Baking with freshly milled flour has been a part of my sourdough bread-making for almost as long as I’ve been a baker. Fresh flour—whether from a heritage grain, ancient grain, or modern grain—brings a wallop of fantastic flavor, aroma, and color to any bread. With modern countertop electric mills available to home bakers, milling flour takes just minutes in the morning before you begin mixing.
At a high level, these are the reasons that I love baking with freshly milled flour:
- Increased flavor, aroma, and color
- Increased nutrition
- Convenience (you can keep berries indefinitely and then mill them when needed, whereas flour lasts 6 to 12 months)
- Economical (whole berries are typically cheaper than flour)
In this guide on how to freshly mill flour at home for baking, we’ll first explain milling, then discuss each step of milling your own flour, and finally, provide practical advice for working with it.
What is Freshly Milled Flour?
Freshly milled, or freshly ground, flour is a grain that has recently been milled. Every baker and miller has a different definition for what they consider fresh flour (sometimes called “green flour”), but for me, it’s flour that’s milled either the day I’m using it or the day before. To me, it’s just as convenient for me to mill all the flour I need for the day’s bread first thing in the morning or the night before if the levain calls for fresh flour, so there’s no need for me to mill a large quantity and keep it stored in the pantry.
For me, freshly milled flour is flour that’s milled within a few days of its use.
The milling process is when grain berries are ground between burrs, stones (for stone-milled flour), or rollers into a powder, and the result is flour. A grain berry is composed of a protective outer layer called the bran; starches, gluten proteins, and arabinoxylans contained in the endosperm; and the germ, which is what would sprout into a new plant (given the right environment). During milling, some of the starch granules are damaged, allowing for better water absorption and increased fermentation activity and ultimately facilitating the creation of a viscoelastic dough for bread making.
The professional miller, or someone with the appropriate equipment, can measure and control the amount of starch damage incurred when milling (related to the genetics of the grain, protein content, and the grinding action of the mill). Consistent starch damage ultimately leads to consistent water absorption and fermentation that’s not too active yet not too sluggish (the more starch damaged, the more sugars are available for fermentation by yeasts and bacteria, and the faster fermentation proceeds). For the home miller, the goal is to mill as fine as possible to ensure sufficient (although maybe not optimal, if there is such a designation) starch damage for active fermentation and appropriate dough consistency.
What Are The Benefits of Freshly Milled Flour?
I find freshly milled flour to have an enriched aroma and an amplified taste, adding a desirable color to bread’s crust and crumbs. It’s hard to quantify, but the aroma is intense, and depending on the grain, it can be a little grassy, nutty, and with notes of cream. The flavor is nutty, sweet, and rich, and depending on the variety, it can be extremely vivid and forward (Red Fife is a good example).
I like to equate freshly milling your flour to freshly grinding coffee beans before making a cup; you unlock another flavor, freshness, and aroma inherent in the food, but hard to describe without trying it for yourself.
Is Freshly Milled Flour Healthy?
While it can be difficult to determine if freshly milled flour is more nutritious than aged whole wheat flour, using whole grain freshly milled flour is certainly healthy in that we’re making bread with whole grains—the entirety of the grain berry—thus bringing along all the nutrients, vitamins, fats, fiber, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and essential minerals (magnesium, selenium, and copper) our body benefits from.
Speaking of fiber and healthy ingredients, check out my whole-grain and high-fiber seeded sourdough bread for a pan loaf that’s as delicious as it is healthy.
What Are The Drawbacks of Freshly Milled Flour?
Baking with freshly milled flour requires a slightly different approach to baking bread. Typically, whole grain freshly milled flour results in a dough that’s not quite as elastic and strong as one made with aged flour. This doesn’t mean you should mix the dough less or be more delicate; it simply means you must adjust your expectations when using fresh flour. Instead of expecting a loaf with huge volume and a wildly open crumb, expect a squatter loaf with a tighter interior. But! When you might sacrifice in terms of volume, you’ll gain back (doubly?) in flavor, texture, and aroma.
Freshly-Milled vs. Store-Bought Flour
Milling fresh flour at home is very different from working in large professional milling operations. At home, flour is typically milled in a single pass. Depending on their milling method, a large miller might successively crack (or crush) the berry by increasing fineness to ensure optimal bran, germ, and endosperm separation. They want such separation to produce types of flour by holding back or including bran and germ for whiter or darker flour, respectively.
Additionally, store-bought flour is typically aged for several weeks or more between milling and selling. Aging (also called maturing) allows the flour to oxidize, which can help result in a stronger, more elastic dough. But, using flour shortly after milling doesn’t always result in a loaf with a lack of volume, desirable texture, or flavor—in my experience, it’s just the opposite (more on this in a moment).
Should I Sift Freshly Milled Flour?
Sifting is using a screen (like a fine-mesh sieve from the kitchen) to remove some portion of the bran and germ from the flour, leaving only the starchy endosperm (which mills to a finer consistency) in the flour. Depending on the fineness of the screen, more or less bran and germ will be sifted away, resulting in flour that has higher extraction (such as whole wheat flour), lower extraction (such as white flour), or somewhere in between. Essentially, the more you sift freshly milled flour, the “whiter” the flour becomes.
Many different sifting screens can be purchased online. These particular screens come in 40-mesh and 60-mesh varieties. The 60-mesh is finer than the 40 and will remove more bran and germ, resulting in whiter flour.
What is Bolted Flour?
Sometimes, when discussing freshly milled flour and sifting, you’ll hear the term “bolted flour” or “bolting” used in the same context. Bolting is the same as sifting in that you use a screen to remove some portion of the bran and germ from the flour (the amount depends on the sifting screen’s fineness).
How Do I Sift Flour?
Place your sifting screen over (or inside) a large metal bowl. Then, pour the freshly milled flour on top and shake the bowl and screen to encourage the finer bits to fall through the screen. Continue doing this until only the large bran and germ are left on top of the screen.
How Can I Make High-Extraction Flour?
You might see some recipes call for high-extraction flour, which is flour that falls somewhere between typical white flour and whole wheat flour. You can use a sifting screen (as described above) to sift out some portion of the bran and germ and use the resulting flour anywhere “high-extraction flour” is called for.
Depending on how white you want your flour, the 40- or 60-mesh screen will work well to sift well. The bran/germ pieces sifted away can top your dough after they’re shaped.
Step by Step: How to Freshly Mill Flour at Home For Baking Bread
A step-by-step to milling the finest fresh flour at home:
- Empty the electric grain mill of berries.
- Turn the mill on and set the grind as fine as possible until you just hear the burrs begin to touch, then quickly set the mill to one setting coarser.
- Pour the whole-grain berries into the hopper.
- If desired, quickly set the mill to one grind level finer.
Depending on the speed, capacity, and specifications (burr size, motor speed, etc.) of my grain mill and how much flour I’m looking to mill at one time, I might give the mill a rest halfway through milling to allow it to cool so that it doesn’t overly heat the flour. One tip for alleviating this issue somewhat is to store whole berries for milling in the freezer. The berries’ cold temperature helps offset the heat generated by the milling process. In most cases, I mill 1 to 2 kilograms of flour directly without rest.
Note: it’s best not to let the mill run excessively without any berries being milled if you hear the burrs rubbing.
See the end of this post for some recommendations on grain mills for purchase and where to buy grain berries.
How Finely Should I Mill Bread Flour?
As discussed above, starch damage that occurs during milling is essential. To consider an extreme case, imagine if a wheat berry wasn’t milled at all. The protective outer bran layer would allow little (or no) moisture into the berry, and the sugars (starches) contained therein wouldn’t be available for fermentation—they would be essentially nonexistent. Milling pulverizes the berry to make flour readily fermentable by the wild yeasts and bacteria in our sourdough starter and levain.
In addition, in my experience, milling finely produces flour with better baking characteristics: dough that’s more elastic and extensible, smoother, and has ample gas-trapping capability.
When I want to bake with freshly milled flour, I prefer to mill as finely as possible.
There’s also another approach to fresh milling. The grain can be milled on a fine setting but not too fine. In this way, the bran and germ parts of the berry are left more whole, and you then easily bolt or sift them out, leaving a “whiter” flour. If the mill is set to the finest setting, the bran and germ get pulverized and will be at the same granularity as the rest of the wheat berry. With the bran and germ left more whole, they can then be boiled and then reintroduced into the dough later–as I do with my whole wheat sourdough loaves–used as a topping or used in another application in the kitchen (cookies, muffins, or even cakes).
When I bake with freshly milled flour, I prefer to mill it as fine as my mill can and use all the fresh flour produced. In other words, if I’m going to mill fresh flour, I almost always skip sifting or bolting—I want the whole nutrition of the wheat berry!
How To Mill “Hard” Grain
Some grains, such as Khorasan (Kamut) or even durum, are harder (as in, the berry is a tougher consistency) than others. When milling these berries, it may be beneficial to set the electric mill to a fine grind level, but not the finest, and mill the grain. Then, set the mill to the finest level and pass the coarsely milled grain through the mill a second time.
This two-pass milling will help reduce the heat generated by the mill (which some believe decreases nutritional content) and should result in finer flour. I also find it helpful to store hard grain in the freezer since the cold temperature will help offset any heat generated by the mill.
Cracking Grains or Cereals For Bread
Some recipes at The Perfect Loaf, like my soft honey buckwheat sandwich bread, call for grain (or cereal) to be cracked, soaked, cracked, and cooked into porridge. A home flour mill can crack grain by simply setting it to the coarsest, or near-coarsest, setting and giving your grain a pass through the mill. Chances are, your mill will also produce a lot of middlings and fines along with the larger cracked bits, and if desired, you can sift the larger pieces out, though I typically use everything that comes out of the mill.
Making Bread With Freshly Milled Flour
How To Adjust Dough Hydration When Baking With Freshly Milled Flour
When using flour I’ve milled myself, I almost always have to increase the hydration of my recipe to achieve a dough with the same consistency as when made using aged flour (as is the case with my wheat and spelt pan loaf shown above). Whether I’m using hard wheat, soft wheat, or a different grain altogether, I find that fresh flour tends to absorb more water than aged flour.
How much more water must you add when using freshly milled flour? Unfortunately, there’s no single answer. As is always the case with flour, recipes are a good guideline, but ultimately, you must make kitchen adjustments during mixing. This is one reason I typically call for holding back some of the water when mixing (and why I often label them as Water 1 and 2). Holding back a little water initially helps you add it slowly during mixing if it looks and feels like the dough can handle the addition.
How To Mix and Strengthen Bread Dough With Freshly Milled Flour
Flour that’s been milled and left to age (the amount of time is variable)—which is the majority of flour used in baking and all of the flour you’ll find in a regular supermarket—typically results in a stronger dough, has improved mixing tolerances, greater gas-trapping ability, and ultimately, it can produce bread with more volume.
One of the driving factors behind this is oxidation (oxidization), which promotes a stronger gluten network in the dough. Freshly milled flour used shortly after milling will not be as oxidized as aged flour, and thus, it typically results in a weaker dough with reduced volume and gas-trapping capability. To help alleviate this situation, mixing for additional time can help oxidize the dough to create a more elastic dough with increased gas-trapping characteristics.
Mixing Longer With Freshly Milled Flour
It’s hard to give an exact time because so many variables can affect a dough. If using a mechanical mixer, I’ll typically mix for 2 to 3 minutes longer for my typical sourdough bread, but if hydration is very high, it may require more.
My best advice is to test, mix, and develop the dough to varying degrees while keeping everything else in the recipe as consistent as possible and measuring the outcomes. It may help when doing these tests to shoot to the extremes; for example, if you mix a freshly milled flour dough for 3 to 4 minutes, next time, try doubling that and mixing for 8 minutes, just to see the upper bound and measure the result.
When working with freshly milled flour, you can mix your dough by hand or with a mechanical stand mixer (like a KitchenAid or Famag) just the same. When mixing by hand, I prefer the highly effective slap and fold technique, but techniques such as the Rubaud method or simply folding the dough directly in the mixing bowl will all work to the same effect.
At the end of mixing, you want a cohesive, smoother, and elastic dough. It does not need to pass the “windowpane test,” especially if you plan to do stretches and folds during bulk fermentation, but it should not be falling apart or very shaggy. I would like to say it should reach a medium level of development.
Which Grain Mill Should I Buy?
There are many great grain mills available to the home bread baker. The best mill depends on your situation: how much flour do you want to mill at a time? Do you want an electric mill for convenience and speed, or do you prefer to hand-mill your flour for the finest flour possible?
Regardless of your preference, any of the following mills will serve you well—they have for me over the past decade!
Mockmill
It is a fantastic mill brand that produces wonderfully fine flour at the flip of a switch. Mockmill has several mills with different specifications to accommodate a range of outputs depending on how much flour you’re looking to produce. See Mockmill’s home flour mills.
KoMo Classic
I’ve had the KoMo Classic for ages and have used it to mill countless kilograms of flour here at home. It has a solid wood housing and a classic design. It mills very fine flour at a reasonable rate.
GrainMaker 116
The GrainMaker is a hand-operated mill with two large steel burrs. It’s a bit of work to turn the crank, but it produces the finest flour from all the mills I have. The mill is built like a tank and is truly a piece I’ll pass down to the next generation.
Where To Buy Whole Grain Berries For Milling Flour
You can find whole berries at a surprising number of locations, and of course, you can always order large bags online. The sources listed below are some of my favorites, though I encourage you to look around your area for local sources–you may be surprised at what you find!
Note that you can also purchase freshly milled flour from these companies. While it can sometimes be hard to determine how fresh flour is unless you mill it yourself, the flour I purchase from the following places is always high quality. If you want to try working with fresh flour before investing in a mill, these are good places to start.
| Source | Location | Product |
|---|---|---|
| Barton Springs | Southwest USA | Heritage grains, both whole berries, and fresh flour |
| Bellegarde Bakery | South USA | Freshly milled flour and southern specialties |
| Cairnspring Mills | Northwest USA | Special varieties and high-extraction flours |
| Carolina Ground | South USA | Wide variety of freshly milled flour |
| Central Milling | Midwest USA | Wide selection of whole wheat (hard white wheat and hard red wheat, specifically), spelt, rye, and other berries |
| Grist & Toll | West USA | Heirloom varieties freshly milled |
| Hayden Flour Mills | Southwest USA | Freshly milled flour and whole berries |
| Janie’s Mill | Midwest USA | Freshly milled flour and whole berries |
| King’s Roost | West USA | Bulk flour and grain |
| Maine Grains | Northeast USA | Stone-milled fresh flour |
Freshly Milled Flour FAQs
How do I store whole grain berries used for milling?
I store whole berries in the freezer wrapped tightly in plastic to prevent the accumulation of odors from the freezer. Storing whole berries in this way can help keep them longer before spoiling. Because whole grains have their bran layer (the protective sheath around the entire berry) intact, they can last a very long time (a year or more) if kept dry and at cool room temperature. Placing the berries in the freezer helps extend the shelf life even further–perhaps indefinitely.
One additional benefit of storing grain in the freezer is that the berries are cold when it comes time to mill, which offsets the mill’s heating effect during its operation. The result is cooler flour after passing through the mill, which can help preserve flavor and nutritional value.
How long can I store freshly milled flour?
Like whole grain flour, freshly milled flour spoils faster than white flour, which has had removed the components that most readily spoil—the bran and, most importantly, the germ. Because whole grain flour includes the entire wheat berry, it’s best to use it within about six months. I would like to use freshly milled flour within a week of milling.
Does fresh flour need to be refrigerated?
If you freshly mill flour and decide not to use it that day or within a few days, yes, you should refrigerate it to help preserve its flavor, aroma, and nutrition. Be sure to put it in an airtight container before you place it in the refrigerator. If you don’t have space in the refrigerator, store the flour at cool room temperature in a dark and dry spot.
Do I need to rinse or wash whole-grain berries before milling them?
In most cases, no, as long as your source has cleaned the grain for you (almost always the case unless you received grain directly from a farmer from the field). All the grain I’ve purchased has been clean and debris-free. If you’re unsure, you could ask your miller or farmer if they’ve cleaned the grain in any way.
Can I use freshly milled flour in my sourdough starter?
Absolutely. I go through periods where I’ll switch to using freshly milled hard red wheat in my sourdough starter maintenance routine. Typically, I will mill once on the weekend and make enough flour for the week’s refreshments. You can store the fresh flour in a cool, dark spot in the pantry, just like any other flour.
Fresh flour in my starter or levain adds a wonderful aroma and a different flavor profile, ultimately changing the final bread made with the starter. That said, I still like to use some aged white flour to refresh my starter even when using freshly milled; typically, I will use at least 50% aged white flour mixed with 50% freshly milled. This is simply a personal preference; I can still see some strong signs of fermentation from the fresh, while the aged white flour will allow for ample rise and gas-trapping ability. It also means I don’t have to use so much freshly milled whole wheat flour at each refreshment.
Why does freshly milled flour need more water?
Since we mill the entire berry, the flour contains all the bran and germ, which absorb significant amounts of water. So, you need to adjust the hydration to accommodate that increased absorption. In addition, I typically find that fresh ground whole grain flour tends to need more water than aged whole grain flour.
Why does my bread dough overproof when I bake with freshly milled flour?
If you’re not sifting your flour, freshly milled flour is whole grain, meaning 100% of the grain berry that goes into the mill is used to mix the dough. Typically, fermentation activity will also increase with higher whole-grain percentages.
Can I use freshly milled flour in cookies or cakes?
Absolutely, you can use freshly milled flour in cookies and cakes.
What’s Next?
Start with my sourdough bread with 35% freshly milled Yecora Rojo (whole wheat) for a hearty and delicious loaf. Or, my Kernza sourdough bread if you happen to have a bag!
77 Comments
what adjustment should I make using freshly milled flour in my breadmaker?
Should be similar to the advice I give up in the post! Usually, more water, shorter fermentation if you're using it whole.
I've been milling wheat to use in my 60% Whole/40%White sourdough for years, and thought I had nailed my recipe and system until I started having issues with flat over-proofed looking loaves. I couldn't for the the life of me figure out what was going wrong. Overripe starter? Variable heat in the kitchen? Flour variations from the miller? To make matters worse, my baguettes were getting better and better (thanks to The Perfect Loaf for that one), using the same flour, but in a different ratio, 80 white-20 whole. I just happened to read this post, mostly as a lark since I'd been using fresh milled for 10 years, and lo and behold it turns out that using flour fresh from the mill can result in flatter over-proofed loaves. I had no idea. I'd been trying to use fresher milled flour, usually right out of the mill, to try and maintain as much of the nutritive value as possible, but had been shooting myself in the foot. Thanks for this post, sometimes you need to read the fine print and not get ahead of yourself.
Really happy this post helped! I've been where you are, it is kind of the name of the game when using lots of fresh flour. Sometimes there are batches that have too high of enzymatic activity, or it needs more/less water, etc. Lots of variables keeping us on our toes. But honestly, it's worth it for the flavor! I hope you're back on track now.
Hello Maurizio, I have the KoMoClassic mill for 2 years very happy i have and use it. Love your book The Perfect Loaf. I have two questions, 1 "How to mill hard grain , you state with Durum to mill to a fine grind and then mill again to a finest level.? KoMOClassic does not recommend to grind 2 times.When i mill Durum after the mill i use a 60 mesh screen. 2. You add salt with 7% of total water , is that you think the salt mixers better this way than just adding the salt after 3-4 minutes mixing the dough? I like and follow your bread recipes and thank you, Mike Kaplan
Thanks so much Mike, sorry for the delay.
1. That's interesting. I've definitely used the double-milling technique here with my KoMo to great result. I wonder if they fear it will gum up the millstones. I haven't seen that happen here.
2. I've been in bakeries where they add the salt to the dough without any water, but I prefer a small splash to help it incorporate.
I just started using my mill and I’m using it on emmer grain. My bread dough is guppy and not holding its shape. Do some freshly milled needles less water? Or do I need to be mixing longer?
Yes, sounds like it needs reduced water!
Hi Sara. Emmer grain is an ancient variety of wheat, which are very tricky to handle, anyway. If you add also the fact that in your case you use them freshly milled, things go complicated. As recommendation, start with a long cold autolysis (10-12 hours in the fridge), plus a lower hidratation (max 70%). Plus, remember that by default the ancient grains (emmer, einkorn, kamut etc.) contain less gluten so they don't develop the gluten network as high as the rest of wheat, so they raise max 50% and do not typically keep shape. You might consider combining with other types of flour. And, anyway, it's recommended to bake them in a baking loaf (tray), not on the stone. Hope it helps! 🙂
I am just starting this mill your own flour journey. What berries should I start with? What is the difference between hard white, soft white, red, spelt? There are so many!
i think the biggest difference is taste and protein content! if you search for berries on central millings website, it has a description of the different types of berries!
Welcome, you're going to love it! Like Carmen said, Central Milling has a great guide and they have great grain for sale, too.
Maurizio have you any reviews for grain mills?
Hey Andy I'm working on this!
Thank you and I’m looking forward to it!
Thank you so much for all of this information! Do you have any book recommendations on milling/using fmf? P.S I absolutely love your book!!!
Hey Sarah, thank so much really glad you're enjoying my cookbook 🙂 There aren't a ton of books on the topic, honestly!
Hello, I have a question… For months I have been making beautiful, soft loaves of sourdough bread. Now suddenly, the dough is stiff, and the gluten hardly develops no matter how long I knead it. It falls apart and cracks, and comes out of the oven heavy and flat. I have always ground my flour fresh. I'm using the same brand of wheat. It is winter but the house is not much cooler than usual. Do you have any idea of what could be causing the problem?
Is it possible the flour needs more water (hydration)? It sounds like a very stiff dough, which will slow fermentation in addition to the cold temps!
That is possible! I tried adding more milk, as I usually do a brioche dough. It definitely made the dough less stiff, but it would still not hold together.
I have an update, though! I threw out my old sourdough starter, and started another one. Today I mixed dough for the first time with the new sourdough starter, and it is holding together beautifully! It is stretchy and so nice.
It seems that my old starter may have been sick?! And unable to form properly, even though it doubled and tripled in size when I refreshed it. Is that normal? Do starters get sick?
Thank you so much for answering my question. I really appreciate it 🙂
It's possible if fermentation wasn't strong enough, yes!
I am looking at mill machines. I already have a kitchen aide mixer and I see there is a relatively inexpensive mill attachment that gets decent reviews. Do you know how this compares to the mills recommended in your article?
I personally wouldn't recommend that attachment. I prefer the standalone mills which have a stronger motor and are designed specifically for milling.
Can you use fresh milled flour in cakes or cookie recipes ?
100% yes!
Thank you Maurizio. I got my Mockmill and Heritage grains and others, I am trying to get this right, although the bread takes pretty amazing, the loaf is not rising as well so I see lots of answers in your article here. SO helpful. Thank goodness I have takers for my bread mishaps, so I can try again. I want to run my flour through twice on the Hard red and White, and if I do so on the Einkorn,I want to soak the little sifted gems etc.Blessings!!
Fantastic, Jill. Happy to help and glad this post has some answers for ya! Fresh flour is in a world of its own. Happy baking!
Great article Maurizio. Thank you for this information. We just ordered a mill (back ordered for a couple of months) and have begun looking at the sifting process while we wait for the mill. I want to sift the flour before mixing to autolyze and then add the bran and germ back in during the stretch and folds. BTW, the link to sifting screens is broken 🙂
Fantastic, Cliff! Yes, that's exactly what I do in my 100% whole wheat loaf (you could use the same process):
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/100-whole-wheat-sourdough/
Fixing the link now!
The link isn’t ’broken’, apparently they no longer have the product? Can you recommend another??
Hi Mairizio. Wonderful pictures of your recent trip to Italy. Just beautiful.
There are a couple of bread blogs I follow, yours is my favorite. One of them the lady weighs the berries first, mills them then uses all the flour for her bread, with great success. If her recipe says has 400gm flour, she will mill 400gm of berries and use all of it in the recipe.
Others will weigh 400gm of flour after milling, also with great success.
Does it matter which process is used?
Sorry if this inquiry is a repeat. My previous attempt didn't seem to go through.
Thanx for your input.
Thanks so much, Cindy! Means a lot to hear you're liking the site, too. That's a great question, and for me, I weigh the flour after milling, this is more accurate. You'll end up losing a few grams here and there between milling and mixing that flour into the dough.
So first, weigh the berries and add a bit more, say 10g, because it will come up short. Then, weigh the resulting flour, making sure you have the correct weight as called for in the recipe.
Hope that helps and happy baking!
Yes, helps a lot. Thanx a bunch.
Hi Maurizio. First have to say, beautiful pictures from your latest trip to Italy. Watch a lot of skylinewebcams.com of Italy and recognized some places of where you were.
I mill my own flour and follow a couple other blogs, but yours is my favorite, that also use fresh milled flour. One lady weighs her berries first then uses all the flour for her bread, with great success.
Which method do you use when using fresh milled flour? Weigh the berries first and use all of the flour or grind a bunch of berries then weigh the amount of flour needed?
Thanx a bunch, Cindy
Happy to help, Tom!
which mill will grind 00 flour for pizza and pasta without over heating too quickly?
It’s quite difficult to get down to that level with a home mill, Alanna! But, I would say most of these electric mills will get you pretty close, and IMO, good enough for most breads and pizza. The GrainMaker hand operated mill is probably the one I’d say would get you the closes (with very little heat).
Can the sifted bran from whole wheat berries, be eaten without cooking? Added to yogurt or something similar?
No, I would always cook/bake raw flour before eating it!
Noob here. My dad borrowed a stone handmill to test out his wheat (soft red.) The bran seems to have caught quite a bit of sand–happily sifting the bran out also removes that grit. What’s your experience with stone mills?
Is the bran now only good for compost? (And growing yeast, I suppose…)
Since I buy my grain from growers here that clean the berries quite thoroughly before selling, I’ve never experienced this, Aimee!
Oh, thank you for responding. The problem largely sorted itself out–I think the stones were turned without any material between them at some point. That would account for how the next batch of bran was fairly grit-free.
Excellent!
Hi.
While I save up for a Salzburger mill, any thoughts on using a Vitamix grain blend container?
Would really appreciate any input.
Thanks.
Holger
Holger—I would say the Vitamix won’t get you quite close enough to nice, fine flour. It’s good at cracking grain, though!
Hey Maurizio,
Do khorasan berries have to be sifted with a 40# or 60# mesh after milling to make bread? I see “Proof” baking in UT cooks their fresh ground kamut® before incorporating into the dough. I have a Mockmill 200 and berries, just not sure how to proceed.
You don’t have to sift, no!
Hi Mauruzio, thanks for such as great article. I’m trying to switch to all home milled flour for my whole wheat sourdough bread, and have a question.
My loaf’s flour is 30% storebought bread flour, and 70% whole grain. To replace the bread flour I’m planning to mill at a courser setting, sift out the bran, then mill gain at a fine setting and sift a second time. For the whole grain I’m just going to mill one pass at a finer setting. I will then experiment with hydration to see what works. Is this a good approach to mimicking the storebought bread and whole grain flour ratio? Thanks!
Yes, that’s a good approach, Todd! (Sorry for the delay)
Hello Maurizio. I really want to mill at home and sift out about 25%. I would like to do this with einkorn. Do you know who might be the right person to ask about milling and most importantly, sifting equipment? Thank you for sharing your information with all of us.
I have some sifting equipment that I use on my baking tools page, namely, a sifting screen. This will work super well for you!
There’s also a lot of home-millers in our membership who may be able to help in the chat.
Hello!
I just received a lot of wheat berries from my mother. She had over 100 lbs of wheat berries as part of her food storage (in storage for about 30 years) that she gave to me.
How can I tell what type of wheat the berries are and since they have been in storage so long does this change the approach on grinding or using the flour?
Thank you!
You’d have to visually compare them to others. Usually, if they’re dark and reddish, it’s red wheat. White wheat, well, looks a bit whiter!
Maurizio, thank you so much—appreciate your site and I just ordered your book. I saw your list of grain suppliers and wondered if you had any in the Colorado area that you use. I am surrounded by grain growers here in Durango and was curious if you favor any in this area. When I lived near Tartine, I used Giustos for flour but want to adapt to here. Your expertise on baking at altitude is much appreciated.
I have not used much flour from CO, surprisingly! I know there are growers there, but I haven’t had a chance to try their flour.
I hope you love my book. Thank you for getting it and I’d love to hear how you’re liking it once you’ve had a chance to read through.
Happy baking, Marcus!
Do you have any information comparing the types and varieties of berries for various types of bread?
At this moment I do not, sorry Taryn!
Great article! Can you please share your thoughts on combining any or all of these freshly milled wheatberries to make a multi grain sourdough bread: Hard White, Hard Red, Einkorn, Spelt, and maybe Kamut. Please mention your choices to combine and what your ratios would be. Thanks!
There’s so much to say there, Jayne! I use all of them depending on the type of bread I’m envisioning: texture, flavor, nutrition.
You’re asking him to write a second book.
Nope, not at all. And when I approach it in the way his answer describes, focusing on what taste and texture I want, my recipe is born.
Great article that explains a lot — now I know….the rest of the story! I always wondered why my whole grain breads never had the same raise as those on Instagram! Most definitely because I mill my own whole grain portion. I got into milling mostly because I wanted to mill dehydrated spent grain to add to my dough, but then realized that I actually like the bread better when I add the spent grain moist (I freeze it in 100g increments). Using the sifted-out brain for the crust is a great idea, but still too much action for me. I just mill hard wheat & triticale on the finest setting; spelt & rye a little coarser for different texture. For dusting & crust flavor I mill Vienna or Munich Beer brewing grain (I think it’s barley) that I get at the homebrew store. The gives the crust a nicely malt-forward flavor.
I thought that Kevin’s comments were awesome too! “Autolysis is verboten for freshly milled flours!” Vielen Dank fuer den Rat!! Ha! Now I know why the dough over-proofs sometimes! I noticed in my last breads, that the 30-minute short autolysis works great if I only have up to 25% milled flour. Of course, the fact that I use beer instead of water in 90% of my breads, might have something to do with a change in the dough activity, too. I just like the flavor better.
Thank you, Sabine! Your bread sounds absolutely delicious. And really, in the end is all about flavor and less so the looks of it 🙂
Hi
Great article.
It’s seldom I read an article on milling as thorough as this.
If I may a ‘couple’ of points.
Damaged starch packets is a roller mill problem. They are ferocious. It is highly unlikely that a Komo, or other similar tech Austrian or German mill could ever do starch packet damage. (I’m excluding steel burr mills and hammer mills here as I have no data on them.)
Putting the grain/flout through the mill twice will give a much finer flour and consequently a better loaf volume. I bolt between the two millings. I often use an 18 mesh 1mm, screen to bolt out just a little bran, which I keep for dusting bannetons and topping loaves. 18 mesh removes about 8%. However I mainly mill heritage wheats with poor glutamine content.
Lastly green, or freshly milled flour performs fairly well for the first 24 hours after milling. Usually after 48 hours the germ has deteriorated too far and then it is best to keep it six weeks to fully age when it again becomes good.
This is a point for folk to remember when buying freshly milled flour at a water mill or artisan sized miller. I always ask the miller when it was milled.
Lastly autolysis is ‘verboten’ with freshly milled flour. The protease and amylase enzyme levels are far too high and they cause marked gluten deterioration. Adding the salt early controls the enzymes somewhat. I use a thirty minute hydration rest with just the salt, water and flour. This is inline with the results from the ‘Modernist Bread’ tests.
As always your material is of the highest quality. 🙂
Thank you.
Kevin, thanks so much for the comments and kind words, I appreciate that. Your points are all spot on, thanks for the added info and clarification! Milling is a super, super complex topic and my hope with this post was to give people a starting point, but like you hinted at here, there’s lots more to learn 🙂 Which, actually, is why I love baking sourdough!
You are aging some of your home-milled flour for 6 weeks? I’m interested to hear more about this. In particular, I’m trying to figure out how to produce strong flour at home (my local grocery store almost never has bread flour in stock these days). I’ve tried increasing mixing/kneading times in the past to develop the gluten more, but this hasn’t yielded the same results.
If you’re fresh milling your flour and using everything that comes out of the mill, this will be 100% whole grain flour—very different from white bread flour! Bread flour will be much stronger, elastic, and make a loaf with much more rise and lightness (but less flavor 🙂).
Looking forward to trying to do some home milling. I recently discovered Sonoran wheat flour and want to try starting from berries. Just tried to buy a Mockmill stand mixer attachment using the discount link and got this message: “Coupon usage limit has been reached. Please try again after some time, or contact us for help.”
It is fixed now, Sean! Sorry about that.
Very interesting. I have just got into milling (with a Komo) and noticed that kamut doesn’t mill as fine as red fife or rye. Didn’t realize it is actually a harder berry!
Do you ever run white rice through your komo to clean the stones? Heard this from someone but never read about it anywhere online.
With your Kamut, you could try double-milling to see if that helps. It’ll also help keep the grain cooler during milling.
So, I don’t typically clean the mill with white rice, though I’ve read that is something you can do. With my coffee grinder, which is very similar to grain milling if you think about it, I do use a “cleaner” that’s essentially white rice. However, my feeling is, if you’re milling grain often enough, you’ll have enough throughput on the mill to prevent anything from sticking or caking and sitting for too long.
Hope that helps, Daniella!
Terrific and informative article- I learned so much! Ive been grinding my own wheat for 10 years since I read that suggestion from Rose Levy Beranbaum. I use a kitchen aid attachment on its finest setting and have always had great results. Even though I am in Maine, and Maine Grains produces a fine product, I too find the prices prohibitive. I’ve become a loyal customer of Belle Ancient Grains from South Dakota. Their Clarks Cream makes the BEST 100% whole wheat bread ever! https://www.etsy.com/shop/BelleAncientGrains
Thanks, Beth! Their grain looks wonderful, will have to give it a try.
Very good article. It will certainly improve my home milling. Thanks.
I was astounded at the price for wheat/rye berries for the only North/East supplier listed. When shipping is factored in, the price becomes absurd.
I’ve found a few Amish/Mennonite stores with more reasonable prices but even they are now close to double what they were charging prior to China’s Wuhan flu fiasco. Everyone seems to be trying to recoup their losses in record short time.
Glad you liked it, Mike! Yes, depending on the location and other factors, prices can be very high—it’s certainly worthwhile to find a source even closer to you, if available. For me, I don’t have many options here in New Mexico (that may change soon, if all goes well!). You might also want to check at any local co-ops you have in town, I know I used to be able to find really nice quality local wheat berries there (sadly, that dried up).
great article. thanks for sharing the list of suppliers. It is not easy to find wheat berries at the local supermarket (at least here in California). note that with the price of shipping, wheat berries are not that cheap compared to whole wheat milled flour.
You’re very welcome, Pascal! And it’s by no means a comprehensive list, there are so many great sources out there. Regarding berries vs flour, it really depends on the source! The weight should be very similar 🙂