Check to see if you have any (health food) coops in your area. Churches (esp. LDS) sometimes have them. Next, try health food stores and ask them for prices for large quantities. Be sure to ask for a discount if you order in bulk. The closer to home you can find a source, the better off your pocket $$$ will be. It will cost you nearly as much for shipping as it does for the wheat.

If you have a County Extension Office near you, give them a call. The Ag. Agent may know of a local source.

Wheat is still cheap food that can be used in a lot more ways than just flour, but it's the highest price I've ever paid for it just now. I've gotten free wheat from friends and cousins (I live in Kansas wheat country), but they usually apply chemicals to their wheat and I prefer chemical-free.

You also need to know which kind of wheat you want. For bread, I like Wheat Montana - http://www.wheatmontana.com/ and have hundreds of pounds of Prairie Gold and about a hundred pounds of Bronze Chief in storage. I was able to get it at Wal-Mart for about 6 months last year, so I stocked up (I vacuum seal mine in FoodSaver bags and store in plastic tubs.) Prairie Gold is hard spring white wheat and has a mild flavor and lighter coloring than Bronze Chief; which is a hard spring red wheat and has that acidic flavor associated with whole wheat. I use red wheat for making cream of wheat cereal, sprouts, and homemade bulgur.

My next favorite wheat is my most recent purchase - hard white winter wheat from the Farmer Direct Mill just outside of town, but you can order it on-line. http://www.farmerdirectfoods.com/ Mine has 13.1% protein which is an excellent wheat for breadmaking.

I order small amounts of soft white wheat from Bob's Red Mill to use for baked goods where you don't want a lot of gluten development - quick breads, pastry, cakes, etc.. I also use a lot of spelt or spelt/wheat combination to control gluten levels.

For really fine cake flour for chiffon or angel food cakes, I use a mixture of soft white wheat and oats (or spelt). A 3:1 ratio - 3 wheat and 1 oats or spelt.

The good news, it has a shelf life of 25-years or longer, when properly stored at a cool temperature. I recently discovered some wheat in storage I purchased 6 years ago (look what 2 moves in 4 years will do to a person), and it was just as good as the day I bought it.

You also will want wheat that is a year or two old. When I get new crop wheat, I have to let it age a year or two before I use it.

-Grainlady

Okay, a stupid follow up question. When you buy wheat for grinding your own flour, is it what's called wheat berries, or is that something different?

Sally

Yes, they are called wheat berries.

As grainlady noted, the protein content of the wheat has a great effect on the quality of the dough. You'd want a relatively high protein level for chewy things like bagels or pizza crust and a lower level for pastries and the like.

If you can get a good deal on bulk purchases, then storage becomes an issue. There are lots of websites which can give you advice on long term storage.

Thanks all for your helpful responses.
Grainlady, I'll try the local agricultural extension (university of florida) office and ask them for any hints about where to buy wheat berries and other whole grains. I'm not a LDS person, but that won't stop me from contacting them if I need to regarding this topic (or maybe some other church). As to health-food coops, there are none in this area if the food coop listing I searched is up to date and complete (asking around I've also not been able to locate one close by either).
I can ask my wife to speak to one of the Whole Foods Market managers and see if they can give us a break for buying in quantity.
Storage, as Arley points out, is an issue so any tips you might have Grainlady regarding this would be greatly appreciated (also, Arley, if you can remember those websites giving advice about long term storage, I'd be very grateful).
We bought some large bag (50 lbs?) of white flour in Gordon Food Service some time ago, but noticed tons of "weevils" (or some other little scarab/bug which commonly is found in wheat flour stored for a while at room temperature) after a few months of storage in a great big plastic bin we bought in the Container Store. Somewhere along the way we read that putting the flour in plastic bags and then freezing it would kill most of these insect eggs, but the issue then becomes freezer storage, which, in our case, is limited since we don't yet have a separate freezer besides our refridgerator's.

Yesterday my wife was reading up on the Nutrimill (now--always?--made by Bosch) and one person from Florida had problems cleaning it with consequent development of mould from this lack of being able to reach all spaces of the mill to adequately clean it. She hadn't come up with any other people voicing a similar complaint so I'm left wondering whether that person failed to clean it regularly or something else. Is this really an issue in the experience of others in this forum (do you have any problems with yours Grainlady?). The Nutrimill seems like a very good mill (and not exorbitantly priced either, though it is expensive). My ultimate goal is to be able to make my own Ezekiel bread (anyone have any experience doing this?) and, eventually, grind my own bulgur, chick pea flour, fava bean flour (to make my own falafel mix as well as making faina/farinata with the chick pea flour), and maybe some other creative uses (I like one suggestion regarding instant refried beans using ground, dried beans).

I buy flour through Azure Standard..they also carry whole grains. You have to register and I think, find a delivery drop in your area..But I think you can have items directly shipped to you..but not sure if they go to Florida.
I belong to a co op in my area..so I have a Monthly drop point.

Here is a link that might be useful: Azure Standard...must register to view prices

Found this seller when I was looking for something else...
This way you can affordably "play" with a few different grains.
Their shipping seems crazy...but maybe combined it's better...
Would be nice of them to offer flat rate USPS...then you could really get a good value!

Here is a link that might be useful: Whole Grains on Ebay

Thanks Terri. Do you have a grain mill and if so, what's your experience with this (these) machine/s? Thanks.

No Paul I do not..
I'd like to get to that point someday..but at the moment it's easier to "afford" Organic pre milled grains in smaller portions as I need it than drop hundreds on a mill.. Even though I know that it's more cost effective and healthier to mill ones own as needed... Right now I've been using Bob's Red Mill Organic White Flour(as my AP and Bread Flour) at 5lb bags at a time..the price is now over a $1/lb..it was about a $1 cheaper a bag even 6 mos ago! I also am working on a 25lb bag of white wheat from Azure that I bought 4 or so months ago...and it's even gone up about $8 since I ordered it!! But in January I will be placing an order for white flour and again the white wheat from Azure with my Co op. I've been going thorough 5lbs of the white flour a week atleast. Then about half that in the white wheat. I can't go all "nutty" wheat in my baking yet..LOL I'm still weaning the family..LOL

I also buy small bags of Bob's Red Mill oat flour, barley and rice flours from a local grocery that carries a pretty good selection of natural and organic products. But I do buy spelt in bulk from a grocery store co op in a few towns over.

I'd say Grainlady will steer you in the very best directions.

As I understand it, whole grain milled flours should be used or frozen ASAP to retain freshness...the oils can get rancid, nutrients can be lost, and the bread won't rise as well, so I would be hesitant to buy large amounts of pre-milled flours. Our mill (Whisper Mill, now available as WonderMill) was about $230 (now more, I think), which in the years we've had it, has saved us money but is priceless in regard to the ability to mill fresh, nutrient dense flours. I use Montana Prairie Gold for almost everything, but add rye, spelt, and have even milled beans, which we've used for 'instant refried beans,' thanks to instructions on this forum. Another alternative, until you're convinced to buy your own mill ;-), is that some stores that sell the grains also have a mill available in the bulk department so you can grind before you take it home. This is true of the in the Montana wheat display in the store from which I buy my wheat berries.

rhome, I've had no problems with my white wheat flour in the 25lb bag..it lives in my pantry in it's brown bag inside a giant ziploc...It is Montana BTW...my bread's have no problem rising...and so far it's not gotten bitter..however I am sure that the it's nutrients are fading every day...

I'm glad you have had such good luck with the flour, Terri. I didn't know Azure had Montana. Do they also have the Prairie Gold wheat berries or just flour? I used to order from them, but lost my co-op/drop person (10 yrs ago!) and haven't found a new one. I hate calling a list of strangers to ask to be in their group, which was the set-up last I checked. Maybe it's changed to a better process by now. I drive about 60 miles to get my wheat, so it'd be nice to get it from Azure.

Sorry for the bit of a hijack, Paulope.

rhome, they have their own wheat berries.
Azure Farms
Hard White Wheat 32.65 for 50lbs. vs 42.85 for already ground
Soft White Wheat 24.20 for 50lbs.

I am using the Praire Dancer White Wheat from Montana Milling. 50lbs is 34.15...I buy it in the 25lb bag..today it's 18.55.

paulope - I used a Whisper Mill 1-3 times a week for well over a decade - no mold - and have only switched to a Nutrimill in the last few months. If there was a mold problem associated with a Nutrimill, it was probably from using grain with an extremely high moisture content (a NO-NO with ANY mill), or the mill was stored under extremly moist/humid conditions (under a sink near the dishwasher?). Impact mills are self-cleaning - you let the mill run empty for a short period of time after all the grain has passed through the hopper and the flour has been expelled. The only thing one has to deal with is washing the bin that collects the flour, the lid and rim, and the cup on the bottom of the lid along with the filter (small round black sponge).

If I were to store one where humidity was in excess of 50%, I'd probably place it in a plastic bag or a storage container to control the immediate environment, with a container of DAMP-RID to pull out the humidity from the air.

After studying the details of whole wheat flour - commercial VS freshly milled - I'd never purchase commercial whole wheat flour if I couldn't mill my own - PERIOD. I'd use unbleached flour and add flaxmeal and chia seed gel for additional fiber and nutrition (which I do with ww flour as well).

Much of commercial ww flour is nothing more than white flour with some of the bran raked back into it to make it "brown". The germ has been removed in order to extend the shelf-life, and occasionally it's been removed by law because the germ oil goes rancid quickly. King Arthur and Hodgson Mills are exceptions and are 100% whole wheat (all the grain is milled into flour) from what I've read. But NONE are sold frozen or refrigerated, so the nutrients have been destroyed and the oils - well, lets just not go there!

Once milled, whole wheat flour can become rancid in a relatively short amount of time - especially when kept at room temperature or warmer. But the dirty little secret, oils don't have to smell rancid to BE rancid. If they smell rancid, it's been that way a long time. Rancid oils are dangerous free radicles.

Studies have shown that vitamin loss begins as quickly as 3 hours after milling. Oils begin to degrade as soon as oxygen mixes with it. Once that bran coat is cracked, it's down hill from there.... Whole wheat flour that has been warehoused and shelved for many months has lost most of their B Complex and C vitamins.

Compared to freshly-milled, commercial whole wheat flour tastes like old road dust to me. When I judge foods at County Fairs in the wholegrain division, I can tell who mills their own and who uses commercial by the smell and the taste.

The only way to get all 25 vitamins, minerals and proteins is to mill your own flour and use it a.s.a.p. If I have any flour leftover, I freeze it and use it within a week. Freezing only slows down the degredation of the oil and nutrition. It doesn't stop it.

-Grainlady

Thank you all. Please don't worry about digressing...it usually makes for interesting conversation.
I've wondered about the humidity/mold issue and am also a little puzzled by it since if the mill is stored inside the home and not in places where there is usually a high moisture content, most of the air inside the home here in Florida would be relatively dry since the air conditioner is running for a good deal of the day and this dries the indoor ambient air a bit.
Another concern of my wife is regarding the amount of "grain dust" generated by these mills. Is this something to be concerned about enough so that it is preferable to run the mill outside the home and then store it (and the milled grains of course) inside.
Of the two mills (Whisper Mill and Nutrimill) what are the differences and why did you choose one over the other Grainlady? I thought I read that maybe one of those (the Whisper Mill) is no longer available? Is that right? If it were available, would you favor it over the Nutrimill?
Thanks.

I'm not grainlady, but I'm here right now, so will answer what I can. The WhisperMill is now sold as a WonderMill, because someone else has taken over selling it after the previous people disappeared, taking the value of our 'lifetime warranty' with them! But so far, I haven't had a bit of trouble with the WhisperMill, and the WonderMill people will fix them rather reasonably if I do, so I'm not worried any more.

I think the Nutrimill holds more, but I'll leave the NutriMill vs the WonderMill for Grainlady.

I don't feel the need to use mine outside. It has a foam filter thing that keeps most of the dust in the bin that catches the flour. If you look above the filter while the mill is running, you can detect a tiny bit of fine particles escaping, but it's very minor. The only time I had trouble was when I didn't get the lid of the bin on right and (against all practicality rules) walked into the other room after turning it on, missing that it was spewing flour all over the counter. It was a mess, but localized to that particular spot in the room.

Paulope, I have a suggestion. Post another question and mention your location in the subject line. We have several active members who live in Florida, maybe not reading this.
But if you ask for leads on grain sources in Florida, they may chime in with good ideas even if they don't grind grain themselves.

Thanks rhome410. Can you grind all sorts of beans in those grain mills as well?

Cloudy christine, I might just do that. I'll also ask our organic food co-op person if they have enough interested members so that they might start ordering some grains as well as the fruits and veggies.

Some differences between the Wonder Mill and Nutrimill.

Wonder Mill
- MUST be ON to load the hopper.
- Will only mill flour (no corn meal).
- Does a large variety of grains/seeds/beans, including large beans like fava and garbanzo. Will NOT mill small things like teff and amaranth; or oily seeds like sesame, flax, coffee beans, sunflower seeds, etc. (but neither does the Nutrimill). I use a seed mill or coffee/spice mill for those.
- I think the Wonder Mill produces flour a little bit faster than a Nutrimill, but not enough to make a big difference.

Nutrimill-
- You can load the hopper while the machine is off (a big plus), or turn it off during the milling process.
- Mills a fine flour (necessary for fine breads, pastry and cakes). You can also set the machine to a coarse setting. Mill corn into a fine-grind of corn meal or durum wheat into a coarse flour similar to simolina (except it's whole grain where simolina has the bran and germ removed). NOTE: I use coarse durum flour for pasta and fine durum flour for noodles. I use a Corona Corn Mill for coarse-grind corn meal.

Caution for both mills -

There are some grains/seeds/beans that produce more flour volume, so only fill the hopper no more than 2/3-3/4 full.

They are:

-lentils, dried sweet corn, dried pinto beans, dried green beans, dried mung beans, most all legumes, garbanzo beans, chana dal, quinoa, oat groats, spelt, barley, soybeans, kamut

They both also mill - wheat (hard and soft), buckwheat, split peas, popcorn, sorghum, triticale, rye, rice, millet.

You can Google for more information on both machines and make your own comparisons. For only a few dollars more than the Wonder Mill, I'd say the Nutrimill is a better buy for two reasons - 1. because it mills corn meal, and 2. you can load the hopper without the machine being on. But saying that, both are excellent mills.

Had to chuckle at rhome410 - I've had that spewing flour a few times myself. Like when I bumped the hose out that goes from the mill to the flour canister.... I've never noticed much, if any, flour dust with either of these machines. They are well designed to prevent that. I use a soft brush to clear the flour from the bowl and parts before washing it in hot soapy water, and that's probably the most flour dust in the process.

I DO wear ear plugs when running both these mills.

I've also known a couple cases where new users of the Nutrimill didn't get the flour bowl completely into the machine and then turning it on. Created quite a "dust-up" (pun intended). There's an embossed marking NO/YES on the front/bottom of the machine. Make sure the bowl is past the YES marking before starting the mill.

-Grainlady

Thanks Grainlady! A very useful comparison of the two machines.

Now I want a NutriMill! :-) Although I like coarse corn meal and would like to coarse-grind grain, kind of liked cracked cereal...So maybe that's still bigger pieces than the NutriMill will do?

I couldn't get garbanzos to mill in my Whispermill. They were too big to go down into it. It did fine with black and pinto beans, but what a racket!

rhome410 - That's why I have a bevy of mills - no one mill does it all. I use the Marga Mulino flaker mill or the Corona Corn Mill for really coarse grains - similar to steel-cut oats or coarse-cut multigrain cereal blends (I add the multigrain blends to breads for texture and to help lower the glycemic impact).

I mill chana dal instead of garbanzos (ordered from Bob's Red Mill). They are immature garbanzo beans, smaller and low-glycemic. I often use them instead of split peas or garbanzo beans.

-Grainlady

I always miss (in my breads) having the cracked multigrain mix in if I forget or don't have any, but worry about the freshness of that I buy in a store... Why have fresh flour and rancid cracked grain?

Thanks again, Grainlady.

Wow, my wife has just found out that our local organic vegetable/fruit co-op has a whole grain subgroup of people who get together every two months to place orders for whole grains. Most of these, according to what my wife's been told, have Nutrimills. The next meeting is two weeks from now. I will surely be at that meeting! Thanks for the tips/comments (keep them coming whenever you feel inspired...I'm sure I can use them all).

I ask this here, because I thought Paulope or others might want to know sometime, too.

Grainlady, I looked into the flaker and corn mills you mentioned above. The flaker says that it will crack grains and mill coarse flours. Is there a reason you have both mills if the Marga Mulino does what the Corona does? thanks again!

rhome410 - Sadly, you can't mill corn in the flaker mill, therefore I also have a Corn Mill (which is used ONLY for coarse milling because it sucks when it comes to fine flour). Otherwise, a Corona Corn Mill is only good for grinding chicken feed - not flour (LOL).

-Grainlady

They do have to make it difficult, so you have to buy every little gadget, don't they? ;-) At least the Corona isn't a big budget item.

And maybe I should get chickens to get my money's worth? Haha

Thanks again.

Good to know these things should we be looking to buy these devices in the future. Thank you.

I went through the very same process as you, Paulope, and I live in Oklahoma, which is supposed to be wheat country. However I live in the NE part of the state which is mostly cattle country.

I ended up getting my best results by talking to local bakery owners, one of whom belongs to a co-op and got a couple of buckets for me when she got hers. Then I paid her for them. This is the best deal I've been able to find. I talked to the County Extension office, our local health food stores, and compared prices at various websites. I tried to contact the folks at the LDS church, but no one answered the phone. The next best price, even with shipping that is as much as the product costs, is Heartland Mill in Marienthal, KS www.heartlandmill.com .

There was a whole long thread that Grainlady posted on with lots of helpful information, including her wonderful whole-wheat bread recipe and a method posted by someone who soaks the wheat and then processes it in a food processor, about a month or two ago. It was either on this forum or on the Money Saving Tips forum.

Grainlady is a great resource on this topic and doesn't seem to mind repeating herself to folks who missed the previous discussions, but reading previous posts can be very educational. You could Google "grainlady wheat" and probably find lots of her very informative posts.

Good luck to you! --Ilene

Thanks Ilene. Yes, I felt I'd be treading on already covered territory, but I wanted to see if I could find any local sources (any people on this forum who also lived here in South Florida and were avid bakers/bread makers). As it turned out, I got all sorts of great tips and from one of those suggestions (to contact a local organic food co-op) sprang the eventually successful answer to our question of where to buy grains (turns out that a subgroup of the co-op people get together every two months and place orders for bulk grains).
Also got great advice on brands of grain mills.
I thank all (specially Grainlady) for their forbearance/patience with newbie questions such as mine.