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.

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

1. Rainy weather will have some effect on your bread rising.

The moisture gets trapped more easily in the wheat or grain that has just been ‘cracked’ by milling. It’s more susceptible to absorbing moisture than dead flour that has sat on a shelf for months. So you may need to slightly adjust the water amount in your recipe or add more gluten to the mix to get the bread to rise. I personally avoid bread on rainy days and focus on tortillas and other flat or quick breads.

EnJOY the journey!
Best Blessings!
Donna

Donna Miller is an author, teacher and entrepreneur. Her favorite roles are that of wife and mother to three home-school graduates. The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House which offers Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grains, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.