Improving Health By Baking with Freshly Ground Flours

I have started a new adventure in baking in an effort to improve my and my family's overall health. Yesterday I tried my hand at baking bread from freshly milled whole wheat flour. Now, I have a slight hesitation in posting about this, because I realize it might push me over the edge into "wacko land" for some of you who already are skeptical about the whole stay-at-home mom, homeschooling lifestyle. Oh well. Get over it! I'm excited!

My friend Tammy and I have been talking about this for a while, and she just took the plunge and bought a Nutrimill electric grain mill and a Bosch mixer. Then she drove up to Yoder's Country Market, about 90 minutes from here, and bought several bags of different kinds of whole wheat kernels - Prairie Gold, Bronze Chief, red winter, soft white - to try, as well as a few other good things. Since I was still sick with the flu bug, I gave Tammy a list and she came home with a bag of goodies for me too. Since I don't have a grain mill yet, Tammy will grind grain for me as needed, probably once a week.

So yesterday I used some of my Bronze Chief, which is a hard red spring wheat, and Marilyn's Famous Whole Wheat Bread recipe from the Urban Homemaker site to make two delicious loaves of homemade bread. I have a KitchenAid mixer, so mixing and kneading the dough is a breeze.

Why freshly ground flour? We have always eaten whole wheat bread in this family, so that isn't a change for us. And I use King Arthur whole wheat flour in almost all of my home baked breads, like pizza dough, muffins, pancakes, etc. But as I've been researching, I've learned that freshly ground flour has much more nutritional value than store-bought flours, because a lot of the vitamin content of the whole grain is lost to oxidation in the first 24-48 hours after being ground. Flour that is packaged for the grocery store shelves has to have a long shelf-life, so preservatives are added, and also natural oils have to be removed so they don't spoil and turn the flour rancid. White flour has had the wheat germ and bran removed, and has very little nutrition left in it, except for the few vitamins and minerals that are added for "enrichment". Freshly ground whole grain flour is supposed to be good for digestive ailments as well as controlling weight and blood sugar levels and also cholesterol ( one of my current needs ! ) After I play with these different wheat varieties, I plan to try some different grains, including oats, spelt, rye, corn, ...

Of course, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and drinking more water are part of the plan for improved health as well. Oh, and then exercise....


2nd attempt at this post - the first didn't "work" and disappeared into cyberspace, never to be seen again...