What Does Home Milling Look Like?

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There are four important questions to answer about my fresh milled flour journey, and I thought they each deserved their own feature- “Who am I?”, “Why am I doing this?“, “What does home milling look like?“, “What do I need to start my own home milling journey?”
(Click the links to see each individual answer!)

I’ll be honest, when I started telling friends and family that I was home milling my flour, they immediately thought of the old-time enormous stone mills that require windmills, oxen, or enormous cogs to turn. Luckily some big advancements have been made in the technology for home mills! My mill is an electric stone ground mill and takes up less space on my counter than my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I have some advice on picking a mill in the “What do I need to start my own home milling journey?”

Fresh milled flour sounds complicated, and looking on Facebook shows so many people struggling to succeed with baking and cooking now that they have transitioned and it makes it very intimidating! But the truth is, it’s not any harder than learning to bake or cook in general. There are a few differences between fresh milled whole grain flour vs commercial all purpose flour.

To start with, instead of pulling out a canister of flour, I pull out a canister of whole wheat berries. I set out my bowl to catch the flour. I then weigh out the berries (some measure by volume if that’s your preference, but I’ve fallen in love with weighing!) I turn on the grinder, set it to the coarseness I want, and then pour my whole berries in. Now I have fluffy fresh flour!

There are a few minor differences between commercial flour and fresh milled, see below for the short list:

Fresh milled

Hydration of the berry can vary, so recipes will get very close, but sometimes the moisture variation can change how much liquid is required
Comes out of the mill fluffy so measuring by weight is a better choice
Has the bran and fiber still attached, so letting it rest a few minutes helps the moisture absorb into the fiber for better baking outcomes
You have to buy berries from specific locations and this varies depending on where you live

commercial flour

Every bag of flour can be expected to behave exactly the same so recipes are consistently recreated from one person to another
Can be compressed from long shelf times, so measuring by volume is pretty consistent
All the bran and fiber has been removed so it absorbs moisture instantly
Pretty much any store sells commercial flour

I assure you, it’s not that complicated. A little practice, a few extra minutes in the kitchen* and you and your family can start to eat something that tastes better and is better for you!

My husband was dubiously supportive of my journey into fresh milled flour. But the day he bit into a roll and said “I will never call you crazy again- this is the best I’ve ever eaten!” was the day that I decided to start sharing with this blog!

*vs baking at home with commercial flour. Baking everything at home is a time commitment, it’s not hours every day if you plan ahead, but it is not the time

_{Shaley is Milling It Over in her home kitchen with fresh milled flour – and so can you!}

Milling it Over