Why I Make My Own Bread
Fabulous Artisan Bread – 2 Loaf Recipe
Every home and kitchen should enjoy the benefits of freshly milled flour.
Flour that is milled at home is fresher, healthier, tastes better, and literally turns every baked good from your kitchen into a superfood.
Not only is freshly ground flour more nutritious, it will make you Wonder Woman. There is not a feeling that compares to this level of self-sufficiency.
- Knowledge of the art of homemade breadmaking
- The ability to grind your own grains
- The satisfaction of being prepped – I am not a ‘prepper’ but I do love the feeling possessing hundreds of pounds of wheat berries provides (without expiration dates). Come what may, the wheat berries can be ground and crafted into the perfect bread to sustain the family.
In my kitchen, I have been grinding whole wheat berries (also called kernels or grains) since 2004. I use an electric grain mill to make quick work of the grinding, and I use that freshly milled flour to make all of our baked goods.
Yes, you too, can grind wheat into flour.
It is happening in kitchens all over the world.
The main ingredient in bread is flour (ground wheat berries).
Many folks make bread at home and use store-bought flour. I simply don’t think it would be worth the trouble. If I am going to bake all of our bread, I want it to be SIGNIFICANTLY better.
Not just preservative-free.
You see, if you make homemade bread with storebought flour you are gypping yourself.
Flour from a store is missing many key nutrients that exist in fresh flour.
When you grind a whole wheat berry (it looks like a piece of grain), you are grinding the endosperm, hull, bran, and germ into your flour.
THIS IS WHOLE WHEAT
Commercial flour has the germ removed because it contains oil and is the portion that makes the flour turn rancid. These producers also remove the bran and if they are marketing “whole wheat” put a small portion back in. In order to prolong shelf life, the bran is separated, processed, and only a small percentage is returned to the finished product (just enough so they can market the flour as ‘whole grain.’
Basically, storebought flour (even the ‘whole wheat’ version) is ground up endosperm. The endosperm is the lightest, whitest, starchy part of the kernel. And, surprise, is virtually void of nutrition.
When the flour producers remove the bran and germ they are removing most of the fiber, vitamins, minerals, proteins, and antioxidants.
Furthermore, the small amount of nutrition that does exist in the endosperm (the portion commercial flour producers rely on for their pure white product) quickly deteriorates. Unfortunately, once the wheat berries are ground into flour they begin to oxidize immediately, losing almost all valuable nutrition in as little as 72 hours.
Flour that has been shipped, stored, and waited on shelves is virtually void of all health benefits.
How healthy is freshly milled flour?
Fresh milled wheat berries contain 40 of the 44 essential nutrients (that come from food) needed to sustain life.
Did you know that?
Bread products made from whole-grain, fresh-milled, wheat berries are a nearly perfect food.
There are very few superfoods on the planet that compare to whole-grain bread. Bone broth and fresh eggs are probably the closest.
SIDENOTE:
An egg from a chicken who lives completely free-range, has access to plants, bugs, berries, and anything else forage-able, and eats a self-directed diet is also nearly-perfect food.
There have been missionaries who survived on one egg a day for months. Crazy.
So stinkin’ healthy.
GRAINS ARE THE SEED BEARING FRUITS OF GRASSES
GRAINS are the SEEDS AND the FRUIT – THIS IS IMPORTANT.
The reason that whole grains are so amazingly healthy is because these kernels are the SEEDS and the FRUIT of the plant. It is wild. The life-giving nutrients are perfectly stored INSIDE the grain for decades. This makes grains an incredibly nutritious food. In fact, of the 44 known essential nutrients needed by our bodies and naturally obtained from foods, only 4 are missing from wheat–vitamin A, B12, and C, and the mineral iodine.” – Sue Becker (Source)
GRINDING YOUR OWN FLOUR WILL SAVE YOU MONEY
Making wheat bread is simple and contains just a few ingredients: wheat berries, yeast, oil, honey & salt.
That’s it, y’all.
A 50-pound bag of whole wheat berries costs me anywhere from $20 – $27 depending on the grain I’m buying. When I add up all the ingredients I need to make my fresh bread it all comes to a grand total of about 25 cents per loaf. That’s all it costs me to make my own bread.
Yeah, OK, that all sounds great….. but what does the bread TASTE like?
Grinding your own wheat produces a soft, delightful, whole wheat bread that is stunningly nutritious.
I don’t know how to explain it… it’s super soft. It’s slightly sweet. It’s moist. It’s wheaty and nutty in a GREAT, AWESOME way. I’ve never eaten bread from a store that tastes like my bread. Homemade bread from fresh ground wheat is going to be different because of all the natural oils and protein found in the whole wheat berry.
I’ve been grinding things for over a decade, so I don’t think much about it anymore. If we want pasta, we grind some flour. If we want pizza crust, we grind some flour. If we want muffins, we grind some flour. Bagged flour may be easier, but the health benefits are worth it for me to grind my own flour.
Want to learn how to make your own bread with freshly milled flour?
We have a membership community for folks just like you! There are dozens of bread recipes specifically created for freshly milled flour. The Membership includes breadmaking instructions, articles, how to buy wheat grain, and a 9-video course on breadmaking. It is perfect for anyone interested in grinding wheat and making bread.
Trust me, this is a skill you will use for a lifetime and pass on to future generations.
There is nothing like grinding your own flour and baking homemade bread.
Be sure to sign up here for free updates – you’ll get healthy news & the EATING GUIDE.
Stay Healthy!
XO,
Candi
