Have you ever thought about grinding your own grains into flour? There is an article in today’s LA Times about the joy of grinding your own, and it got me thinking.
I often do grind my own flours. I find home ground flour so incredibly fresh and silky, there’s really nothing like it. And, not only do you have the freshness factor going on, but you can also grind flours that are more difficult to find. Imagine grinding your own white wheat pastry flour, red lentil flour, yellow pea flour, green pea flour, chickpea flour, black bean flour, black rice flour, sweet brown rice flour, corn flour and meal, whole spelt flour, quinoa flour… Really, the list is endless, because you can grind just about any grain or bean into a beautifully silky fine flour. It give you so many more choices, as well as more control over your ingredients.
I have used both the Wonder Mill and the Nutrimill, which are both fantastic machines. Honestly, with about 10 minutes of work, you can grind yourself a good 5 pounds of flour, ready to throw into your next batch of bread. Of course you can also just grind a little flour, giving you plenty of flexibility depending on your needs.
There are still a few flours that I buy, like my favorite superfine brown rice flour from Authentic Foods. That flour is double milled, something that home mills are not designed to do. But for most of the other flours that I use, I’m good to go with my home mill.
You’ll often find me perusing the aisles of Bob’s Red Mill, buying whole oats, spelt, white wheat and whatever other grains happen to strike my fancy. I then store the grains in big glass canisters or Cambro buckets (something that restaurants and bakeries often use for storing foods). Then I either grind the grain as I need it, or I’ll grind up a couple of pounds that are good to go the next time I need them. Honestly, if you’ve never had bread made with freshly ground wheat, your really missing out on something special.
I’m curious to know how many others are grinding their own flour. I’d love to hear. I’m truly a cooking nerd at heart, so I can get quite giddy about kitchen DIY. I must thank my mom for that. When I was growing up, my mom ground her own flour for baking and shared the sweet joy of homemade bread hot from the oven.
I have been grinding my own wheat for around 10 years. I like the white whole wheat the best:)
Hi Julie,
I like grinding my own `specialty” flours like white rice, brown rice, rye flour etc.; but the way I understand it, even though it sounds really good to have your own fresh flour, actually it is better for flour to sit a while before it is used; it is like when you make wine you do not want to drink it right away you want to give it time to develope it’s `wineness”.
So yes I like grinding my own flour, I have a Vita-Mix that does an excellent job
but not for for day to day all purpose or whole wheat flours.
Your cinnamon swirl picture above is making me hungry 🙂
Hi Julie: I’ve just been diagnosed with Celiac Disease so I have to eat gluten free and I just found this site. I have a VitaMix Blender, but not the grinder. Do you think it would be advisable and worth the money for me to purchase the grinder. I’m really new at bean flours and was wondering if it would be better for me and maybe more reasonable in the long run if I ground my flours. I don’t know anyone who has a vitamix other than me so a hint from someone else would be helpful. Thanks alot., Molly
Hi Molly,
Were you wondering about whether or not to purchase the dry blade container for the Vitamix or an actual grain mill? I have a Vitamix and sometimes grind grain in the regular container. Although it works fine, it probably works better with the special jar which has a different blade. I think it comes down to how much flour you will be grinding. As far as bean flours go, I use them for things like savory chickpea or lentil pancakes, thickening sauces and gravies or making instant soups, but I don’t love using bean flour as part of my GF baking flour blend. I do grind various rice flours, millet flour and quinoa flour. If you have access to whole sorghum grain, you can grind sorghum flour too. If you’re only doing a little bit, the Vitamix will work fine, but for bigger quantities, the grain mill is awesome.
Do you have access to stores which stock a nice variety of GF flours? This might help you make your decision. Buying the flours already ground are certainly much easier (especially if you can buy them in bulk), but you don’t always get the same freshness that you can get with grinding your own. It can also be cheaper to grind your own too, especially if you’re going through a lot of flour.
I hope I helped answer your question Molly. I will also be adding more gluten free recipes to my blog soon, so check back.
Good luck! Julie
NO JULIE!!! The VitaMix will do a better job and less mess than a mill. I own both and gave the mill away as the chute wouldn’t take larger items like dried chickpeas. I have owned a Vita Mix for over 20 years and ground all kinds of things into flour with it.
I have a Nutrimill and a Vitamix. I grind most of my own flours like chickpea, pinto, sorghum, millet, quinoa, teff, amaranth. I buy my rice flours superfine because I can’t get them fine enough with either machine. I have put my preground brown rice flour in my Vitamix dry container and tried to get it superfine. It gets the flour hot pretty quickly, so I pour it out on a paper plate and put in the freezer until it’s cold, then back in to grind for another minute or until it gets hot, then repeat. I’ve tried doing that several times and I still can’t get it as superfine as Authentic Foods brown rice flour. I love having both machines. I think if you can afford them, go for it. I got my mill on Amazon and my Vitamix from QVC. My next adventure will be to cook the brown rice first, then purée it into a paste, dry it, then grind it. Has anyone tried that? I hate paying the price for the AF flour, but it truly makes all the difference. Jayne
When I got my Vita-Mix I got the dry canister for grinding grains and I love it (when I have the time to actually cook any more).
I bought a grain mill a couple of years ago and I am so glad I did. I bake a lot of bread and with the mill I can make so many different flours. Especially since the variety of pre-ground flours over here isn’t so large. Now I can even make my own chickpea flour.
I love my grinder and love being able to grind my own special flours. Your photo is so mouthwatering I can’t stand it. Oh my goodness Julie!
I’ve never milled my own flour but you have truly inspired me to try it out. I love the idea of freshly milled flour and the wonderful flavour & texture you get from it. Thanks for the inspiration!
I’m with you Debbie! White wheat is delish!
Thanks Maria! I haven’t tried the Vita Mix for grinding wheat flour, just oat flour.
Good to know Aimee! I only have the wet jar for my Vita Mix.
Aren’t grain mills awesome Mihl! Have you tried red lentil flour yet?
Awww, thanks Sheree!
Thanks Danny! Home-milled flour is really awesome.
I use either the vitamix (I’ve been using the wet container have not bougth the dry one yet) or the milling attachment for the champion jucier
Yup! I love grinding my own flour – I’m probably the only college student I know that does! I use the Nutrimill and love it. Though it does sound like a jet engine…
I get my wheat from a friend of mine who is a Mormon, which is relevant because she gets her wheat from a Mormon storehouse. Super cheap and awesome quality wheat? Yes please.
Just found your website (thanks to Isa mentioning your name in “Vegan Brunch” sausage section) and I’m loving it already! I started using my K-Tec/Blendtec blender to grind my own whole wheat pastry flour after looking high and low in several stores, finally finding and buying a small (expensive!) bag only to discover when I brought it home that it was rancid. My tastebuds can’t stand the slightest rancidity in flour, so after I returned that bag to the store I hunted down white wheat flour and have been enjoying it freshly ground ever since.
Can anyone tell me how to make all purpose flour from grinding dry lentils?
Cecilia, you can grind flour from lentils, but it won’t be the same as all-purpose wheat flour. You can use a high powered blender (like a Vitamix or Blendtec), or a grain mill.
How many lbs of flour can we get by grinding 10 lbs of wheat kernel in a home grinding mill. And is there any left over of bran shell, if yes how many lbs.
Thank you
Hi Seena,
I’m not really sure how many pounds of flour you wind up with per pound of whole grain. There is not leftover bran, as it is ground into the flour, so it is literally a whole grain, whole wheat flour.
10 lbs of wheat equals 10 lbs of flour because you are just grinding it up without discarding any part of the kernal. 10 cups of wheat will not equal 10 cups of flour though because the flour gets “fluffed up.” So 10 cups of wheat berries would be about 15 cups of flour. But the total weight doesn’t change.
Just found your site from searching for while flour alternatives and refined sugar alternatives. I need to change my diet and I don’t want my taste buds to suffer! Are all mills around $250+ ?
I am learning…buy whole yellow pea flour and would love to buy the peas and make my own flour. Little confused…what is the difference in a dry jar (?) and a wet one. Which would I need to make flour? Can I make coconut oil, butter, etc. with one of these blenders? I have a soymilk maker that I am about to try with almond milk. So not eating GMOs, pesticides, etc. Help me out folks!
Does it work to grind Uncle Bens brown rice in the Vita-Mix? I note that the rice was parboiled. The instruction book says not to grind parboiled grains but didn’t say why it didn’t work.
I’m considering purchasing a Vitamix or a grain grinder mainly for bean flours. I recently purchased the grinder attachment for my Champion Juicer, but it doesn’t grind fine enough. If I want SUPER fine bean flours which mill would you recommend or should I just go with a Vitamix?
I bought a Vitamix with the dry container, it’s a darn good tool for grinding. This morning I made blueberry pancakes with fresh ground wheat berries and flax seed. It’s fast and they were delicious. Next I’ll try bean flour.
I am hoping some of the more experienced millers here can help me out. I have an electric mill and I mill my own chickpea flour and rice flours. My question is about grinding black beans and white beans or navy beans. Do I have to soak and cook the beans prior to milling? I am having a heck of a time finding a definitive answer.
I know that red kidney beans MUST be cooked because of toxicity issues. But I am very confused about the others.
Any guidance would be greately appreciated!
Julie, thanks for this post. I have not yet begun to grind my own flour, but I’m thinking about it. It began with a conspicous bag of black bean and salsa chips. I thought they would be like tortilla chips that I could dip into my homemade salsa or guacamole. They were dusted like those cakey nacho dusty cheese tortilla chips I don’t often eat. They worked for dipping, but not like a good solid blue corn or even bite-sized simple tortilla chip. As I contemplated what to do with the portion I didn’t eat, I considered making my own tortillas and baking them. I mean, people do this for money, it can’t be that hard, right? That’s how many of my adventures begin…so, now to grind some flour I go, just as soon as I get a reasonable break in classes where I don’t have to sew or knit something. Wish me luck;-)
I just bought a Nutri Mill and am anxiously awaiting its delivery. I’m hoping the couple local Amish/Mennonite bulk food stores have wheat berries. Which is better? Hard or soft ones? I am clueless as to the difference…….yeah, I know, they are either hard or soft wheat.
Also wanting to know just how the whole wheat flour I would grind myself would make the taste and consistency of any baked goods differ than when I used the “grocery store flour”………bleached, enriched, blah, blah, blah…………….
I know it is all much better for us. And if I would grind rye and want to make some rye bread, what proportions of whole wheat flour/rye would be best?
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