For some baking bread is an art, for some a hobby, while for others it is a daily routine. Bread has been with man for thousands of years. Almost all countries and cultures of the world have some form of baking grains into a life-nourishing loaf. There are many recipes of baking bread from home-milled flour, whole grain, and sourdough, in these recipes I will try to combine all these points and try to make it simple, fast, and possible for anyone.
The first step is to mill the flour. There are many advantages to milling your own flour at home. Freshly milled flour is healthier, tastier, and cheaper than the one you can buy at the store. Unlike flour, grains store indefinitely and can be very cheaply bought in bulk in some farms and health food stores. Though some stores and farms sell grain for a very high cost, you can ignore those and try to find normal-priced grain. As of 2023, the price of spelt and rye is 1-2 $ per pound. If you are lucky enough to grow your own grains, then these instructions and recipes should also be helpful.
Here are instructions for milling flour with a blender or coffee mill. Special small flour mills are available, but they are somewhat expensive as compared to a blender or coffee mill which are commonly found in many kitchens. Though you may want to get one later, it is great when you can start without making the investment.
If you try to process some grain in a blender or coffee mill you will probably be disappointed. The resulting flour will be coarse and have many unmilled or half-milled grains. The solution is to sift this flour and mill the coarse pieces again. After three or four passes of milling and sifting, you will have a nice fine flour perfect for making bread. The whole process doesn’t take much time.
You will need:
Step 1: Add one or two cups of grain to the blender. If you are using a coffee mill, adjust the amount for optimum performance.
Step 2: Blend the grain for about 30 seconds or until fully ground. If you are using a coffee mill, make sure it doesn’t overheat. Note: grain milling will be very, very loud. Unless you have no neighbors for a several-mile radius, do not mill your flour at 6 AM or 12 AM, rather try something well in between.
Step 3: Sift the resulting flour into a bowl. Work on an easy-to-clean surface because some flour will always find its way outside.
Step 4: You will be left with lots of coarse unsifted flour in the sieve. Add it back to the blender and process it a second time.
Step 5: Process the flour for another 30 seconds.
Step 6: Add the flour from the blender and sift it a second time.
Step 7: Process and sift the flour until you are left with lots of fine flour in the bowl and a small amount of coarse flour in the sieve. Three passes are usually enough. But harder grain may require more. The little remaining course flour in the sieve can be mixed with the rest of the fine flour.
Store the flour in a glass jar in the refrigerator. You can also use the plastic bag from the grain. Fresh flour is best used within several days though it will store much longer.
A note on appliances: In the photos, I am using a Vitamix blender to mill the flour. This blender has a fan that cools the motor and a safety switch that turns it off if it starts to overheat. An appliance with one or both attributes is a good candidate for home milling flour.
Though technically even a small coffee mill can be used, you should keep several things in mind.
First, if you are using a low-strength appliance without a safety switch, appreciate the fact that it can easily overheat and break. I have destroyed three coffee mills this way.
Milling in small batches and letting the motor cool between work are good ways to avoid overheating.
A sure sign that the motor is overheating is, surprisingly, not a warm appliance but a strange smell. If the appliance starts to smell strange, turn it off and let it cool down.
Optimally, try to use a more powerful blender and use the coffee mill only for small batches.
Ingredients:
Mix the flour and water in a bowl. When thoroughly mixed with a spoon, start kneading the dough with your hands. Spelt makes a dough that should be easy to knead. A good technique is to take an edge of the dough and fold it into the center. Rotate the bowl and repeat with another edge. Sprinkle with flour if it gets too sticky. When well kneaded. Roll the dough into balls and flatten them to make flatbreads. Bake at 375°F for 15 minutes or until puffed and ready.
This recipe uses fresh milled rye flour and is leavened with a sourdough starter. Such bread was a staple in the Middle Ages and is still common in many parts of Europe and Russia. When properly made, it is considered to be probably the healthiest type of bread. This recipe is easy and simple to make and tastes great. To save time but not compromise health benefits and taste, a little molasses is used. You won’t need to wait the long times to develop natural sweetness with malt used in other recipes. The resulting bread is sweet and has a real rye malty taste that you can’t find in store-bought rye bread. If you add some nuts and dried fruits to the recipe, you will pass the border from bread to cake.
Ingredients:
In a bowl, mix the sourdough, flour, and water. Using a spoon, mix the dough for about 10 minutes (the more the better). If you have a dough mixer, knead for 25 minutes for optimal results. Place the dough in a flour-dusted baking form. Use wet hands, to shape the top of the dough into an even surface.
Let it ferment for about 3 hours in a warm place. A warmed but turned-off oven works well.
After 3 hours the dough should rise a little. Place it in a heated oven and bake for 10 minutes at 450°F, then 40 minutes at 375°F.
Good luck with milling your own flour and bread baking!
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