What to do today? Grind up some flour!

So I went to make some rolls for the family, and discovered I was out of flour. No worries, I usually grind my own grains to make my flour. So today I combined white hard wheat, kamut and barley. What grain mill am I using today? My FGM, aka Family Grain Mill. I got it from Pleasant Hill Grains, and it comes with some very neat attachments, but right now, I am making flour, so using the normal head.

 Because kamut is such a large grain, I decided to crack everything first.

After this I dial the setting to finest, and grind away.

As you can see this grinder is not as loud as my kitchen tec, and so I let the little one help me.

 

Next I will be putting this through my sieve and then grinding the germ again. Anything too big will be tossed to the worm bin, because those sharp edges break my gluten strands when making bread.

Grain mill, cooking source??????

OH CRUD!!!!  What can you do? I STRONGLY, no, I VERY STRONGLY suggest you get a Family Grain Mill. I am still willing to put together a group buy on this. This awesome grain mill is awesome (hee hee). You can do so much with it. .... Flake grains, grind meat, grind spices, slice veggies

Grains.. with out a grain mill there is only really two ways to use it. Sprout it and boil it.  Ok, So that is one thing you can do with your wheat. IF you have your grain mill you can grind your wheat into flour, cracked wheat or even farina (cream of wheat). So right there you have 3 different textures to work with. Now if you have the flaker, WOW you can make wheatmeal or oatmeal because if you have wheat or oats you can flake them.

StoveTec Deluxe Metal Lined Wood Stove

Here we are talking about heating and eating cereals and such and how on earth will we cook them??? IF you have access to electricity or natural gas, then it is easy peasy.. but what if it is like we expect, no power, no gas.. And not at home?  Well there is always fires ... but I have found something really neat called a Rocket stove, it uses wood or coal to heat. It is really  neat and will fit just about anysize pan. Again, trying to do a bulk buy on these!!!!  Here is a picture of the 3 wood models available. These are great as you can also make charcoal in them.

StoveTec Eco Ceramic One Door Woodstove



StoveTec One Door Economy Stove (The Original!)

Ok, so lets say we have a way to cook, now you can make your cereals. You could also use your Saratoga Jack Cooker for some things if you had one.



Saratoga Jack Cooker



Also, butane single burners are a neat thing, and the fuel is not expensive if you know where to get it.

So here it is, I am willing to do a bulk buy on the Family Grain Mill, Saratogoa Jack Cookers and Rocket stoves, I just need everyone to let me know. I plan on doing this as our Christmas gift to our family. And yes with a group buy we do get much better pricing!!  Saratoga Jacks is an LDS company.

How will your food storage taste??? Appetite fatigue?

Imagine, you have to live by eating off your food storage... hmmm... 365 days of wheat, rice, honey and dry milk... yuck!  What will you flavor it with? How will you change the taste? First off, you can change the wheat, you can grind it fine for flour, crack it with your grain mill for cereal, and sprout it for eating or making . Wow, three different things you can do with the wheat to change the texture. With your rice, you can use it as is, grind it fine to make a flour, or grind it like corn meal and have cream of rice !!!  Unless you know how to make natural sourdough, or natural sprouted wheat dough, you won't be able to make bread with your wheat !! 

I know the basics to start with are wheat, rice, dry milk and honey; but honestly, unless you use it daily or weekly, if you really have to try to all of a sudden survive on this you will get major intestinal upset! Not kidding, people not used to eating wholewheat will get diarrhea which then causes dehydration. Not a good option. So start using your whole wheat now, get your body acclimated to the wonderful grain.

Powdered milk does and will go rancid. Is the powdered milk in your storage whole, half fat or non fat, instant or regular? It truly makes a difference. I suggest non fat, it keeps the longest.

Honey, yes it can and will crystalize, no big deal really, you will just have to cut it out of the jar or jug. It happens when the honey loses moisture, but it does not mean it is bad!!  Infact honey is a natural disenfectant. Did you know you can put raw honey on a cut and it will help prevent it from getting infected? The trick is finding true raw honey.

Rice... most of the rice I canned at the cannery is parboiled which = par gross!!! The texture is nasty, the flavor is dull, and the nutrients are lacking. If you want full nutrient rice, then you would need to get brown rice, problem is, brown rice is high in natural oils and hence goes rancid faster than white rice. AND brown rice, unless you are used to the flavor, is hard for some to like. 

Ok, so far we only have the 4 things in our food storage.. How will we change the flavor? What will we make? How will we cook it?

Changing the flavor can honestly be changed by how you treat the grain. Get a family grain mill (you won't regret it) and you can now make flour, cracked wheat, and farina (cream of wheat). Did you know if you sprout your wheat the nutritional value goes up exponentially and it changes from a starch to a vegetable?  Yup, very true, what a bonus. Easy to do, grab a clean peanut butter jar, or glass jar, put your 1/2 cup of wheat in there, soak in room temp water for about 18 hours, then drain. Rinse the grains 3 times a day for about 2 to 3 days or until you have little tails about 1/3 the length of the wheat kernal. Now you can grind it up fine and make sprouted wheat bread. OR grow it until the tail is 2/3 the length of the kernal, cook up and you have a nice chewy grain to eat. OR let it go until full length of kernal, and dry it and grind it fine and you have demalt (great way to get a good rise out of your yeasted breads).   I will post a recipe for sprouted wheat bread in a bit.  Ok, cracked wheat is a common cereal, easy to do in your family grain mill, set your mill so it cracks the wheat or breaks it in half. Cook 1 part wheat to 2 or 3 parts water depending on how you like it. Boil until all liquid is absorbed.  Go a little further and set your mill to grind the wheat so it comes out like corn meal or cream of wheat, ta da, a different textured cereal.
Want a different taste? Instead of using water to cook your wheat cereals, use milk.. Yup, good ol' fashioned porridge!!  yummers
Turn your rice into pudding. How? Make up your milk, and cook your rice in the milk. As it absorbs the milk, it releases natural sugars which will help to thicken up the milk..So use a ratio of 1 part rice to 3 parts milk.
You can also do something really fun with left over farina or cream of rice cereal, pour into 13x9 pan and let cool, you will want it atleast 1/2-inch thick. When cold, cut into squares and fry up in your cast iron pan, serve with a light drizzle of honey... of course you can only fry it if you have some fat..but that is an entire other blog post.  You could also cover with gravy if you happened to cook up some meat and were able to make gravy.

So now after this looooong post about how to use some of the basics my question remains, Could you really handle eating only wheat, rice, honey and powdered milk for 365 days with nothing else?  Think hard, I doubt it. Infact I think many of you would starve from either getting sick from eating things you aren't used to, or starving from refusing to eat it.. again..and again.. My point???? 

Add to the basics. Herbs can really go a long way, and if you buy them from the bulk bins you can get them for cheap. Great herbs to get???? Thyme, rosemary, marjoram, minced dried onion, minced dry garlic, oregano, basil, poultry seasoning, SALT, pepper, chili powder, paprika, celery seed, dill, ground CINNAMON (has health benefits too!!!!), nutmeg, juniper berries, alspice berries, vanilla, ground ginger, ground cloves (health benefits!!), bouillon cubes.. Spices are there to keep the palate from getting bored. You can also dry your own veggies to add: zucchini, carrots (blanch first!), potatoes (blanch first), peppers, oranges, orange peel, lemons, lemon peel, limes, lime peel, apples, bananas, raisins, peaches, pears.. Dried fruits and veggies take up less room than canned, can be rehydrated and used, or simply eaten as is, but remember to drink plenty of water.
So there you have it... what has been on my mind now for over a month. If you only have the basics, will you get appetite fatigue?

All Purpose Flour

Here is my recipe for All-Purpose Flour:

I use a 4:1 ratio.. mostly.

4 cups soft white wheat
1 cup kamut
1 cup triticale
1 cup oat groats (not rolled!)
1 cup barley
1 cup rye (if I have it)
1 cup raw buckwheat
1/2 cup cheap white rice

I mix these grains then put them through my grain mill on the finest setting. I use cup for cup in place of store bought all-purpose flour.   If I don't have any of the 1 cup or less grains then I just go with out them. No big deal. Usually all-purpose flour is made from just barley and soft white wheat. But I like to get more grains in there. Occasionally I will throw in a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of lentils too.. Just to add some protein.

OR try this one as I know alot of those grains are not easy to get. Again, I use a 4:1 ratio

4 cups soft white wheat
1 cup barley

Questions and answers on Grain mills and wheat/flour.

Thank you for last night!! It was fun. Here are more questions and answers :) I would like to do a bulk grain mill order, I have done 3 of these before for my homeschool group. Please share this info with others!! Especially if they are not on my email list :) The group grain mill order is extended to everyone, but picking up grain mills will be at my house, this way we save money on the large order and on shipping.

Kitchen Mill by Blend-Tec (the LOUD one)

FGM = Family Grain Mill (it was the one in the middle, cute, little) here it is with pictures of the attachments too!!!!

CLM = Country Living Mill (the big pretty one with the big fly wheel)

How much does each grain mill cost?

Country Living Grain Mill approx $410 FREE S&H

Kitchen Mill by Blendtec (the LOUD one) $200

Family Grain Mill (just the grain mill with hand crank base, no other attachments) $140 FREE S&H

with Motor $270

**IF you have a bosch or kitchen aid, the FGM has an attachment so you may use that as your motor!! ALSO, I have a place that will give me a deal on FGM and attachments if ordered together!

attachments for the FGM include: Flaker, Vegetable processor, and meat grinder usually about $75 EACH.. But again, I can get lower pricing if these are ordered WITH the mill.

If you could only get one grain mill, which one would you get?

Great question! At first I would say the CLM because I have always wanted it. But that would be my heart, not my practical mind. So in all honesty, if I could only get one, it would be the first one I ever got, the FGM. Why? I can do a coarse or fine grind, yes for bread I would have to do a fine grind and grind the flour twice, but that's ok with me. Also, the FGM is LIGHT, STRONG, easy to pack. I take this camping with us. I can set it up just about anywhere and use it. I would NEVER get the KM again!!! In all honesty I think this was cheaply made, and it is sooo loud! Even double ear protection hurts my ears. I love my CLM, but I can't use it for meat or as a veggie processor; and it is so heavy I wouldn't want it in my hand cart! The FGM is easy to pack, and if you just want it for emergencies, the price is good.

What protein content for wheat do you use?

First off, depending on where the wheat comes from and what kind it is will determine a lot! I do not like Utah wheat, the protein is about 12% which is the lowest for a hard wheat. It also is usually a bag full of rocks and dirt clumps!

You want to be choosy with your wheat. The best wheat is Montana wheat, it's protein is usually 15 to 16%, the highest you can get. I use Prairie Gold, which yes, is a hybrid, but makes wonderful bread. I order my Prairie Gold Montana Wheat or Bronze Chief Montana Wheat through Champion Grocer in Issaquah on Maple Street.

How much flour do you get from a 50-lb bag of wheat?

Ok, fun stuff.. 50-lbs is not even a bushel!! A bushel of wheat is 60 pounds, which usually makes 90 or more loaves of bread, alot matters, how fine the grind, humidity, how big the loaf is. AND if you use only hard wheat.

How do you make all-purpose flour?

Well, I just go out into my back yard, pick a bunch of grass seed and grind away.. NAH, just kidding. I use low protein, low gluten grains for my all-purpose flour. I use SOFT white wheat, barley, rye, triticale, kamut, buckwheat, oats and sometimes add in some rice. So the other day I used 2 cups of soft wheat, and 1 cup each of barley, triticale, rye, kamut and oats. It was close at hand. I mixed all the grains in a bowl, then add to my grinder. I also stir my flour before using.

When I tried to make whole wheat bread it didn't hold together well. I got my flour from costco..

Ok, the flour at costco is pastry flour. So in other words soft wheat, LOW gluten. You need gluten to make a gluten bread like a yeast bread. It would make better cookies than bread.

Your bread is so moist, how do you make it?

HA HA, well I watched Grandpa Harry make it several times, but he used white hard flower from a mill in Seattle. And he used a big Hobart mixer...I don't have either of those. But he did teach me how to handle doughs. BUT I have only changed how I roll my bread, I still roll my rolls the way he taught me. I have been making bread from scratch for 11 years now, everyother day, except Sundays.. ok, not true, sometimes i make french bread on Sundays (cravings).. When I say by hand, I mean at home; I use a bosch type mixer. I use 8 cups hard white spring wheat, I also use 7 cups of my all-purpose flour. Sometimes I use sugar, sometimes I use diastatic malt (I'm out of it right now). It's hard to explain. I could come to your house and teach you with your own equipment.

Why do you make bread and everything from scratch?

um... I need to. My daughter and I are allergic to corn, although I still sometimes eat it in short amounts, I am not as reactive to corn as she is. Corn is in EVERYTHING, whether in its whole form or scientifically made. Corn syrup, dextrose, maltose, food starch, sorbitol, xylitol.. ALL CORN. I found out from my corn allergy board that there is corn in all-purpose flour too!! So we no longer use that stuff. It isn't hard, and it is actually healthier for us to eat this way.

How do you store wheat and the flour after you grind it? Can I grind the entire 50-lb bag and store it?

ALL food storage should be kept under 60 degrees, ideally 40 degrees, but in reality, some people are lucky to keep it lower than 70 degrees. The higher the temperature the shorter the shelf life. You want a dry area, do not store any food items on cement or on the ground, moisture will permeate, and cement has some toxic stuff in it that will transfer through plastic, and metal will rust. Light, heat and moisture are enemies of food storage!! I store my wheat in white food safe buckets and in canning jars (they look pretty that way, and I use those up usually in a week or less). I store my beans this way too.

If you can fit 50-lbs of fresh ground wheat in your fridge, then sure go ahead and grind it and store it; IF not, then only grind what you need, and keep leftover flour in the fridge in airtight container (canning jars with lids work great!). Flour goes rancid quickly, and loses more and more nutrients and vitamins as it sits out. You can also freeze leftover flour.

We also stopped buying flour from the store as usually it is rancid before you buy it (yum).

How often do you grind wheat and or make bread?

I grind wheat or other grains daily. I make bread about everyother day. I make 6 loaves at a time. First I make up my all-purpose flour and grind 7 coffee cups full (extra flour goes in the fridge for later use, usually all used in a day!) then I put that flour aside and grind 8 or 9 coffee cups of hard white wheat. Again, extra goes in to the fridge.

What is vital wheat gluten and do you use it?

Vital wheat gluten occures naturally in all wheat and wheat derived white flours. Some white flours have more or less than others. In a dry form, it is used to give the yeast a boost because it contains a high amount of gluten forming proteins. Vital wheat gluten only does one thing, it helps improve the rise and texture of bread.

Use it in your heavier breads that rise slowly, such as rye, whole grains, or ones loaded with sugar, dried fruit and nuts. Do not add it to regular bread recipes. Some use it all the time for their bread machines especially when using whole grain. Generally if you are using store bought white bread flour, you don't need to add any, BUT sometimes whole grain flours need it.

I use Vital Wheat Gluten in my rye breads, and sometimes in my everyday whole wheat bread. ONLY 1 teaspoon per cup of whole wheat flour is needed!!

The bread I made for the meeting did NOT have Vital gluten added. My gluten strands were amazing and it didn't need extra gluten added.

Anymore questions please ask!! Love to help you,