How to Make Flour With Stone Mills
Grinding flour with stone flour mills is truly going back to basics. Writer Bret Thorn in the "Nation's Restaurant News" predicted that for 2011, locally sourced ingredients would be a top trend in restaurants. As heritage cooking techniques and local eating practices gain popularity, look for the resurgence of small, local mills using sustainable techniques. You can also grind your own grain at home using small, modern grain mills. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Grain(s) of your choice
- Access to a local mill or a small in-home mill
- Airtight storage containers
Instructions
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Grinding your Grain in a Stone Mill
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A (preferably local) source of whole grain is your first step. Grow or obtain whole grain, such as wheat, and make sure that it is fully separated from its chaff (protective seed casings). VersaGrain has an online article series dedicated to helping you find whole grains.
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Find a local grist mill. Many will allow you to bring your own grain or buy flour ground from their grain. Alternately, purchase your own in-home mill.
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Grind your grain. Either visit your local mill or use a home grinder with small stone wheels. Be patient. Stone mills use stone cut with grooves -- larger toward the center, smaller toward the outside edges. Wheat is poured into a hole near the center of the stones and is pulled outward, being crushed as it goes, until flour works its way out the outer edges of the stones. The process takes time but produces a healthy and homogeneous flour.
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Separate flour if you desire. If you want a lighter white flour, you can still separate the wheat germ from the flour using sifting screens. A local mill or bakery can teach you how to do this. Some will offer to do it for you for a fee. Flour milled in this method, even with the germ removed, will still contain more nutrients than metal-milled flour.
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Store your flour in airtight, thick-walled containers to prevent contamination by bugs or rodents. Use freshly milled whole wheat flour with its germ within a month to six weeks of being milled. Use white flour with the germ removed within six months of milling.
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Tips & Warnings
Wheat germ, even stone-milled germ, will eventually go rancid. A "sniff test" will tell you whether your flour is good to use; a rancid smell is easy to spot, even for inexperienced bakers. Don't mill more whole wheat flour at a time than you can use within six weeks.
References
Resources
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