I have a Golden Grain Grinder that is 30+ years old...my dad gave it to me about 15 years ago. I really like it. It has 2 stones that grind the grains and you can adjust it from coarse to cake-flour fine. All of you that are grinding wheat, can you tell me what is the whitest wheat? We have several Amish and Mennonite communities near us and I have bought several wheat and flours from them, but they all have their own name for them. Some call it "naturally" white wheat...is that whole wheat, or just unbleached? Last week I bought 3 lbs of "hard spring white wheat" to grind, and it does seem to be whiter than a lot of wheats.

I mill my own flour from a wide variety of grains/seeds/beans, so I've also learned gluten levels and how they work in baked goods. Although the 10-grain flour contains wheat flour, it's not clear how much is used in the mixture. Probably a large portion is wheat because it's much less expensive than the other grains/seeds in the mix. It's also not clear what kind of wheat - soft or hard wheat - is in the mixture, which will make a lot of difference for making bread dough. I like to mill my own mixtures so I can be sure what I'm using, and to assure I have the freshest flour possible for the highest amount of nutrition possible. Fresh is best..... You need a high portion of flour from wheat (bread flour or all-purpose flour, or whole wheat milled from hard wheat varieties), in order to have enough gluten to make a yeast-risen bread. It's also preferable to have a high-gluten flour for making pizza dough. Wheat has the highest amount of gluten of all grains. Any other grain/seed will be either low-gluten or gluten-free. Spelt is the only other grain with enough gluten to make a nice loaf of yeast bread, but even the gluten type in spelt is much different, and much lower than the gluten in wheat. The gluten level in spelt is about 5,000 parts per million. Compare that to wheat which begins at 50,000 parts per million and goes up from there. For your pizza dough you will probably be fine using 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 10-grain flour. As Teresa pointed out, you may need to add a little extra flour to get the right "feel". The low-gluten and gluten-free flour doesn't absorb as much hydration as high-gluten flour (bread flour). If you don't like the results, use a different ratio of bread flour to 10-grain flour (75% bread flour to 25% 10-grain), or add some vital wheat gluten (1 T. per cup of 10-grain flour) to make up for the low-gluten flour. If the 10-grain mixture has a lot of rye flour in it, rye flour characteristically makes dough rather sticky to work with - even with the correct hydration. People often add too much flour to compensate for the stickiness, which will make the dough too dry. There are other methods to use when working with a sticky dough, such as kneading it with wet hands (dip your hands in a small bowl of water periodically), oil your hands with vegetable oil, or placing the dough in a gallon-size freezer zip lock bag, pushing out as much air as possible before closing it, and kneading it from outside the bag (you can alter the hydration if necessary). There are also kneading gloves available that work for kneading sticky doughs. -Grainlady

WAY-TO-GO!!!!! Where there's a will, there's a way.... ;-) That's a wonderful price for wheat!!! This is similar to recipes where you sprout the grain then grind it (see link below for information) for unleavened and leavened breads. You'll get more nutrition from sprouted grain, but there are advantages when you soak the grain, as well. Your method couples this ancient method with the bread-making method from the book, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hergzberg and Zoe Francois. BRILLIANT! Many traditional people (pre-industriliazed people) soaked or fermented their grains before making them into porridge, breads, cakes and casseroles. Ask someone who is "of-an-age" if they remember when the instructions on the oatmeal box called for an overnight soaking. All grains contain phytic acid in the outer layer (the bran). Soaking allows the enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phytic acid. When you soak cracked or rolled cereal grains overnight, it will improve their nutritional benefits. Instead of the "glug of vinegar", I'd probably use some whey from my homemade kefir as the acid. I already use grains that are chemcial-free. Using an overnight sponge method for 100% whole wheat bread will make the loaf much lighter. Soaked flour is also a method used with wholegrain flour that makes it much lighter. Soaked grains are also easier to digest - for you folks who have digestive problems with whole grains (NOT related to gluten intolerance). If you use steel-cut oats, try this soaking method. Oats happen to have a high amount of phytic acid in them, so this is a very beneficial method for preparing them. I mill my own oat flakes in a flaker mill, or coarsely milled oats (similar to steel-cut). This makes it cook much faster. Bring 4 c. water to a boil (in a pan that has a lid). Turn off heat and add one cup steel-cut oats. Add 1-2 T. whey, buttermilk, yogurt, or kefir (cultured dairy products) or even a little vinegar or lemon juice (all are acidic ingredients). Cover pot and leave overnight at room temperature. The next morning cook the oatmeal on low for 9-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Sprouted Wheat Bread Recipe

Annie - Yep, I'm gluten-free (3-years - gluten-intolerance, not celiac disease) but I still teach all kinds of classes, and do even more 1 on 1 mentoring through the Extension Office than classes these days (yeast and naturally-leavened bread, bread machine, grains and milling), just as I have for the past 25-years. I no longer judge foods at fairs due to gluten-intolerance, but I still train new judges. Even though I have eliminated gluten, I still mill my own flour when I make wheat-based baked goods (or other gluten-containing grains) for the rest of the family or visiting guests, as well as milling my own gluten-free flours from a variety of grains/seeds/beans. I just don't make 100% whole wheat bread nearly every week like I did before going gluten-free. I'm busy making all our gluten-free breads and baked goods now, as well as still developing sorghum recipes for a local mill. About your bread challenges.... These may be some reasons why you have so much trouble using home-milled flour. The type of wheat you purchased, the fineness of the milled flour (fine flour = fine bread - coarse flour = coarse bread), or failure to add an acid to the dough (1/8 t. ascorbic acid powder per loaf) to counteract the damage to the gluten from Glutathione found in wheat germ (which leads to short squatty loaves with a coarse grain). My panned loaves of enriched 100% whole wheat bread are as high-rising and nearly as fine a texture as white bread - but that didn't happen until I started using the sponge method and adding ascorbic acid. If you are using a straight dough method (best suited for white bread and light wheat using commercial bleached/unbleached flours - a more modern method designed for making bread quickly), instead of using an old-fashioned sponge method (which is best suited for wholegrain flours), that may be a contributing factor as well. Some of the heirloom wheat varieties, when freshly-milled into wholegrain flour, require 2-day processes for making good bread - usually due to the low amount of gluten in these old varieties. Remember, before the 1870's and the advent of hard red winter wheat being grown in Kansas, all wheat, and the milled flour, was from soft wheat varieties. So -- soft wheat can be used for making bread, it just won't be the high-rising loaves of bread made in an hour in a bread machine, and there are older technics used. I've also done tests for a mill that had hard winter wheat with a 16% protein level (which is very high), and you have to knead it nearly forever to get that much protein developed when using a straight dough method - but it's a cinch when you use a soaked flour method, and you need very little kneading. My knowledge is from years of training as a foods judge at fairs using judging standards for what characteristics are considered "best" for the baked goods being judged; and knowing the science after years of classes and study about wheat/flour, and other grains, and baking characteristics. You have to be equally as informed as to what is right as to what went wrong when you judge. It's not just about what "looks" good. These are also based on industry standards from restaurants to commercial bakeries. You probably won't see a pizza place using all-purpose flour, it's the wrong standard for pizza dough - BUT - you can make pizza dough with all-purpose flour - it's just not the optimum flour choice. Knowing the science really IS the difference between good and best when using judging standards. Personal preference aside. -Grainlady