Rio 17 posts Apr 29, 2010 12:35 PM	I am so lucky in that my sister gifted me a grain mill, I'm so excited. I've been making bread at home and I can't wait to mill my own flour. I have several questions though. 1. Any idea where grains can be purchased in larger quantity, hopefully cheaper than the bulk food store prices? 2. Looking at the bulk food stores I've only been able to find soft and hard wheat kernels. What's the difference and which one should I use for bread? I can also get rye, spelt and kamut. With corn my grain mill specifically says not to buy popcorn to grind, just plain corn. Is this available? I've only been able to get popcorn. Any ideas and tips are greatfully accepted, can't wait to get started. We've already cracked some green spelt to make patties and they were divine. Unfortunately green spelt doesn't seem to be available in NA.
Bryanna Owner/Moderator 2722 posts Apr 29, 2010 3:50 PM	I don't know where you live, but I don't think you'll find it much cheaper than bulk food store prices. But figure out lb. for lb.-- it's cheaper top grind your own flour from organic wheat than to buy it! You want hard wheat for bread-- it contains more gluten and that's what you need for bread to rise. Soft wheat is great for making pastry flour. You should be able to get field (dent) corn from a bulk store-- that's what to use for cornmeal. For corn flour, use flint corn (also a type of field corn). Here's my recipe for 100% wholewheat bread with flour straight from the mill! http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/2007/03/100-whole-wheat-bread-and-my-new-grain.html Have fun!
LLLove Mom 9 posts May 03, 2010 10:17 PM	Rio --If you are going to be doing some serious bread making, you can probably buy more than from the bulk bins from the store. But I would recommend that you get used to your grain mill and be sure you like a type of wheat or other grain. There are even several kinds of hard wheat. In another part of the country I used to buy from a food co-op, and there might still be some of those around (mine served something like 9 states) Now I buy from a distributor in the Pacific NW. And if you're willing to pay the freight (which basically doubles or triples the price of grain -and probably makes it more expensive than the store) you can get it from any of the big organic wheat stores. But sometimes the product is SO GOOD that it's worth it. Contact the local Latter Day Saints (Mormons) or Seventh-Day Adventists and ask them for a name of someone in their church who makes bread. She can probably connect you to a good source. Then you need to start thinking in terms of storage, because 100 pounds of wheat is a lot of wheat. Even 50# of wheat is a lot if you only bake once or twice a week. And if you connect with someone who has a source that only comes once a year, you'll need to get more than 100 pounds. (Not all of us live in big cities.) There are a lot of different kinds of wheat - hard wheat comes in red and white (my favorite) and various protein amounts. So buy different kinds and figure out what you like before you buy a big supply. My husband likes a mix of wheat, rye, barley, oat, buckwheat and something else I can't remember. I prefer plain wheat, so we do two different grain mill runs. I don't know what kind of machine you have, but I will sometimes grind beans in mine also. It is a handy tool to have. If you have one of the small modern mills, be sure to wear hearing protectors - they can be as loud as a jet. If you have one with a flywheel, be sure to maintain it as directed. My husband and I have both, and we disagree about which is better, but since he grinds the flour, he gets to make the choice. And most of all - enjoy!! PS -There is NOTHING that tastes better than pancakes made with fresh ground whole wheat flour (yes - even better than fresh bread)
PatMeadows 1 post May 08, 2010 12:01 PM	Hi, In case you, like me, live in a very rural area where you cannot find any whole grains locally (except rancid brown rice - ugh!), a few excellent online suppliers are: www.barryfarms.com www.bulkfoods.com www.bobsredmill.com www.waltonfeed.com - long-term storage food including whole grains www.emergencyessentials.com - long-term storage food including whole grains We buy the grains and grind them into flour ourselves, using a home-scale electric grain mill. This saves considerable money and it's more convenient (in one way, anyway) because the whole grains do not require freezing (except brown rice), whereas the whole-grain flours do need to be frozen if you are keeping them for any significant amount of time. We also have a hand-operated mill (Corona-type) and it's handy for polenta and for making hot cereals from the grains. I've recently become unable to eat any gluten-containing grain (wheat, barley, rye) but we are still grinding our own flour from buckwheat, corn, brown rice, sorghum, and millet. (I also cannot eat oats, unfortunately, although they do not contain gluten.) Cheers, Pat

Website by CityMax.com Web Site Builder