Pros & Cons of Milling Flour At Home

As a child, growing up in my parents’ house, white flour was readily available; however, if I wanted to make anything with whole wheat flour, I had to grind the wheat myself.

For those who’ve never ground their own flour before, this involves 1) wheat berries and 2) a grain mill. Wheat berries, also known as wheat kernels, are the seeds from which wheat plants grow. Unlike store-bought flour, wheat berries haven’t undergone any refinement.

The wheat kernel includes the bran, endosperm, and wheat germ (I know… all super appealing sounding names haha). When milling flour, you simply take these wheat berries (or wheat kernels) and grind them up into a fine powder, which we call flour!

As someone who grew up grinding wheat flour, It wasn’t until my freshman year of college when I realized that I could buy whole wheat flour at the grocery store. I didn’t have to go out and purchase a grain mill.

Since I learned this, I’ve always assumed that milling flour at home is a major hassle with no real benefits. Only just recently have I begun to wonder if there really is something beneficial to the at-home grain milling. As I did more research, the findings were quite astonishing. Not only is milling your own flour healthier, but it also has the potential to be cheaper. Additionally, the freshness this brings to your baking can have many other added benefits. At the same time however, milling flour can be time consuming and noisy.

If you’ve ever wondered if milling flour might be right for you, or if you simply want to learn more about it, this post is for you!

PROS OF MILLING FLOUR AT HOME

1) Nutrition

According to many sources, dried wheat kernels begin to degrade in nutrients when they are ground. As such, when you close the time gap between the time when you grind your flour and the time when you use it to bake, you can maximize the nutritional value of your flour. Cool, right?!

2) Freshness

Let’s be honest, most foods taste better fresh. I know there’s those cold pizza fans out there, but there’s just not a lot of meals that get better with age. Likewise, there’s a lot indicating that flour also doesn’t get better with age. We’ve already discussed the fact that it gets less nutritious as it ages, but it’s also worth noting that fresher flour will usually add a fresher taste to your baking.

3) Lower marginal cost

Buying wheat kernels is usually cheaper than buying flour. That being said, there is a high initial cost of milling your own flour because you’ll have to buy a flour grinder, which can be anywhere from $40 to $350. However, if you think you might really embrace this new way of doing things then it could save you money in the long run because the everyday cost of flour will go down.

4) Less chance of contamination

When you buy whole wheat grains from the store, you’re essentially reducing the number of steps to get that food from the farm to your home. As food becomes more processed, it generally becomes less nutritious and there are more opportunities for contamination.

From my own experience working in the food industry, I’ve seen first-hand how food can become contaminated as it is prepared… blender blades might not get washed properly, things can get mixed with other things, an employee might have a cold, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are plenty of opportunities for contamination in my own home, but I prefer that contamination happen in my own kitchen rather than in someone else’s ;)

CONS OF MILlING FLOUR AT HOME

1) High initial cost

As discussed previously, grain mills can be very expensive. If you don’t think you’re going to use a flour mill very often, then it might not be worth your time or money. I personally don’t own a grain mill because at this point in my life it’s not worth it to me. I don’t have the time to be grinding my own flour anytime I want to make bread. I will, on occasion, mill other types of flour such as quinoa flour. This does not require a grain mill and I can accomplish it within minutes in my Vitamix!

2) Noise

Grain mills can be really noisy. My only experience with grain mills is in my mom’s kitchen and it is an incredibly loud process. I will often dump the wheat kernels into the grain mill and then leave the kitchen because it’s simply too loud. Considering how loud my newly purchased Vitamix is, I’m guessing newer grain mills aren’t significantly quieter than old ones!

3) Time

Depending on the type of grain mill you have, milling flour can take anywhere from 3 to 30 minutes. While this may not seem like a lot, for someone with a busy schedule, it is definitely worth considering.

CONCLUSION

As mentioned previously, wheat isn’t the only thing that can be milled at home. If you really want to get into milling grains, you can make your own buckwheat flour, rice flour, almond flour, quinoa flour, and you can even grind your own flax seed! While a grain mill is super useful, not all of these require a grain mill.

I’ve tried grinding quinoa, almonds, and oats in my Vitamix and all three have worked really well! None of them were as finely ground as store-bought flour… but I definitely noticed a difference in quality of freshness and flavor, with the home-milled flours tasting much better!

All in all, grain milling may or may not be for you, but it’s definitely worth considering. There are several pros to milling grain at home, but there are also several cons. The bottom line is: the decision to mill your own flour (or not to) entirely depends on your own personal preferences and desires and which factors you value most!