It's obviously not been triple-cleaned, and to me that's a MUST when someone sells you food-grade wheat. It looks like it came straight out of the combine hopper, or nearly so. All you are lacking in the picture are the green wings of beetles, an occasional June Bug, and a few cricket legs in your wheat. We winnowed wheat once when a friend gave us some of his prize hard winter white wheat straight from the combine. Hubby laughed as he picked out bug parts, saying how this really wasn't vegan-friendly....but that's another story. Soft wheat is low-protein (low-gluten). It should have worked fine for biscuits, in fact it's preferred. Your dough was wet because of the lower amount of protein in the grain/flour than the flour you usually use. If you are accustomed to using high-protein wheat (Prairie Gold) in your recipe, or even all-purpose flour, then you will need to either decrease the liquid or increase the amount of flour, adding enough flour until it's the right "feel" for biscuit dough. Obviously, this flour won't work for yeast breads because of the low-gluten (soft wheat is always low-protein). Use it for pastry, cakes and quick breads, and even then you may need to adjust the amount of flour because I suspect it has even less protein than all-purpose flour and most recipes call for all-purpose. If you want to do a protein check, place 2-3/4 c. of the flour (slightly packed - drag the measuring cup up the side of the container when leveling) in the bowl of a food processor with the steel knife attachment, and add 1 c. of water. Process for about 30 seconds. If the mixture forms a sticky dough ball in the food processor, then the flour is around 8% protein, or the equivalent to cake flour. If it forms a ball using 2-1/2 c. of flour slightly packed - drag the measuring cup up the side of the container when leveling) then it's about 10% protein, or the equivalent to all-purpose flour. For high-protein bread flour (around 14% protein) it takes 2-cups (slightly packed - drag the measuring cup up the side of the container when leveling) + 1 T. -Grainlady

Bleached/unbleached commercial flour has a shelf-life of 6-12 months. Wheat will keep for DECADES, and other types of hard grains also have a longer storage time than flour. Soft grains I try to use within 2-3 years of purchase. In fact, you don't want to use new-crop wheat if possible. It mills better when it has a year or two on it's age. You might enjoy the information in the link below. I have all kinds of opinions on hand or electric....(LOL) Ask my hubby after we used to spend an hour taking turns grinding wheat by hand into enough flour for a couple loaves of bread! He was the first one to ask "do these things come electrified?" So we quickly got over the romatic notion that grinding by hand was so close-to-nature - it's not! It's just plain old work - especially when you consider how long it takes to make bread to begin with... You'll find all kinds of things used to power non-electric mills - including bicycle power. It wasn't until I went through a poor-quality hand-crank mill and a poor-quality electric mill that hubby got me a Whisper Mill for a Christmas gift years and years ago. That was the only thing I wanted. That was when I started milling nearly all the flour used at our house, and making all breads and baked goods made at home using freshly-milled flour. Food storage rule #1 - store what you use and use what you store... I used a Whisper Mill (now goes by the name Wonder Mill) for soooooooo many years - 1-3 times a week. Now I use a Nutrimill and LOVE it! Both of these are electric impact mills that produce superior flour. I have a Family Grain Mill as a non-electrical back-up mill, should we be without electricity, but I even have the electric motor for that. I use a non-electric seed mill for milling small "stuff", like tef and amarantha. You can't mill these tiny seeds in a Wonder Mill or a Nutrimill. I also use the seed mill for oily seeds (sesame, poppy, flax). The best part of making your own flour is that you'll be getting ALL 25 vitamins, minerals, proteins, and all the fiber available - when you make it fresh! Some studies have shown that vitamin loss begins as quickly as 3-hours after milling. I keep: hard red spring wheat, hard white spring wheat, hard white winter wheat, soft white wheat, and durum wheat in storage. I also mill a large number of other grains/seeds/beans. Good luck with your home storage. Over several years, I managed to fill our storage room in the basement on a $50/week food budget. We say the food in storage is now earning more money than our savings account at the bank (LOL). -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Prudent Food Storage Q & A

1. Coarse flour equals coarse baked goods. Fine flour = fine baked goods. It's not that you can't use coarse flour for baking, but if you do you should expect different results than what you get with fine flour. In order to have a fine crumb for a Whole Wheat Angel Food Cake, or other delicate baked goods, you must have fine flour. You also need the right type of wheat - as well as the correct grind. Use soft wheat for baked goods where you don't need a lot of gluten development (pastry, cake, quick breads, some cookies, biscuits, etc.). I mill 3 parts soft white wheat with 1 part oats or spelt to make a low-gluten "cake" flour. If you already own the Ankarsrum attachment, run the grain through on a coarse setting (if it's adjustable), and then run the coarse flour through the mill on a fine setting and see if it's any finer than just one pass through the mill. This is a common "fix" for some mills, but it also entails more work/mess/time. It will also help prevent the motor from over-heating. Most of the mills used on the multi-task machines and stand mixers tend to NOT mill fine flour and also over-work the base motor, so keep to small amounts of flour at any one time, do the coarse setting first, then the fine setting. Allow the motor to cool between batches if you need to mill a lot of flour. 2. There is not a "perfect" mill, which is why I have a number of them. I also teach classes about home milling, so that's another reason I have a number of mills - for demonstration purposes. Do your homework so you are familiar with all the different types of mills and their milling characteristics - "stone" (which are actually any number of natural or composite materials which can chip, shred, crack and break - and if your grain is too moist for milling, stones will glaze over and you will need to remove and clean the stones); cone and burr mills (generally for coarse milling); as well as impact/micronizer mills (the newest and fastest method where the grain "explodes" into tiny particles as it passes through the fast-moving "teeth", rather than being pressed or ground between stones or burrs). 3. If your goal is to mill large amounts of grain into fine flour in a short amount of time, I'd suggest an impact/micronizer mill - a Nutrimill or Wonder Mill. The Nutrimill edges the Wonder Mill out only by a slight margin because you can load the Nutrimill before turning it on, it can be stopped even with the hopper full, and it has a "coarse" grind that the Wonder Mill can't duplicate. Even though they call it a "coarse" grind on the Nutrimill, it is actually a fine-grind for cornmeal. It's more like semolina in size (and what I used to mill durum wheat for a wholegrain semolina type product for making pasta). The texture of the baked cornbread using this so-called "coarse" grind on a Nutrimill will be more cake-like because it is so fine. You shouldn't stop the Wonder Mill in the middle of grinding (someone accidently unplugging it, or during a power outage) or you can clog the machine, and it needs to be ON when you load the hopper. Cautions: -I wear earplugs when using my electric mills due to noise. If you have children, I'd suggest they stay out of the room during milling to protect their ears. -Make sure the Nutrimill canister is pushed in properly (there are embossed words "YES" and "NO" on the base and the canister needs to be past "YES") or you will have flour everywhere. -Make sure the hose connecting the Wonder Mill and its canister is properly connected or you will have flour everywhere in your kitchen. -On the Nutrimill, I apply cornstarch to the rubber ring to keep it from sticking. I use a soft, natural-bristle pastry brush to remove the flour off the cover and the cup and brush it into the canister - so there is very little flour actually lost during milling or clean-up. I did the same with the Wondermill (which was known as the Whisper Mill when I owned it) and I also used a narrow bottle brush to clean the flour out of the connecting hose. -The electric mills can "walk" because of the vibration, and have been known to fall off counters, so keep an eye on it, or place it on a silicon mat (Silpat) to keep it from wandering and becoming yet one more victim for appliance "heaven". 4. If you watched the videos plllog linked to, I have owned or currently own all but the Wolfgang. If I could only keep one mill (which would be a very sad day indeed), I would keep the Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe (the hand mill) because of it's versatility. There is an adaptor for the Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe so you can power it with an electric drill if you need speed. I also have a Family Grain Mill with the motorized base, which is another good choice and also has a number of attachments you can purchase for it to expand it's use besides milling. 5. If you plan on doing any kind of coarse grinds or grits, you will want a hand mill for that - something that will adjust accordingly. I use a Corona Corn Mill for medium and coarse grinds of cornmeal, multi-grain/bean/seed mixtures, or hot cereal (Farina, Cream of Rice, Cream of Wheat, etc.), or will use my Family Grain Mill or Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe. When milling grain for cooked cereal (or cereal blends), be sure to sift out the flour or you will end up with glue in your cooked cereal. The same goes if you make cracked wheat or bulgur. 6. You can't mill small grains (teff, amaranth) in all mills, nor can you mill oily seeds (flax, poppy, etc.), so I have a Porkert Seed Mill for milling small seeds into flour. I can also use my coffee/spice mill, Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe, and Family Grain Mill. 7. If you would like to mill grain into flakes, that requires a flaker mill. I have a Marga Roller Grain Mill for flaking, and it will also grind a coarse grind of flour and coarse flakes, as well as crushing the entire seed into a flake, but can't be used for something hard like corn or beans. Flaking grain will shorten the cooking time. You can add a flaker mill attachment to the Family Grain Mill. 8. If you are considering hand mills, make sure you can easily store it and have something it can be attached to (either permanently or temporarily). You will also want to store it in a dry environment so nothing will rust. I have a grain cart I roll in and out of my pantry when I want to use it. I store my hand mills on the shelves, and they can attach (clamp) to the thick wood top. As to the infrared heat apparatus, I don't have any information to add. I use the "dancing drops of water" test on a griddle. -Grainlady

I'm a long-time home miller of grains/seeds/beans and own a bevy of mills that do an assortment of tasks - including fine flour (which is necessary for breads and cakes), coarse grinding (for meals and cereal blends) and a flaker for milling flakes. I also teach classes on whole grains and milling and make all our breads and baked goods, so these mills are in use all the time. Mills: Nutrimill, and formerly a Whisper Mill (which now goes by the name Wonder Mill). The Nutrimill has a few more features than a Wonder Mill. Both mill a large variety of grains/seeds/beans, but the Nutrimill will not only mill a beautiful fine flour, but also a coarser grind than the Wonder Mill. So you can make a fine-grind of cornmeal - you will need another mill if you like medium or coarse grind of cornmeal. I also use this coarse setting for milling durum wheat and kamut for making whole-grain semolina for making pasta. I can heartily recommend both of these mills as excellent impact mills. My back-up mills: Family Grain Mill (hand or electric power - I have the electric motor for it) and a Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe (hand-powered). Both are very versatile mills. There IS a down-side to milling by hand. It will take you as much time to mill enough flour by hand as it takes to make the bread. It sounds so darn "romantic" or "back-to-nature" while it's really nothing but a lot of work to mill by hand. Corona Corn Mill - (hand mill) for coarse grinding only. Porkert Seed Mill - (hand mill) for milling tiny or oily seeds. (Amaranth, teff, sesame, flax, poppy, etc.) Marga Molino Flaker Mill - flattens grains into flakes or does coarse grinding. You can get a flaker attachment for the Family Grain Mill. If you use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour, I purchase the same wheat from a local mill that mills that particular flour for this region for King Arthur. Fifty pounds of wheat for $19.99. It comes in bags - and is more expensive if you want it in buckets ($25.99/45-pound bucket) or gamma-lid buckets ($35.99/45-pound bucket). I store over a thousand of pounds of grains/seeds/beans and most of it is vacuum-sealed in FoodSaver bags. After doing this process since the mid-1980's, I've never had an infestation of pantry pests. Oxygen-free storage will destroy any bugs/eggs that may be in your grain. Actually, if you purchase triple-cleaned grain, it's rare that there are any pests in it. Most people bring pantry pests into their homes via boxed foods from the grocery store, as well as in dry pet food. KA White Whole Wheat Flour is 100% extraction, which means they mill the entire grain, which is what I do at home, so I get 50-pounds of flour for $19.99 (plus tax). Technically, you can get a little more extraction from white wheat varieties than red wheat varieties, but that's just a bit of technical mumbo-jumbo. Another great wheat product: Wheat Montana Wheat (Prairie Gold - hard white spring and Bronze Chief - hard red spring), which I purchase at Wal-Mart - $13.98/25-pounds. It's very close to being organic and chemical-free - which is another plus for this grain - but makes it a premium price. I was purchasing this same wheat three years ago for $5/25# and at the time it was the most expensive wheat I'd ever purchased, but well worth it because it's an excellent wheat for bread. So you see you will have to do the math based on the price you pay for grain. I store a variety of wheat varieties. --Naturally-leavened and yeast-raised breads (where you need a lot of gluten-development): hard red and white spring wheat, hard red and white winter wheat --For pastry, quick-breads, cookies (things where you don't want a lot of gluten-development) - soft white wheat, spelt, and einkorn --For pasta - durum wheat and kamut Reviews: Pleasant Hill Grain - http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/ (and click on mills) You can find all kinds of reviews on the Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe. It's the newest mill I've purchased and I would highly recommend this mill if you could only have ONE, and didn't mind the workout from milling by hand. The best reason for milling your own flour is so you get the most nutrition possible from the grain. If I had to stop milling and buy whole wheat flour from the store, I wouldn't use it. The nutrients and healthy oils begin to degrade within 3-hours of milling. The healthy oils, once the grain is cracked open, are exposed to oxygen and that causes the oils to quickly go rancid and become free-radicles which are harmful to your body. When you purchase commercial whole wheat flour, all you are getting is additional fiber, and little else because it has long sense degraded during storage and on the shelf at the store. The only way to get all the nutrition possible from grain is to mill your own flour and to use it as soon as possible after milling. -Grainlady