How many grind your own flour and where do you buy the grains?

[peteyfoozer]

This is something I would really like to do, but I have no CLUE where to get things, or even WHAT to get. I know there are differences between white, red, and all that...what do you buy, do you combine them? Where is a good resource to learn?

 

[BarredBuff]

Grains can be bought from Lehmans.com, Beprepared.com, and Im sure there are other places to get them. I dont grind flour for us but I know those companies carry the grain........

 

[Beekissed]

I scored several(10-12) 40# tins of sealed-for-the-year-2000 red turkey wheat and an electric grinder...the wheat was amazing, even as old as it was. The tins were sealed well and the wheat was fresh.

Word of mouth works great...this couple at church found out I make homemade breads, they had no use for the tins of wheat and grinder and it had been given to them...so they gave it all to me.

Also...any bulk food stores or health food stores have wheat berries of different kinds to sell.

You could advertise that you want or need the wheat, or a source to buy wheat....you never know what that will turn up.

 

[SSDreamin]

I like to get my grain from Honeyville. We have also gotten 40# bags from WalMart, but that's because we have a lot of Amish in our area and WalMart caters to them to some degree (also good, because all the wheat rotates out quickly). My personal preference is hard white wheat for bread and soft white wheat for rolls and pastries but, that's just me. I have the country living mill to grind it with. It's a large manual grinder. I need to get a power bar for it, because right now I hate it without one! I also have a little manual grinder - I love it but it takes forever. I don't store more than we'll use in a month, so I have no idea on durability. As far as learning, I went with the trial and error method

 

[Beekissed]

This is something I would really like to do, but I have no CLUE where to get things, or even WHAT to get. I know there are differences between white, red, and all that...what do you buy, do you combine them? Where is a good resource to learn?

A quick Google got me these sites:

http://www.commodityseasonals.com/types_of_wheat.htm

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0861936.html

http://www.everythingprepared.com/HomeFoodStorage/WhichWheatForFoodStorage.html

 

[peteyfoozer]

those are some great links, bee kissed! Thank you!
wow, I'd love to run into a deal like that! I've been pricing grinders and it made me gasp! I see there is an attachment for the KA. Anyone ever use it?
I'll have to look up Honeyville.
Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[terri9630]

those are some great links, bee kissed! Thank you!
wow, I'd love to run into a deal like that! I've been pricing grinders and it made me gasp! I see there is an attachment for the KA. Anyone ever use it?
I'll have to look up Honeyville.
Thanks for the input everyone!

I was going to get the KA one but I read a lot of reviews about it burning out the mixers moters.

 

[mrscoyote]

I would love to do this but it all seems so expensive.
Nancy

 

[Theo]

I bought a Family Grain Mill from Pleasant Hill Grain. I got the hand cranked model for $139. It works great. This mill also has an option for an electric motor, and different attachments for roller milling and other tasks. It will not mill corn though. Pleasant Hill Grain was good to deal with. You can get a hand cranked mill that will mill flour for as little as $15, but these cheap mills do not mill fine flour. However, I have friends who have been using one for years. They sift out the coarse cracked wheat to make cooked cereal with (cream of wheat), and they use the fines for making bread.

I don't mind grinding wheat by hand so much, but it is monotonous. Takes about 1/2 hour to grind 4 cups on my mill. I get my husband to help out, but I feel like the little red hen when I ask for help. I only bake one loaf per week, though, so it is not a terrible chore.

If you have a coffee grinder, it will grind wheat but it is hard on the motor. I have used one in a pinch. Blenders don't work so well. If you have a KitchenAid mixer, they have a grain grinding attachment.

I use hard red wheat for baking bread, and I buy it in bulk through a food club in my town. I also get grain from my local health food store. If you ask, they will show you a catalog of grains to buy in bulk. They'll order it for you, at my store for no extra charge (Wynant's). I buy 50 lbs. at a time and I store it in a plastic bucket with a tight lid.

I use white unbleached bread flour for making white bread. There is a type of white flour that is extra high in protein (gluten); I mix half a cup into my whole wheat recipes to make wheat bread that rises nicely. HIgh gluten flour is good for making stretchy pizza dough. I use white all-purpose flour for making naan, tortillas and focaccia.

 

[Beekissed]

My sis uses her Vitamix to grind flour...says it does a great job. I know they are expensive but they have many more uses than a mere grinder, so getting one could also help with food processing for canning and preserving foods, baking, cooking, etc.