In this post, learn all about grinding your own flour at home, all of the benefits, how to source grains, and the cost breakdown.
Today we are chatting all about how to grind your own flour at home with a grain mill. This is an endeavor I’ve recently jumped into, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back! There are so many benefits to grinding your own flour at home, all of which I will dive into in this post. I will also provide a cost breakdown as well as I know that’s one of the biggest questions I’ve received on instagram.
Health Benefits
There are so many benefits to grinding your own flour at home, but let’s start with the health benefits because those are my personal favorite! To understand the benefits of fresh flour, we have to first understand the benefits of a single grain. Each grain has three distinct layers – the bran (outer layer), endosperm (spongy inner layer), and the germ (nucleus of the grain). Majority of the nutrition lies within the bran & germ, including macronutrients such as protein and fat, plus micronutrients such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin E, phosphorous, zinc, magnesium, as well as fiber and antioxidants.
When you grind your flour at home, you are grinding a bunch of whole, intact grains down into flour – it’s that simple. When it comes to store bought flour, the process is not this straightforward. Store bought flour undergoes much more processing – the bran and germ are first removed, leaving just the endosperm, which is practically devoid of nutrients in comparison. This is how you make white flour, which is why you always hear that whole wheat flour is more nutritious. Now, let’s look at how whole wheat flour is processed: after the bran and germ and initially removed, some is added back in, but usually not all. The bran and especially germ, due to the Vitamin E content, shorten the shelf life of flour, meaning it spoils faster. Even though some of the bran and germ are added back in, it’s typically never the same ratio as if you were to grind your flour fresh at home. Flour is often enriched with B vitamins, but these are the synthetic versions of each vitamin, not the naturally occurring versions found in the grain.
Another downside of store bought flour is it does sit for an extended period of time before it makes it into your kitchen and lastly into your cooking or baking. Any of the nutrients remaining in the processed flour will diminish over time, which means store bought flour will never contain all of the nutrients fresh milled flour can provide. When you grind flour fresh at home, you typically use it right away, so that fresh flour will be loaded with nutrients.
Additional Benefits
While the health benefits of grinding your own flour at home are definitely my favorite, there are many other benefits too!
- Long shelf life: Grains, or wheat berries, have a much longer shelf life than flour. While flour will last for about 6 months, wheat berries when stored in a cool, dry place can last indefinitely. How amazing right? This makes buying your grains in bulk such a great option, and I love that I always have them on hand.
- Taste: Fresh ground flour has a much more rich, complex flavor than even the highest quality store bought flours. The small amount of fat flour contains will bitter with age, which affects the flavor profile. Fresh ground flour has a sweeter, lighter, more full taste – it’s really lovely!
- Choice: Once you have your own flour mill, you can go to town making all different kinds of fresh flours! The options are pretty much endless. Plus, if you’re someone who likes using more obscure flours that are tough to find in the store, for example certain gluten free flours, you can easily make it yourself at home and never worry about having to hunt for it or pay an arm and a leg!
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Cost Breakdown
Now, let’s chat about the cost of grinding your own flour at home. First are foremost, there is the upfront cost of purchasing a grain mill. I have a Nutrimill Classic, which I love and would totally recommend. Purchasing a mill is definitely an investment, but to me totally worth it for the health benefits alone. However, grinding your own flour at home can save money too!
Let’s look at cost. For this breakdown I decided to compare organic hard white wheat berries (what I use for the most part) to King Aurthur’s organic whole wheat flour, which was my go-to before having my own mill.
A 50lb bag of organic hard white wheat berries will yield ~150 cups f flour. I paid $33 for my 50lb bag, which comes out to roughly 22 cents per cup of flour.
A 5lb bag of King Aurthur’s organic whole wheat flour yields ~18 cups. I used to pay $10 per bag, which come out to roughly 55 cents per cup of flour.
The verdict: much cheaper! However, there is one really important thing to consider that I left out in this first equation – shipping costs. The downside of ordering bulk grains online is they cost a lot to ship. I mean, it is 50 lbs of grains, so I can understand! When I purchased mine, the total cost of the berries with shipping was $75. This comes out to roughly 50 cents per cup of flour. Now, this is still cheaper, but not by as much. But remember, fresh ground flour is far more nutritious, so paying about the same or a little less than store bought is still amazing! My biggest tip – if you can find a local grain mill or local retailer that sells bulk grains, that is your best bet since you can skip out on the shipping costs.
Sourcing Grains
If you want to grind your own flour at home, as I said previously finding them locally is major to not have to pay for shipping. I personally don’t have any local retailers near me, so I purchase in bulk online. I source my hard white wheat berries from Central Milling and my einkorn berries from Jovial Foods. Another good source to look into is Azure Standard – see if you have a drop location near you!
So, are you going to start grinding your own flour at home? Have I converted you?? I hope so! I will say, I never even used to use very much flour. But once I made my own sourdough starter, and started making sourdough everything, I go through flour constantly! That’s what really made me want to make the switch. And I’m so happy that I did!
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