Make Your Own Flour? Yes!

Today I’d like to share about my wheat mill and how I make my own flour. In a conversation with friends, we got on the topic of food storage, preservation, and stockpiling, so I mentioned my wheat mill and the buckets of grain I keep on hand. That got into a discussion of how it works and the benefits of grinding my own wheat. And then I remembered that I once started a post on this very topic but never finished it, so I thought it was finally time to resurrect it from the files and offer it to you! 

(You’ll notice some fall decorations in some of the photos because I started this post so long ago. Kind of gives me the fall feels.)

When my younger daughter was a baby, she had horrible, stubborn baby eczema. The poor thing stayed inflamed constantly even though I tried everything. Then my sister mentioned that the bread she was making from the wheat she ground with her wheat mill was known to be a natural remedy for all kinds of skin conditions due to its high content of vitamin E. Because nothing else was working for my baby’s skin and I didn’t want her on a steroid cream (that is now off the market!), I finally bit the bullet and invested in the Wonder Mill from Bread Beckers in Woodstock, Georgia. 

So, here’s how it works! 

I purchase buckets of wheat berries from Bread Beckers and as long as the lids stay sealed, the grain is good until I run it through the meal. I’ve used many different grains over the years, but I keep 3 kinds in particular on hand: Hard Red, Hard White, and Soft White. 

I turn the motor on and count to 10 before pouring in any grain because if the grain goes in before the mechanisms are really going, it’ll choke up and clog the machine. I’ve only made that mistake once and successfully followed the process for extracting the grain, but I won’t make that mistake again.

The grain is poured in the top of the mill, runs through the grinder, and shoots to the storage canister in the form of…… FLOUR! 

I use this flour immediately or store it in the freezer to have on hand when I want to bake. Here’s the thing about flour on the grocery store shelf: the best nutrients have been taken out to give it a long shelf life. But freshly milled flour at home has ALL it’s nutrients–the ones God put there for our health–and some of those components go rancid once they’re exposed to the air. So, you either eat what you bake in the first day or two or put it in the freezer. 

Some of my family’s favorite baked goods I make with this flour are loaf bread for sandwiches, dinner rolls, pizza dough, muffins, cakes, and tortillas. And now that I’m into sourdough baking, I’m using this flour with my starter and sourdough recipes and it’s working beautifully (more to come on sourdough baking soon!) 

This is my original Bread Beckers cookbook that came with my mill so many years ago. As you can see by the tattered pages and missing binder, it’s been good friend in the kitchen! 

My kids favorite breakfast recipes are the whole wheat waffles and pancakes, banana muffins, and the drop biscuits.

We like to eat the biscuits right out of the oven with butter and honey or jam on the first day and then toast the leftovers with cheese on the second day. 

Let me tell you, although it’s pricey, my Wonder Mill has been a CHAMP! I purchased my mill in 2005 and it’s still going strong! About 5 years after I purchased it, I started to hear a strange noise in the motor. I called customer service, and they repaired it, free of charge, and it’s been running smoothly ever since. I’ve never even had to replace the canister, lid, sponge filter, not anything! 

The mill has been one of the best household investments I’ve ever made for my family. The health benefits have been immeasurable, and it has saved me money on bread products and given us a nice food supply for emergencies. Remember the flour shortage of 2020? With my wheat mill and buckets of grain, I had all the flour I wanted! What’s more, any kind of grain can be run through the mill so I can make rice flour and corn flour. Let me tell you, cornbread is soooo good with freshly milled corn flour!

So, what do you think? Have you ever considered a wheat mill? I’ve been asked about giving a class sometime so I’m considering that, or maybe just a little demo on Instagram stories. Would you be interested in learning more? I notice they’re on sale right now so you might want to check out the link.