Local Flour

Torey

Another addition to our local food supply! I stopped at a market stand on the way home from picking up my dairy and eggs to get some corn and they had LOCALLY grown and ground wheat flour. Its hard, red winter wheat. I'm very excited to try a loaf and a batch of local haskap muffins. Maybe even a batch of pasta.

Several of the larger farms and ranches in the area have been purchased by Mennonite families. This is one of them. It is so good to see the acreages in food production when some of them have been laying fallow for a few years.

They were selling oats and oat flour last week and I was disappointed to learn that it was from a family member in another province. Great product but still not local. So I'm just thrilled to get this flour.

Their corn that I had stopped for is excellent as well. My friend who was with me has a freeze drier so she is going to dry some and try grinding it for making corn bread. I look forward to trying that, too. Although, it is probably a different type of corn that is used for making corn meal and corn flour products. Not this super sweet fresh eating variety.

LaurieLovesLearning

That's awesome! We've been fortunate to keep getting given wheat to mill into flour. We'd certainly pay if they'd accept it.

A friend of mine from childhood has been growing his own wheat in his yard for a few years now. He dies everything from start to finish. We tried that here, but I think grasshoppers from miles around loved our unsprayed wheat & oats. We had nothing to harvest in the end.

I'm not sure how the organic growers don't have that problem. Maybe they lose a percentage & that works. We didn't have much to begin with.

Have you bakes with home milled flour before? There can be a trick to using it, and over time, we've figured out what recipes take well to 100% and which don't. For the most part, we've had no issues for many years now.

Torey

@LaurieLovesLearning

I have used hand milled flour but not for many years. As I recall it takes more kneading and more rising time for bread.

I will use it half and half in the first batch of muffins to see how it goes. I would be grateful for any tips you would like to pass along.

LaurieLovesLearning

Yes, that's right with the more kneading & time, and starting out 1/2 & 1/2, increasing your amounts over time. Make sure you write your changes down & record what's needed for your best result per recipe.

Whey is helpful in place of water for bread making. I never found the little bit of lemon juice advice helpful.

When mixing bread, my cousin mixed 1/2 the flour with all the water & let it sit & soak for an hour or so (unintentionally), and came back & added the remainder. She said it worked great. It needs time to absorb liquids.

Adding more flour when mixing or kneading can make the product hard. You want your bread dough somewhat sticky. Sometimes putting water on your counter or keeping your hands wet is better than adding more flour.

You will find that humidity will also help determine if you need more/less flour. It makes a big difference in my hamburger/hotdogs bun recipe. They can come out quite light textured.

We never do 100% white or whole wheat anymore. The most we do with anything now is about 1/4 white & the remainder fresh milled.

Our sugar cookies always get rave reviews. People say they aren't super sweet either. I agree. I don't like sweet sugar cookies! I have no idea if I cut the sugar down years ago by half or not. I just use the same recipe I've used for years, except for the change of flour. We put glaze on them colored with homemade natural colors to decorate.

I personally think it's the nutty flavor that the fresh flour gives the cookies that makes them stand out.

vickeym

How exciting. Occasionally I get lucky and am able to get Hard red wheat berries. Can't remember if it is spring or winter though. It's been years since I've gotten any. For about 7 years my husband couldn't eat wheat until we finally healed his gut issues.

Would love any recipes, tips or advice. I hope to get some again and when we get some more space cleared would like to try growing a bit of my own.

dipat2005

@Torey that is wonderful that you were able to find local flour. I have wheat that has been stored for a number of years and have been grinding it into flour. I don't always mix it half and half. This seems lighter to me when ground into flour.

VermontCathy

Lucky you! This is one product that is not available in a lot of areas that otherwise have healthy local agricultural sales.