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Müesli

April 4, 2022 by andrea Leave a Comment

Müesli is a wonderful, healthy alternative to granola. And it’s even easier to make than granola, because no oven is involved. Unlike granola, müesli has no added fat or sugar to mess with the goodness of the whole grains, nuts and dried fruits.

For serving, I spoon about 1/2 a cup of müesli over homemade yogurt for my morning breakfast. Add a banana or some berries and you are really set to go for the morning.

And if you are into overnight oats, you can sub müesli for the rolled oats. Just place about 1/2 cup of müesli into a 2 cup mason jar, cover with milk or coconut water, add some yogurt and then top off with your favorite fruit (frozen blueberries are mine). Let sit in the fridge overnight (or two) and you’ve got breakfast ready for the morning.

This recipe really should be considered as a starting point. You can mix and match your grains, nuts, seeds and fruits as you wish. A good rule of thumb to start with is about 80% grains and 20% nuts and dried fruit, but feel free to play with that ratio. I’ve added some warm spices to the mix for a little extra depth of flavor, but they can be left out or played with as you like. Here are some ideas for the ingredients to get you started.

  • Grains: Rolled oats, wheat bran, whole rye, rye flakes, whole barley, sorghum flakes, quinoa flakes, millet puffs, millet flakes, buckwheat groats.
  • Nuts/seeds: Sliced almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, pepitas, chia seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes.
  • Dried fruit: Dried apricots, dried cherries, dried figs, raisins, golden raisins, currants, apple chips, dried blueberries.

Müesli

andrea
Müesli is a healthy, low-sugar alternative to granola. Use this recipe as a starting point to make your favorite combination of grains, nuts, and dried fruits. Serve with milk or yogurt.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 0 minutes mins
Course Breakfast
Servings 12 1/2 cup

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 cup buckwheat groats
  • 1 3/4 cups rye flakes or rolled oats 
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds
  • 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, chopped
  • 2 tbsp shelled sunflower seeds
  • 1 tbsp flaxseed
  • 1/4 cup dried cherries
  • 1/4 cup dried apricots, small diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions
 

  • Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir until well combined.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to six months. 

To Serve

  • Serve 1/4 – 1/2 cup of muesli with an equal amount of yogurt or milk, a drizzle of honey, and fresh fruit like a sliced banana or berries. 
  • Müesli also works really well in overnight oats as a substitute for plain rolled oats. 
Keyword breakfast, easy, healthy, oats, whole grains

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: easy, healthy, homemade, muesli, oatmeal, recipe, whole grain

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

March 5, 2022 by andrea Leave a Comment

I like my cookies to have a nice chewy bite, be soft in the middle, and have crispy edges. Oh, who am I kidding? I like my cookies in any form as long as they are fresh out of the oven. I pretty much have zero standards for cookies other than that they be homemade. All that said, this cookie comes out soft in the middle with crispy edges. It’s pretty darn great. It’s not overly sweet or difficult to make.

A little about sourdough starter…

I wrote this recipe specifically to use up extra sourdough starter. I think the starter helps to give the cookie its excellent crumb and softness. Your starter can be well fed or just your discard. The recipe does call for a full cup of starter, but it can easily be divided in half, depending on how much starter you have available.

And some words on flour…

Whole grain flours really make this cookie. If you only have all-purpose flour on hand, go ahead and use it. But if you’d like to increase the flavor, fiber and nutrients of your baked goods, be sure to give these a try with your favorite whole grain flour. My standard go-to for this cookie is normally a soft white wheat or a spelt flour. Both will make a chocolate chip cookie that has a nice mild flavor with slightly more depth than you’d find using all-purpose flour. But honestly, try this with any flour you have on hand. My favorite flour that I’ve tried with these cookies was buckwheat flour. Let me know in the comments what flours you try them with.

Sour Dough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Serving Size:
4-5 dozen cookies
Time:
20 minutes, plus rest & baking
Difficulty:
Easy

Ingredients

  • 3 cups + 2 tablespoons (380 g) of soft white whole grain wheat flour or all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
  • 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temperature or softer
  • 3/4 cup (180 g) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (120 g) light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup (240 g) sour dough starter discard
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Combine the dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium sized bowl. Whisk to combine.
  2. Combine the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes. The sugar butter mixture should be light colored and fluffy.
  3. Add the eggs, on at a time to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
  4. Add the sour dough starter and the vanilla extract to the butter mixture and beat for 2-3 minutes until well combined.
  5. Add the flour mixture to the stand mixer. Combine on low speed, just until the flour is incorporated.
  6. Add the chocolate chips to the dough and mix until just combined.
  7. The dough can be baked right away, but it benefits from at least 30 minutes rest in the fridge. Wrap the dough in parchment paper and rest in fridge for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.
  8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Drop heaping tablespoons on dough on the pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: buckwheat, chocolate, cookie, homemade, snack, sourdough, whole grain

Homemade Burger Buns

April 26, 2021 by andrea Leave a Comment

These are the absolute favorite burger buns around our house. I’ve tried others – brioche buns, pretzel buns, you name it – but I keep coming back to these. They have a touch of whole wheat flour in them for great flavor, but you can make them with all white flour if that’s what you have around the house.

I recommend trying these with barbecue pulled chicken or pulled pork.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Homemade Burger Buns

Serving Size:
12
Time:
3 hours start to finish
Difficulty:
medium

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (120 grams) whole grain flour (home ground, if you have it) or sub with all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour (such as King Arthur all-purpose)
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water
  • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons finely ground salt
  • 2 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast

For Topping

  • 1 large egg, beaten with 1 Tablespoon of water for the egg wash
  • Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or Everything Bagel Topping, for sprinkling on the top

Directions

  1. Add the water to a large mixing bowl or to the bowl of your mixer. Set aside about 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour. Add the remaining flour (whole wheat and all-purpose), the butter, egg, sugar, salt and yeast to the water and stir until combined. Add additional flour until the dough forms a ball. Mix and knead until you have a soft, smooth dough. This should take 6-12 minutes depending on your mixer or kneading method.
  2. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Place in a warm (around 75-80 F), draft free spot and allow to rise for 1-2 hours, or until it is nearly doubled in size.
  3. Gently deflate the dough, and divide into 12 pieces about 60-65 grams each. Shape each piece into a smooth ball and gently flatten out between the palms of your hands. Place onto one or two parchment or silpat lined baking trays. Gently cover the buns (oiled plastic wrap or a large bag works well) and allow them to rise for about an hour, until they are nice and puffy.
  4. While the buns are rising, prepare the egg wash. In a small bowl, beat an egg with a tablespoon of water.
  5. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
  6. When the buns are risen, brush the tops gently with the egg wash and sprinkle with whatever seeds you are using.
  7. Bake the buns in the pre-heated oven for 14-18 minutes until golden brown. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack.
  8. Extra buns can be frozen when cooled. They will keep for up to three months in a freezer bag. Thaw at room temp for a couple hours (or use a microwave to speed the process) before slicing. They can be warmed, covered, in a 300 F oven.
Look at that bun in action!

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: bread, buns, whole grain

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

October 26, 2020 by andrea Leave a Comment

I’m excited about this recipe. This is a case where I had a pretty good recipe that I had no plans to improve upon, but a missing ingredient forced a substitution. After crossing my fingers and making a change, I’m pretty sure the change may end up being permenant.

My go-to double chocolate muffins are a take on the Chocolate Ricotta Muffin from Mollie Katzen’s Sunlight Cafe cookbook. Today I had a child requesting his favorite after-school snack of chocolate muffins, but I was out of ricotta but . Soooo… after unsuccessfully searching my freezer for that hidden ball of ricotta (it’s still in there somewhere, I know), I decided I’d better make do with things I have on hand. Two brown bananas were calling me to take them out of their misery. Add some peanut butter and I was ready to give a new recipe a try.

I keep the sugar pretty low on this recipe and I also use freshly ground, soft, white, whole wheat flour. The peanut butter also helps bump up the protein. I used natural peanut butter, but if your peanut butter has added sugar, you can reduce the granulated sugar by a couple teaspoons. And, as always, if you don’t have good whole flour around, just substitute it with white flour. You won’t get the fiber and flavor from the whole wheat flour, but it will taste better than most store bought whole wheat flours.

All in all, I think these are a pretty healthy snack for the kids. The recipe makes about 18 regular sized muffins. If you don’t eat them all right away, you can freeze any extras so the kids can grab them out whenever they want.

Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
Cuisine: snacks
Author: Andrea
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 30 mins
Serves: 18
My kids love the chocolatey flavor and I love that these muffins are low in sugar and high in protein and fiber from the peanut butter and whole wheat flour.
Ingredients
  • 2 1/3 cups (10.4 oz) freshly ground, soft white wheat flour (or substitute with white flour)
  • 3/4 t salt
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 6 T unsweetened cocoa (I use Dutch process cocoa)
  • 1/2 c granulated sugar
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2 soft, brown bananas
  • 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/3 cups milk
  • 1 T vanilla extract
  • 4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray 18 standard (2 1/2-inch-diameter) muffin cups with non-stick spray.
  2. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa, sugar, and chocolate chips in a medium-sized bowl.
  3. Place the bananas in a separate bowl and mash. I use a potato masher to mash them. Add the peanut butter and stir. Then add each egg, one at a time, and combine with a whisk after each addition. Add the milk and vanilla, and whisk until blended. Add the butter, and whisk again.
  4. Pour the banana – peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients and fold with a rubber spatula until just combined and the dry ingredients are moistened. Don’t overtax – a few lumps are okay.
  5. Use a large spoon or a scoop and scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. I usually like smaller muffins, so I fill them up about 3/4 full. You can fill to the top for larger muffins.
  6. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until they are pulling away from the edge of the tin and the tops don’t collapse if you lightly press the top with a finger. You can also use the toothpick test to check doneness, but this is sometimes a tough check because of the chocolate chips. (A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean).
  7. When the muffins are done, remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool 3-5 minutes. Use a knife of spatula to remove the muffins from the pan and place on a rack to cool.
3.5.3251

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: chocolate, easy, healthy, peanut butter, snack, soft whole wheat, whole grain

Classic Sourdough Waffles (or Pancakes)

June 20, 2018 by andrea Leave a Comment

There’s nothing like a pile of waffles early in the morning. And it’s even better when most of the work is done the night before.

This is a recipe that I usually teach in my Sourdough Baking Class – it is super easy and is also a great way to use up the unfed starter instead of discarding it.

Also – if you forget to make the overnight sponge the night before, don’t sweat it. I’ve done the overnight sponge a couple hours before finishing the batter and still had great waffles.

And while I’m technically one of those people who believe that pancakes and waffles deserve separate recipes, this recipe can bridge that gap in a pinch. You know… for those mornings when you want waffles but the kids are screaming for pancakes.

Classic Sourdough Waffles (or Pancakes)
Cuisine: Breakfast
Author: Andrea
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 20 mins
Serves: 16 large crispy waffles
This is a make ahead recipe – spend 5 minutes the night before and make your morning a little easier. Half the recipe if you want fewer waffles, or freeze the extra to cover breakfast for the rest of the week.
Ingredients
  • Overnight Sponge:
  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour (freshly ground, if you have it)
  • 2 T sugar
  • 2 cups buttermile, whey, or sour milk
  • 1 cup sourdough starter, unfed
  • Waffle or pancake Batter
  • all of the overnight sponge
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4/ cup vegetable oil or melted butter
  • 3/4 t salt
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 t cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Day 1 – combine all ingredients of overnight sponge (flour through sourdough starter) in a large bowl. Cover with plastic and let rest at room temperature (or 8-12 hours). Yes, the milk overnight will be fine.
  2. Day 2 – Combine the overnight sponge with remaining ingredients. Stir just until combined. Cook as pancakes on a hot griddle or use batter to make waffles in a hot waffle iron.
3.5.3208

 

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: breakfast, pancake, waffle, whole grain

Peanut Butter Banana Bread with a Chocolate Swirl

May 18, 2016 by andrea Leave a Comment

Check out that chocolate swirl!

Check out that chocolate swirl!

Banana bread is almost a staple in our household. When I married my husband, he came with a banana bread recipe. For years, I’d worry that he’d notice if I’d messed with her recipe. But I have slowly managed the transition to my own recipe. Some of the changes have included switching up to whole wheat flour, reducing the sugar, and adding a little yogurt. But none of those changes compare to the most recent upgrade – adding peanut butter. I was messing around making homemade peanut butter (more about that later) and happened to look over at the brown bananas in the bowl. Suddenly banana bread and peanut butter had merged in my brain. The rest is history.

First, a bit on the bananas. You probably already know you want the brown ones. They are sweeter, have more flavor and mash better. But did you know you can peel and freeze the brown ones and then your banana bread making never needs to be controlled by the bananas again! Just pull out the bananas and give them 5 or 10 minutes to thaw before mashing. And I just use a potato masher to squash the bananas.

As a matter of fact, I usually make this recipe in a bowl and combine it with a wooden spoon, dough hook or rubber spatula – honestly, whatever is closer. The trick being not to over mix once you add the dry ingredients to the wet.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Making the swirls

The chocolate swirl often seems like a lot of extra work to me. While it does put this bread up a notch, you can skip it and just fold the chocolate chips into the finished batter. Not as dramatic, but it does save time and a couple dirty dishes. And it still tastes great. Along that line, you can also leave the chocolate out completely. I’m not recommending it – but it is theoretically possible.

To make the swirls, spoon the two batters into the bowl in layers. Try to distribute the chocolate batter around the pan and once the batter is all in, use a knife to cut a wave pattern into the batter from one end of the pan to the other. Don’t make it too complicated – it will turn out great no matter how you do it.

And while we are talking about pans – use a larger 9×5 pan for this recipe. And remember to oil the pan. Even in my super non-stick awesome pan, the chocolate parts seemed to stick differently than the non-chocolate and it can make for a messy looking bread.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know how it turns out!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread with a Chocolate Swirl
Author: Andrea
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 75 mins
Total time: 1 hour 30 mins
Serves: 16 slices
A fun take on a classic banana bread!
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of flour – I use freshly ground whole wheat flour for the best taste and nutrition
  • 3/4 t baking soda
  • 1/2 t fine sea salt (if using salted butter, reduce to 1/4 t)
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • 1/4 cup (2 oz) of coconut oil or butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 cup of peanut butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of plain yogurt
  • 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9×5 bread pan.
  2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
  3. Peel bananas and mash in a large bowl – I use a potato masher for this!
  4. Add oil, sugar, peanut butter, eggs, and yogurt to the bananas and whisk to combine. You may still have banana lumps in the batter – that’s fine.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until flour is moistened. Don’t over mix.
  6. Melt the chocolate chips in a small bowl. I heat at high in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Add another 30 seconds in microwave and stir until the chips are melted. Let the chips cool for a couple minutes.
  7. Add one cup of the bread batter to the chocolate chips and stir until combined.
  8. Alternately spoon the batters into the prepared bread pan. Swirl with a knife.
  9. Bake for 75 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Depending on your oven, you may need to add 10 minutes (or even subtract 10 minutes). If your bread starts getting too brown towards the end of baking, cover with tin foil for the last part of the baking time.
  10. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.
  11. We wrap our uneaten bread in tin foil and store in the fridge. I hear it will keep days like this, but ours never lasts that long!
3.5.3208

 

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: banana, bread, chocolate, whole grain, whole wheat

Oatmeal Waffles

March 3, 2016 by andrea Leave a Comment

Oatmeal WafflesThis waffle is our family favorite and I’m not quite sure what has taken me so long to post it here. It’s probably that I don’t have any good photos of the waffles. But I’m trying to move beyond my meager photographic skills and still share this recipe.

This is what happens when you let your seven year old make the waffles.

This is what happens when you let your seven year old make the waffles.

We’ve been making these waffles since Jim and I got married. The recipe originally came from my mom and dad, but I’ve made very few tweaks to it over the years. We got our first waffle maker as a wedding present from Jim’s Aunt Terry and Uncle George. That first one lasted us about 10 years and I loved the deep wells that it made in the waffles. We’ve since moved on to a waffle iron that we found at Williams Sonoma, but our requirement for a nice big Belgium waffle is still met. We will never have any of those wimpy, soggy little waffles around here!

These waffles are hearty – definitely not light and fluffy. They are chewy and yummy. One will fill most people up and give enough energy to run until noon. My kids top them with syrup, but I like mine with some apple butter, toasted pecans and whipped cream. Enjoy them as you wish.

Oatmeal Waffles
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Author: Andrea
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 20 mins
Serves: 8 waffles
This is a chewy, filling waffle. Whole grain goodness at it’s best.
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, freshly milled is best
  • 1 cup of oatmeal, I used thick rolled
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 1 T baking powder
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 1/2 cups of whole milk, sour milk, milk kiefer, or whey
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 T coconut oil or butter, melted
Instructions
  1. Preheat your waffle iron.
  2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl – flour through salt.
  3. Combine milk and eggs in a small bowl.
  4. Add milk and egg mixture and oil to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
  5. When iron is hot, spoon batter into the iron and cook until desired doneness.
  6. Top with maple syrup, butter, pumpkin butter, nuts, whipped cream or strawberries as your heart desires.
3.5.3208

 

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: breakfast, oat, waffle, whole grain

Dinner Rolls DIY

November 22, 2015 by andrea Leave a Comment

Shaping the dinner rolls was always my kitchen task as a kids. My mom would give me the bread dough and tell me to go at it. But honestly, I never got beyond knots and round rolls. Now, there is nothing wrong with those shapes, but sometimes you want to mix it up a little for the bread basket. So, here are some of my favorite shapes to make, along with some ideas on toppings.

Once you have the rolls made, you can bake right away or you can do what I do – freeze them. I shape them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. As soon as I have the rolls shaped, I pop them into the freezer for 30-60 minutes until they are frozen solid. Then I put them into a freezer bag and keep frozen until I need them. A couple of hours before baking, pull out the number of rolls you want and let rest on a parchment lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown. You can do this with one to 100 rolls at a time and it’s a great way to enjoy a little warm bread with dinner without all of the work.

And one more tip before we get started, instead of making a batch of dough just for rolls, you can use any extra dough from bread baking and turn it into rolls. Freeze them and soon enough you’ll have enough for the family dinner.

Double Knot

Double Knotted Roll

Double Knotted Roll

This is my favorite shape to do. Just take your piece of dough, roll it into a long snake and start knotting the dough. I like to run the ends through the center a couple times – I like the extra little pull apart bits to the roll.  Then tuck the ends under. The only downside to this shape, is it takes some time. If you are in a hurry, see the braided roll below.

Once your rolls are shaped, you can oil the tops and add any toppings you like. My favorite topping mix is equal parts salt, poppy seed, caraway seed, garlic powder, and onion granules.

 

Braided “Knots”

This is a quick and easy way to get rolls shaped. Take three equal size pieces of dough and roll them into long snakes. Braid the dough and then cut pieces off to form rolls. You can try to shape it gently into a ball and tuck the ends under. You’ll end up with a mixture of different size pieces and some ends will end up sticking out. Sometimes its nice to have some variation in the rolls, but if you want everything looking the same, this might not be the roll for you.

Braided rolls

Step #1 – Braided rolls

Step #2 - Braided Rolls

Step #2 – Braided Rolls

Step #3 - Final Braided Rolls

Step #3 – Final Braided Rolls

Croissant Rolls

Step #1 - Croissant Rolls

Step #1 – Croissant Rolls

This is a classic shape that is really nice for a buttery roll. Take a piece of dough and roll into a flat circle. If you want, you can oil or butter the dough at this point and add shredded cheese (parmesan or asiago are nice), garlic, or any other seeds or seasonings you like. Cut the dough like a pie and roll up the pieces from the long end. Tuck the edges around to form a little curve to the croissant and you are done.

Done! Croissant Rolls

Done! Croissant Rolls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those are some of my favorite shapes. I’ll keep adding more to this page as I get some more photos together. If you have a favorite shape that I’ve missed, please comment below!

Filed Under: Clatter in the Kitchen Tagged With: rolls, whole grain, yeast

My Thoughts on Flour

September 15, 2015 by andrea Leave a Comment

I’ve been meaning to put this article out here for a while. These are just my personal opinions on flour and food. I make no claims to know what is really affecting so many people’s bodies. Is it gluten? Or is it too much sugar? Too much processing? Too many chemicals? Or a combination of all of these things?
I don’t really know the correct answer – and honestly, I don’t think anyone really does. But, like most people, I have some thoughts on the subject. And once in a while someone asks me why I mill my own flour. People might be aware that white flour isn’t that great for us, but they wonder if there is really much difference between store bought and freshly ground whole wheat flour. And honestly, when I was first introduced to the concept of flour milling, I wasn’t sold on the idea that it was so much healthy. But it didn’t take long for me to be convinced. All I had to do was make a loaf of bread using the freshly milled flour and I was converted. The dough was softer than any dough I’d made using whole wheat flour. And the bread tasted fabulous.
I think that because we don’t hear about flour milling very often that people assume it must be something that is difficult or time consuming. If you’ve been to one of my classes, you already know that it’s neither of those things. If you grind your coffee beans most mornings, then you are already exerting the same amount of effort as I do when I grind flour. So, it’s not hard. And as a mother of four who occasionally fits in a little civil engineering on the side, I honestly don’t have time for anything that adds an extra challenge. But I do make time for things that I feel make a difference to the quality of my family’s food and health – and flour is one of the easiest places I’ve found to make a difference. Plus baking your own bread is a rewarding and relaxing experience in its own right.

Before wheat berries are ground into flour, they can be considered a live food. If they are exposed to moisture, they will sprout and germinate. When they are ground into flour, they immediately begin to oxidize. And just like your coffee beans, the flour will taste better when it is freshly ground. Oxidation also affects the vitamin and nutrient levels in the flour. Most of the vitamins and nutrients are contained in the wheat germ. There is also Vitamin E oil in the wheat germ. Over time, the Vitamin E oil eventually will go rancid in whole wheat flours. If you have ever had whole wheat flour that tastes bitter, it is likely it’s been sitting on the shelf too long. This is one of the reasons that white flour became so popular for mass production – it has the germ removed for shelf stability, but removing the germ also removes the vitamins and nutrients from the flour. White flour also has the bran removed, which contains fiber and helps with digestion. All of this processing means that white flour barely resembles the original whole wheat flour made directly from wheat berries.

kernel_jpg_935612582

Source for image: http://wbc.agr.mt.gov/wbc/Consumer/Diagram_kernel/

I can go on and on about the flour. But really, in the end, you should decide for yourself. Here’s some ideas to start:

  • Do some research on processed flour. While it can be hard to find clear, non-biased articles, try this one on WebMD as a start and then try googling processed flour. You’ll find that flour is one of the most processed foods in our grocery stores.
  • Take one of my classes or find a local class on whole grain baking. You’ll learn something new and get lots of samples. Try this link through Bosch Kitchen Centers to locate other demonstrators who teach milling and whole grains.
  • Bake your favorite recipe using freshly milled whole grain flour and see if you don’t love it.

 

Filed Under: Clatter in the Kitchen Tagged With: flour, fresh flour, milling, whole grain, whole wheat, whole wheat flour

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