Flour making

[countess.belinda]

Does anyone out there know about home grinding of flour. We are hoping to start, but apart from finding a grinding machine are at a bit of a loss as to what grain we can use and where to find it. Can we use freshly cut wheat from the field??

[Clara]

I guess fresh cut grain needs separating and drying first before grinding. Otherwise you should be able to buy any whole grains (wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice etc.) from a healthfood store, if you buy in bulk it will be cheaper (though they may have to order it in for you - or order direct from somewhere like Infinity Foods). Grinding your own is more nutritious and should work out cheaper in the long run (though grain mills can be a bit expensive)....I'm hoping santa brings me the necessary attachment for my KitchenAid this year!

[Odsox]

I have only ground flour as a novelty, just to try it and to satisfy myself.
Wheat from a field (I presume this is your field and not the farmer's next door) is fine as long as it is ripe. When it has turned to a golden colour the grains fall out of the ears when you gently rub them between the palms of your hands.

I do grind other novelty flours in a coffee grinder, my latest experiment is radish seed flour added to home made bread. (savoury onion bread)
In the past I have ground quinoa, barley, buckwheat, rice and almonds.

[ina]

Decent mills are very expensive, so unless you have a lot of grain to grind, you won't be saving money. It will be a lot tastier, though.

I've been meaning to find a farmer who can sell me wheat by the sack, but I think I'll shelve that project for the time being - too much of an investment to get a decent mill, and I don't want a bad one!

[countess.belinda]

Thanks guys. Have now discovered that my local farmer will sell me wheat and barley by the sack (or in whatever quantity I want) - I knew he was a top geezer!!! However, does anyone know the yield of grain to flour (or is it flour from grain?). As you can tell, this is a completely new concept for me - I always make my own bread, etc and thought it might well work out cheaper and be better all round to grind our own flour too. I need to have some idea of quantity before I can get a price - then I can work out whether it really will be a cheaper option.

Cheers.

[Odsox]

Unless you have discovered some easy and secret way of getting white flour it will be whole meal.
Therefore 1 Kg of wheat will give you 1 Kg of flour

[contadino]

I looked into getting a mill for the kitchen, but have knocked the idea on the head for now. I asked in the mill in town, and if you take your sack of wheat in they'll run it through for you. You get back a sack of flour, and a sack of bran, and it costs peanuts - in fact, you can pay in wheat.

However, I understand that some towns in the UK no longer have their own mills, so you may need to search around until you find one.

[Ellendra]

I recently made bread from all sorts of fresh-ground whole grains and legumes. I soaked them until tender (the beans needed simmered), then whizzed them in the blender along with the soaking water until smooth. I suppose if I'd wanted to I could have dried that into a powder, but I just used it as a starting point and added enough store-bought flour to make my bread. So it was about half home-ground and half bought. It worked.

[ina]

I looked into getting a mill for the kitchen, but have knocked the idea on the head for now. I asked in the mill in town, and if you take your sack of wheat in they'll run it through for you. You get back a sack of flour, and a sack of bran, and it costs peanuts - in fact, you can pay in wheat.

However, I understand that some towns in the UK no longer have their own mills, so you may need to search around until you find one.

That sounds like a story from the 19th century, from a British perspective! The nearest mill here is about 30 miles away, and that's a rarity... They only mill oats, too.

Countess Belinda, make sure the wheat the farmer sells you is suitable for making bread. There are vast differences in baking quality between types of wheat, so before buying up loads, I would try a little and see how you go! Also, don't forget in your calculations the cost of energy for running the mill... Electricity prices are going up, and mills take quite a while to get even a smallish quantity of flour out. There is quite a good handmill which I'm becoming interested in; but that costs over £200 already (as seen here http://www.grains2millshop.co.uk/html/mill_reviews.html). A cheap mill can run hot easily, which will reduce the lifetime of it, and the quality of the flour.

[dickon]

I have had to register,because my OH is c**p at posting!!!We have sourced wheat at 10p a kilo (kind local farmer)and have also sourced a hand mill(no electricity or overheating)for £50 delivered and will post a link as soon as I find the invoice.
Saying that,it does grind 1lb flour(enough for a loaf)in 15 mins!!!!!!

ps
Hello everyone
dickon

[MKG]

Welcome to the nuthouse, Dickon

We have a mill just down the road. It opens every summer for a month or so. But they won't grind anyone's grain, 'cos it's a tourist attraction. What a waste!!!!!!!!!

"Whee, look at the windmill, Mummy".

"Yes dear - that's how people lived before Te**o's appeared to save us all from drudgery".

"Do they make flowers?"

[ina]

I have had to register,because my OH is c**p at posting!!!We have sourced wheat at 10p a kilo (kind local farmer)and have also sourced a hand mill(no electricity or overheating)for £50 delivered and will post a link as soon as I find the invoice.
Saying that,it does grind 1lb flour(enough for a loaf)in 15 mins!!!!!!

ps
Hello everyone
dickon

I have a small handmill - it's fine for small quantities... Hence my wanting to look at a larger one!

Anyway, welcome to Ish.

And because I'm terribly nosey - who's the OH who can't be bothered to post?

[dickon]

Thanks for the welcome, all
Ref the small mill-we bake a loaf of bread pretty much every day and quarter of an hour to grind the flour is nothing when you're saving a pound a kilo(if that makes sense) and wheat is easier to store than flour in any kind of bulk.Plus,this year,it's a bit of an experiment and we wanted to get going with as few set up costs as poss and if we succeed this year ,we may well upgrade to a bigger mill when we have got through this winter(possibly even a small wind mill if I can design one )
Just to ease your nosiness,ina,my OH is countess belinda who is far too busy playing with the chickens and horses and testing the elderberry wine to check on ish and so after much nagging on my part to get her to post again (and ask the questions that I want answers to) I just had to bite the bullet and register myself and tell her the results!!!

[ina]

Just to ease your nosiness,ina,my OH is countess belinda who is far too busy playing with the chickens and horses and testing the elderberry wine

Ah! Well,. it's a hard job, and somebody has to do it...

[Eigon]

One of the best things our re-enactment group ever bought for the Living History displays was a quern stone to grind flour. Children practically have to be beaten away from it with a stick! They'll stay all day if they're allowed to. They can get a little disheartened, though, when you tell them how much bread the puny amount of flour they've ground will make.

At one show, I got talking to a chap who was around retirement age. He grew up in the Orkneys, and his job, when he got home from school every evening, was to grind flour on the quern stone - and if he didn't, the family got no bread.