If you’ve been reading my posts here, you know I’m on a quest to improve our nutrition. Mr. FixIt (aka Hubs) and I are in our early seventies. We want to be in good shape to keep up with our combined family. We have four great-grandchildren…so far! I’ve done a pretty good job of eliminating sugar and processed foods from our diet. I cook from scratch with fresh ingredients – not cans or boxes.

I follow several pages and groups that look to do the same thing. What grabbed my attention was the recent surge in freshly milled flour. Ancient cultures in the Middle East began grinding seeds between stones during the Mesolithic period around 10,000 years ago. From such humble beginnings, the mighty staple of bread was born.

I’ve been baking bread off and on for years, but it’s only been since the Covid lockdown that I’ve thrown myself into perfecting the process. I never realized there was so much to learn about something so simple as bread. I got really good at baking sourdough, then when I realized we were eating two loaves a week and I was gaining weight like crazy…I knew we had to cut way back.

Instead of baking bread, I studied the details of what makes a strong dough and how to know when the bread is done rising. That went on to learn about the history of flour and how Big Agra stripped the nutrients from flour in order to create a shelf-stable product for the home baker. This was great till people started getting beri-beri and other diseases caused by nutrient deficiencies. Then the government stepped in and made the flour mills put nutrients back into the flour. The only bad thing with that is, not all the good nutrients can be returned…at least not with natural ingredients.

Hence, the freshly milled flour craze was born. With an electric flour mill, you can have a healthy, nutrient-packed ingredient to make bread that is good for you. I’ve been stocking up on the grains I want to try. You can buy small amounts online to discover which grains give you your favorite bread. I received eight pounds of Spelt berries yesterday afternoon. After I put the groceries away, I sorted through about five pounds of them to clean the chaff and little sticks that find their way into the fabric bags of grain.

I’ve never done this work before, and I found it to be meditative and peaceful. My mind wandered as I picked through the grains. What was it like for women coming across the prairies to find a better life out west? How did mothers find the time to invest in the sorting of grain, the grinding of wheat, and the baking of bread? In my grandparents’ day, fifty-pound sacks of grain were carried by wagon to the local mill where it was ground for them. The same was done with corn for cornmeal and grits.

This is going to be an interesting endeavor, and I’m excited to bring you along with me to see what all the hype is about. I should have all the grains sorted and cleaned by the time the grain mill arrives this Thursday!

🤍

and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— Ecclesiasted 12:4 ESV

***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for the opportunity to own a grain mill. The possibilities are endless now!

#milling #grains #flour #ancientgrains