My mother baked home-ground wheat bread regularly when I was a child. As a result, some of my favorite memories are of sitting on the kitchen counter watching the wheat berries migrate into the wheat grinder hole and emerge as a light, fluffy flour as my mother would grind wheat.
Home Ground Flour
There are many benefits to grind wheat yourself. First, it is healthier for you. Wheat maintains its full nutrition until it is ground so if you are using it right away the nutritional content will be at its highest.
Second, grinding wheat yourself allows you to get a true whole grain flour. White flour has had the endosperm and the bran removed from the flour. Even wheat flour is just white flour that has had some bran returned to it. And because it is fresh, it also tends to have a better flavor.
Wheat
Grinding wheat into home-ground flour can also be much less expensive. Wheat can be purchased in bulk and used as needed making it more cost effective due to the longer shelf life.
Finally, you can also customize your flour. (Which is one of my favorite features.) I love to add other grains and legumes to add protein and more varied nutrition to my family’s diet.
Ezekiel Mix
INGREDIENTS
2 cups Oat groats 2 cups Millet 2 cups Pearl barley 1 cup Amaranth (whole grain) 1 cup Quinoa 1 cup Rye 1 cup Navy beans 1 cup Kidney beans (pink or red) 1 cup Lima beans 1 cup Red Beans 1 cup Lentils (red, green, or blue) 1/2 cup Split peas 1/2 cup Black-eyed peas 1/2 cup whole corn 1/4 cup gold Flax seeds 1/4 cup brown flax seeds
Ezekiel Flour Blend Recipe
I will share a list of what my mom calls her Ezekiel flour mix. She doesn’t always use all the items on this list but says that the greater variety the better the flour. You’ll need a lidded container that will hold about a gallon with room to mix it. Combine this list of ingredients in your container:
2 cups each of Oat groats (whole oatmeal grain), Millet, and Pearl barley.
1 cup each of Amaranth (whole grain), Quinoa, Rye.
1 cup each of Navy beans, Kidney beans (pink or red), Lima beans, Red Beans, and Lentils (red, green, or blue).
1/2 cup each of Split peas, Black-eyed peas, and whole corn.
1/4 cup each of Flax seeds (gold and brown).
Mix it up. Store in an airtight container and add it as you are grinding wheat for an incredibly flavorful, and nutritious flour.
Stone Grinding Mill
I like to use an electric, stone mill wheat grinder. There are other options out there but I feel like this is the easiest to use and offers the best results.
Fine to Coarse Setting
Most machines have a setting to set how coarse or fine you want your flour. Set it according to what you need or prefer for your recipe. I like mine pretty fine but not as fine as it will go. Check the flour basin as it is grinding and see if the coarseness setting needs to be adjusted based on your preference.
Add Ezekiel Mix and Wheat
It is really an easy process. I add 2 cups of wheat berries and 1/2 cup of my Ezekiel mix. (Sometimes I don’t have the mix prepared and I will just add whatever I have on hand at the time.) You could just do straight wheat if you wanted. It takes about 3-5 minutes to do the grinding in my machine and then I just store the flour in an airtight container. It is best to use it within 3 months. After that point it could still be used but the nutritional value begins to decrease.
