Grain Mill

I'm in the market for a grain mill. I'm not really a big baker, so up until recently, I had deemed this kitchen gadget to be unnecessary. However, the more research I do on grains, the more necessary a grinder seems. Through all of my reading lately I have come to realize that nutrient density is probably the most important factor in our food. Any time we eat food that is lacking in vitamins and minerals, it displaces other more nutrient dense foods. This is the real harm of junk food. Of course the artificial flavors, chemical preservatives, and hydrogenated oils are bad for us, but the real crime is that the food gave us calories without any of the necessary vitamins and minerals to actually sustain our bodies. This is where the grain mill comes into play for me. When I cook with flour I want it to be nutritious.

To understand the importance of fresh ground flour we must understand what a grain is. A whole grain consists of three layers: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. The bran is the outside layer which consists of fiber. Next is the endosperm, a starchy middle layer. And then we have the germ, where much of the nutrients and essential fatty acids are housed. White flour is made from endosperm only, excluding the fibrous bran and the vitally nutritious germ. Whole grain flour contains all of the nutrients found in the original kernel, with one caveat, it has to be freshly ground and refrigerated, otherwise the oils go rancid and the nutrient content is greatly diminished. Ground flour goes rancid at about the same rate as milk. That always makes me think as I walk down the grocery store baking aisle.

In doing my research I came across this:

"The nutritional importance of using fresh stone-ground grains for bread-making was revealed in the results of feeding studies in Germany (Bernasek, 1970). Rats were fed diets consisting of 50% flour or bread. Group 1 consumed fresh stone-ground flour. Group 2 was fed bread made with this flour. Group 3 consumed the same flour as group 1 but after 15 days of storage. Group 4 was fed bread made with the flour fed to group 3. A fifth group consumed white flour. After four generations, only the rats fed fresh stone-ground flour and those fed the bread made with it maintained their fertility. The rats in groups 3 to 5 had become infertile. Four generations for rats is believed to be equivalent to one hundred years in humans." -from this article

It reminds me of Pottenger's Cats. Of course humans are neither cats nor rats, but those sorts of studies have all sorts of interesting lessons for us, the most important being that a lack of proper nutrition for any creature results in a multi-generational degenerating condition.

As I said before, I'm not much of a baker, but I really enjoy making fermented pancakes. They have such a great texture! They're quite easy to do. Just combine your grains and liquids together in the evening and add something to start the ferment like yogurt, buttermilk, whey, or even plain old baker's yeast. Cover with a clean dish cloth and leave in a warm place overnight (room temperature is fine). In the morning your soupy pancake mixture should look bubbly, if it doesn't you can always postpone [ :-( ] your pancakes until the next day and by then your batter should be seeing some action. Add your eggs, oils, sweeteners, and baking soda to the batter and then fry em up. They bubble up in the pan too, it's fun to watch. Sometimes their texture reminds me of injera. I learned how to do this from Sandor Katz's book "Wild Fermentation". It's a great cookbook.

For further reading about grains check out this article:

Wheaty Indiscretions--What Happens to Wheat, from Seed to Storage by Jean Allbritton, Certified Nutritionist