Rene and I have been reading about how flour loses 45% of its nutrients just 24 hours after being ground, and by 72 hours it has lost 90%! So that stuff you're buying at the grocery store, isn't much more than starch, even if you're buying whole grain.
Some interesting and alarming info about the making of flourhere
We decided we wanted a grain mill, and budgeted our tax rebate to include enough for a mill and some grain. We got the nutrimill online, and our wheat berries from Hyvee, at $16 a 25lb bag.
It is so easy to use, and the flour smells wonderful. Really, I didn't know flour smelled of anything! But freshly ground flour smells great!
I haven't actually made bread with it, because we've had a lot of bread from foodnet. But I've used it to make strawberry shortcake, cakes, muffins and pancakes.
The food is denser than when you use store bought flour, of course. But the flavor is incredible! Truly delicious. Full, rounded, almost nutty flavor. I'm so pleased with it! It's no louder than a vacuum cleaner, or a blender or whatever. I make enough flour to last a few days and I store it in the freezer, to preserve nutrients.
I'm like a kid with a new toy at Christmas. I'm loving the flour and I'm loving baking with it. And it's good to know that my baked goods pack a punch in terms of nutritional value, instead of just adding more empty, starchy carbs. And they're yummy.
5 comments:
We use a Vita Mixer to grind our grain and you're right! It tastes soooo much better. And wait till you try bread making with it. The texture is so great! Fresh-ground whole wheat is so much lighter than the packed down store0baught stuff. And the gluten is much more active, so the bread rises fluffy and light. Some people can hardly belive it's really whole wheat bread, which they expect to be heavy and bald-tasting.
Oooooh lucky, lucky you! I'd love to have one some day. In the meantime I'll just jog over to YOUR house for pancakes and muffins! Woohoo! ;)
We looked at a couple of grain mills as well before we started SBD. We were serious about going completely off grid as it were and grinding our own flour was a big part of that. In the end we started SBD and now don't have a need for a mill since we're not really eating any bread, muffins, cakes, cookies, or other baked goods. We do occasionally have one whole wheat pancake, but that doesn't really make the cost of the mill and grain worthwhile. I'm glad you're enjoying it though.
Hey Niecey--that's interesting about the loss of nutrients; I'm really supposed to cut back on carbs and starches anyway, but do you know how the loss occurs? Do the nutrients break down, is that it?
Kathie
I want one of those!!!!:):)
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