The Beginner's Guide To Fresh Milled Flour.

Hi guys!

I cannot believe I haven’t done this post yet but I am SO excited. I get so many questions about fresh milled flour that I wanted to answer everything in one spot!

It seems intimidating, I always get the funniest reactions when people find out I mill my own flour but it’s actually SO easy. It takes literally 2 seconds!

So- let’s get into it shall we?

What are the benefits of fresh milled flour?

Oh boy- I’m even intimidated to start because fresh milled flour has SO many benefits for your health, digestion, metabolism, brain- it’s insane.

So essentially- all flour was fresh milled (& every town had a local flour mill) until the industrial revolution in the late 1800s- when industrial flour was invented. This flour stripped out ALL of the nutrients so that flour could sit on shelves forever without going bad.

But guess what happened? People began getting sick with Pellagra & Beriberi. The symptoms include rough bumpy skin, anxiety, depression, gut health issues, congestion, fatigue, the list goes on. To the point that by LAW flour had to be fortified with 5 synthetic vitamins (which have now been shown to be terrible for you)

You can look this all up- it’s documented!

But here’s the problem: fresh milled flour doesn’t just contain 5 vitamins, it contains FORTY out of 44 essential nutrients!! And I would argue adding a few fake & hard to absorb vitamins didn’t fix it. People are suffering more now than ever with poor health, like rough bumpy skin, anxiety, depression, gut health issues, congestion, fatigue, & more.

Fresh milled flour is what we’re meant to be eating. It is real, nutrient-dense food. I couldn’t believe how much flavor it had when I first tried it- and I can’t believe I thought I was having real flour my whole life! And that flour was just “empty calories”… it was SUPPOSED to be nutrient dense- and it tastes BETTER that way and you feel better.

I could go on and on. It’s one of those it tastes better & you get more benefits no brainers. One of the best swaps I’ve ever done, and it’s loaded with B-vitamins like thiamine which are incredible for blood sugar balancing, brain function and energy levels. And vitamin E which is just incredible for everything (I could go on about all 40 of the nutrients- lmk if you want to see a benefits deep dive!!)

I try to have it daily, so I love making sourdough banana bread with it because it’s such an incredible snack with cream cheese!

2. Okay, okay- how do I start?! Where do I get everything?!

   For the grains: I get all of my grains from Grand Teton Ancient Grains, I use spelt for most things but also love their einkorn, kamut & rye!

   For the mill: I use the Mockmill Lino 200! It’s pricy- so if you’re on a budget there are stainless steel kitchen aid attachments, but the flour is way chunkier & not as good (however you still get the health benefits). I highly recommend just buying a mill because they last generations I’ve heard!! AND once you get it, you’ll use it all the time & it’s such a good investment into your health. '

3. Okay so I have everything- where the heck do I even start?!

   Here are my favorite recipes. I’d start with my sourdough fresh milled banana bread. It’s SO easy & so so good. I also love a gut healing apple crumble, .

   If you don’t have sourdough starter, you can use high quality organic grassfed yogurt. Many countries (like India) use this to ferment their grains & get the same benefits because it has the bacteria that helps break down antinutrients! I prefer sourdough starter but yogurt works well in a pinch!

Farmhouse on Boone also posts TONS of fresh milled recipes!

2. How do I swap my favorite recipes that use regular all purpose flour to use fresh milled flour?

   It’s actually super easy.

   1. I always sift to create an ancestral nutrient dense white flour (more on that under more tips)

   2. Measure in grams instead of cups! (1 cup of all purpose flour is about 120grams)

3. Use soft wheat berries (like einkorn) for less gluten recipes (things that don’t need to rise, like pancakes & pastries). Use harder wheat berries (like emmer, spelt or kamut) for things that need more of a rise.

4. fresh milled flour absorbs water differently-

   so here’s how to convert your favorite recipes:

For hard wheat:

1:1 ratio, SO easy. Which is why I love spelt! Sometimes you need to add a litttllle more liquid, but usually you don’t!

For soft wheat:

for every 1 cup of all purpose flour : do 1 cup + 1/4 cup of fresh milled flour

So for every 120g all purpose, you want 150g fresh milled.

MORE TIPS:

• Just because industrial white flour is new, doesn’t mean white flour didn’t exist! Royalty would actually sift it and give the bran for peasants to make bread. The bran has the highest level of anti nutrients. Ancestral White Flour is also more delicious (in my opinion, except in banana bread, where I love the nuttiness). For recipes I want a whiter flour, I just sift it to get a nutrient dense ancestral white flour!

• LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST EPISODE. She explains fresh milled flour SO well I love it!

Okay that is all. LMK any questions you have- I’m so happy to do a part 2! Also, should I do a deep dive on why I choose ancient grains & sourdough as well?

Talk soon!

Valerie