Flour and grains have been an essential part of traditional diets. Rye has been a staple for people in the Swiss Alps, oats for those in the Outer Hebrides, quinoa for South American tribes, corn for Native Americans, and rice for East Asian cultures.
It makes sense why grains have been so important to human civilization. Grains are seeds containing all the nutrients to nourish the plant in its infancy. When we eat these grains and the flour made from them, we obtain all those nutrients (provided that the grains are properly prepared).
Nowadays, most people buy their flour premade from the store. Whereas, in the past, people brought their grain to the mill for grinding and only ground what they needed, as whole grain flour went rancid quickly.
There’s wisdom in freshly grinding grain. Here are just some of the benefits of milling your own flour.
1. More Nutrients
When the grain is ground, the seed’s protective coating is destroyed. The sensitive insides become exposed to air and light, decreasing the levels of B vitamins, vitamin E, healthy fats, and other nutrients. For this reason, researchers recommend storing ground flour for no more than two weeks.
The rapidness of this deterioration is illustrated in a feeding study in rats. Rats were separated into five groups and were fed with:
- Fresh, stone-ground flour
- Bread made with fresh, stone-ground flour
- Fresh flour stored for 15 days
- Bread made from flour stored for 15 days
- White flour
After four generations of rats, groups 3 to 5 became infertile. For reference, four generations of rats is approximately 100 years in humans.
Even if you buy from a bakery, it’s likely they have their flour delivered every four to six weeks. In between, it’s probably been sitting in a warehouse. To ensure you are getting the most nutrient-dense flour, it’s best to mill your own flour.
When choosing a mill, go for burr mills instead of impact mills. During milling, the temperature of the flour will be raised. If the temperature is raised over 115 degrees Fahrenheit, heat-sensitive nutrients will be damaged. Burr milling is the traditional way of milling and keeps the grains cooler than impact mills do.
2. Better Taste
Fresh flour just tastes better. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve tried it yourself. Some words that come to mind are complex, nutty, and nuanced. It’s similar to how freshly ground pepper is more flavorful than pre-ground pepper. Or how freshly ground coffee beans make better coffee than pre-ground ones.
With freshly ground flour, the healthy fats haven’t had the chance to become bitter with age. As a result, you get a sweeter, more aromatic loaf, without the bitterness associated with whole grains. You get a richer flavor of bread than if you had used even the most premium organic flours.
3. More Variety
Having a grain mill at home gives you so much room for experimentation. You can make flour from rye, corn, rice, barley, farro, sorghum, oats, buckwheat, millet, lentils, spelt, kamut, einkorn, quinoa, amaranth, chickpea, and more. For even more variety (and nutrition), you can sprout the grains and make sprouted versions of all those flours.
If a recipe ever calls for specialty flour, you’re well-equipped. It’s often easier to find whole grains than their flour counterparts. For instance, whole grain oats are more available than oat flour. And if you want to dabble with different grains, you can mill the exact amount you need instead of purchasing a bulk bag you may not finish.
4. More Control
When you buy whole grain flour from the store, it may not be the whole grain you’re getting. Flour from the store is usually milled in a factory where the grain is separated into its different parts: germ, bran, and endosperm (the part that makes up white flour).
When you buy whole grain flour, it’s often white flour with some germ and bran added back in. It’s not necessarily the same germ and bran from your grain, but rather some germ and bran from a batch of the same type of grain.
Milling your own flour gives you ultimate control. If you’d like to refine the flour, you can sift out the bran. If you want a blend of flours, you control the proportions. Essentially, every little detail is up to your liking.
5. Easier Storage
The whole grain can be stored for much longer than the flour made from it. The seed has an outer layer that acts as armor, protecting the seed until conditions are right for germination. They’re designed to be preserved indefinitely until they can sprout.
For instance, wheat berries can last over 30 years when stored correctly (in an airtight container that’s in a cool, dry, and dark location). Whereas, whole wheat flour from the store will generally expire in six months.
6. More Fun
Taking the journey from grain to baked bread (or any other finished good) gives you a certain satisfaction. The aromas and textures you work with create a completely different experience. It takes cooking from scratch to a whole new level.
There are many opportunities to make your own flour: pancakes, biscuits, crackers, bagels, muffins, waffles, croissants, bread, tortillas, focaccia, pizza, flatbread, dumplings, buns, and more.
7. Less Expensive
Buying the whole grain is cheaper than buying the equivalent amount in flour, especially when you buy in bulk. And because you can store whole grains for a long time, buying in bulk is a viable option. Just how much more cost-efficient is it to grind your own flour? We’ll do a cost analysis of wheat, the most common grain used for flour.
As of this writing, my health food store sells organic wheat berries for $1.19 per pound. If you purchase in bulk online, you can get organic wheat berries for less than $1 per pound. Personally, I’ve found the best prices to be at health food stores, online at Azure Standard, and from local farmers. For now, we’ll assume a price of $1.19 per pound of wheat berries.
Let’s find the price per pound of organic whole wheat flour. The best prices I’ve found were at Azure Standard. Assuming you’re not purchasing in bulk (since you don’t want it to expire), it’s $1.82 per pound for the 5-pound option. So, you save $0.63 ($1.82 minus $1.19) per pound of flour.
The average American consumes over 127 pounds of wheat flour in a year. Not accounting for flours made with other grains, the average American would save $80 per year. For a household of four, they’d save $320 per year. That’s roughly the price of a home grain mill. So what are you waiting for? Get your mill and start milling away!