Grinding our own flour

We have a great local health food store where we buy our grain, rice and legumes in bulk.  Once we started buying bulk grain we knew we needed grain mill.  My sister-in-law and I went into this purchase together.  We live very close and will share the mill through the year. 

Here's our Country Living Grain Mill with motorization kit:

We have had our mill for about three months and I grind flour two to three times a week.  I buy organic hard red wheat and organic soft white wheat.  I use the soft white wheat more for pastry and cakes. Below is a picture of some hard red wheat and the flour from these berries.



The next two pictures are soft white wheat and the flour.

 

I know, there's not much difference. Here's our mill in action. 

 

Before our mill arrived I was using a much smaller hand crank grinder from Back to Basics.  It worked beautifully, although much smaller amounts were produced.  I love being able to plug in my mill and let it do the hard work.  We have the hand crank for tougher times. 

 

It takes approximately 30-40 minutes to grind 4 cups of wheat berries to flour.  I bake bread often using this recipe from Chef Tess.  I love the fact that I use much less yeast than before and leaving the dough to rise overnight is so much more convenient.  Check out her recipe and technique if you haven't already.  I store any leftover flour in the freezer but I generally use all of my ground flour each week. 

 

Here's a photo of my most recent loaf of bread. 

 

 

 

 

Frugally Sustainable Blog Hop