I have enjoyed making bread off and on for the past few years.
I felt like it was healthier and cheaper than store bought bread and it made me happy to be able to provide my family with nourishing food.
Although I knew there was such a thing as grinding your own wheat, that really meant nothing to me.
I kneaded the dough by hand and baked it in loaf pans in my oven. It was an all day process... due to rising and baking.
A few friends at Bible study talked about a store in Woodstock called
Bread Beckers and that got me curious about learning more about grinding wheat and starting that process at my house.
One day this summer, my BFF from Bible study contacted me to tell me she was selling her
Zojrushi bread maker and her
Wondermill bread mill. She wanted to know if I was still interested in getting started.
Although I hadn't ever started the process of learning more about grinding my own wheat, I felt like it was too good of a deal to pass up and jumped in with both feet.
She gave me some basic ingredients to get started immediately and then I visited Bread Becker's the following week and stocked up on everything I would need.
I love Bread Becker's because they are christian owned and operated and apply biblical truths to what they teach and present.
I am definitely still learning and I so enjoy what I discover about the benefits of grinding my own wheat at home and I love being able to dump all the ingredients in the bread maker and leave!
Sue Becker states on her
rebuttal of the famous book, Wheat Belly: "God created and gave us food to perfectly nourish our bodies. He knows
how our bodies work and what nutrients are needed for good health. He
made food to give us those nutrients. When we alter God’s design and
plan, we discredit His wisdom and we will suffer the consequences.
I have great concerns when diets eliminate entire food groups, especially ones that God has declared as good for food.
“But
the Holy Spirit declares that in the latter times some will turn away
from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and
doctrines that demons teach…who teach people to abstain from certain
kinds of foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by
those who believe and have an increasingly clear knowledge of the
truth.” I Timothy 4:1,3 (AMP version)"
I highly encourage you to read that article as it is VERY interesting and informative.
So, why are real and freshly-milled grains so important?
1) Of the 44 nutrients most essential to your body, wheat contains 40 of them.
2) Whole grains and beans are the richest food sources of Vitamin E, which is literally needed by every cell in your body.
3) Real whole grains and breads made from freshly milled flour, with no added gluten and white sugar, have a very low glycemic index.
4) Once milled, real whole grain flour begins to oxidize rapidly, promoting spoilage and rancidity, greatly diminishing the nutrient content. Milling as you need it is the key to maximizing the health benefits of whole grains.
I hear of so many people who are against breads and wheat in general. I have to say, I am against store bought breads, grains, and flour. I DEFINITELY think that your intake of that should be reduced. There is really no nutritional benefits to them. I am not against, at all, limiting a nutritious product that God created in its entirety to meet the nutritional NEEDS we have.
Sue also had an article with
truths she has found through extensive research.
I also highly encourage you to get this
FREE cd that Sue offers. Here she breaks down so much of the scientific mumbo jumbo. If you would rather read it,
go here. Although I think this is a condensed version and you miss out on a lot of the good parts.
I find all this so intriguing!!! I could sit and listen to this topic or read up on it for hours.
Here is a little history lesson Sue gives:
"What a blessing to know, that the eye of the one
who created us is on us and this very one who
created us, created the whole universe. This very
God caused the earth to bring forth the vegetation
he knew would best nourish and benefit our bodies
and He gave to man "every plant yielding seed and
every tree with seed in its fruit to have for
food".(Genesis 1:29) After the flood of Noah's day,
His provision for man included "every moving thing
that lives" (Genesis 9:3) as well as the green
vegetables and plants. I trust God completely in
His provisions to know what foods will best nourish
our bodies. Man, however, has altered His
provisions first for the sake of convenience and
now greed.
Look with me for a moment at the example of the
children of Israel in the wilderness. With nothing
to eat, God lovingly provided them with manna from
heaven. It was to be gathered daily. Some tried to
gather tomorrow's portion today. But God says six
days you shall work and one day shall you rest. On
every day but the Sabbath, God caused the manna
that was gathered for tomorrow to get worms in it.
The manna had to be gathered everyday before the
sun came up. I'm sure if some enterprising
Israelite could have discovered a way to keep the
manna from spoiling, to allow it to be stored for
several days, he would have had a very marketable
product, especially to those who were simply too
lazy or too busy doing other things to get their
food every day. This is exactly what we see if we
look more closely at the foods offered in the
grocery store today and how they got there.
Prior to the 1900's most flour was milled
locally and the bread baked at home. God designed
the wheat kernel, as well as other grains, to
perfectly store the nutrients within. Once broken
open, as in milling, the nutrients immediately
begin to oxidize. Within about 72 hours, 90% of
over 30 nutrients are virtually gone due to
oxidation. Also since the germ oil causes the flour
to turn rancid very quickly, only enough grain was
ground fresh each day to meet the needs of the
community. This meant that just about every family
was "gathering" their manna daily. However, in the
1920's new technology allowed enterprising millers
to separate the wheat components. By removing the
germ, germ oil, and the bran, the remaining white
flour could be stored indefinitely. This began to
eliminate the need for local milling and people
began to relinquish their own responsibility of
preparing their bread daily.
Lucrative markets were also found for the
nutritious "by-products" of this new milling
process. The bran and wheat germ were sold as high
protein food supplements for cattle. Local mills
soon went out of business as the large roller mills
produced huge volumes of long lasting white
flour.
This appeared to be a great advance in
technology. In just a short time, however, cases of
beriberi and pellagra began to drastically
increase. Both of these diseases are the result of
vitamin B deficiencies and health officials traced
the problem to the new white flour. The new milling
process strips the B vitamins as well as about 24
other nutrients from the wheat kernels.
Health officials urged mills to return to
producing whole wheat flour again but they did not
want to lose their very profitable market of
selling the germ and bran as cattle feed. Instead,
millers chose to "enrich" the white flour by
replacing 4 vitamins for the 25-30 that are
removed. This solved the problem of beriberi and
pellagra, however, we are now plagued with many
diseases that are directly related to our
consumption of white flour (appendicitis,
diverticular disease, hiatal hernia, heart disease,
diabetes, obesity and more!).
Knowing this information we were convicted to
purchase an in-home grain mill and to begin making
all of our own bread from fresh milled grains. The
health benefits were immediate. We felt more
energetic, constipation was totally relieved for me
and our cravings for sugar were greatly reduced.
This enabled us to virtually eliminate white sugar
from our home, consequently we have seen much less
sickness. "
The How and Why of Freshly Ground Grains---
All grains come in their own divinely designed preservation
packaging, the bran. This exterior shell of the grain is made up of many
nutrient rich layers. More importantly, it protects and preserves the
vital nutrients stored in the grain—almost indefinitely! From Biblical
accounts, we know Joseph stored grain for up to fourteen years—enough to
feed the entire nation of Egypt during seven years of famine! It has
even been said that grain found in the pyramids, buried with ancient
rulers such as King Tut, has been found to be viable even thousands of
years later.
Once
the bran has been damaged or cracked open, the inner elements are
exposed to oxygen, which destroys the vitamins and oils in just a short
period of time. Within twenty-four hours of grinding or cracking wheat,
forty percent of the nutrients have oxidized. Within seventy-two hours
of processing (just three days), ninety percent of the nutrients have
been destroyed. From this point on, the flour still maintains its
mineral content and (of course) its caloric value, but the life-giving
vitamins and oils have been essentially destroyed—over twenty-five of
them! By immediately using the freshly processed flour or grain, you are
consuming and reaping the health and flavor benefits of these essential
vitamins and oils.
The bran, however, is more than just fancy packaging. It is rich in
vitamins, minerals and proteins. Further, it is a great source of
valuable fiber, which acts like a sponge, absorbing and removing toxins
from the body as it “scrubs” the digestive tract. Regular intake of
fresh, whole grains eliminates the need for dietary fiber supplements.
Just inside the bran is the endosperm, a white starchy substance with
a low level of nutrients. This is the “white flour” that makes up most
of the baked goods and grain products sold in the stores today. Buried
deep within the center of the endosperm is the most vital part, the
germ. Although the germ is the smallest of these three components
comprising only 2½ percent of the entire kernel, it contains a high
concentration of some of the most valuable, all-natural nutrients. The
wheat germ contains tocopherol, God’s version of Vitamin E oil, which
some claim to be the “oil of youth,” keeping skin and other vital organs
soft and pliable. Researchers have found tocopherol to be a crucial
element to a healthy reproductive system (as indicated by its very name:
tokos is Greek for offspring +
pherin means to bear). The germ also contains a rich supply of all the essential fatty acids.
What is true for wheat is also true for other grains, such as corn, rice and oats.
We use Hard Read Wheat and Hard WhiteWheat (equal ratios) when making bread. I use Soft White Wheat when making things like cookies, cakes, pancakes, tortillas, etc.
I buy a big 5 gallon bucket of Hard Red and Hard White because I make bread a minimum of once a week... I am generally making other things to eat as well. This is my smaller bucket I keep it in so I don't always have to open the big bucket.
Sorry for lots of history and info in this post. If you are truly looking for the healthiest option for your family, I would encourage you to research the the authenticity of this and find out for yourself the health benefits of grinding your own flour.
Grinding our own flour has led us to no longer use refined or bleached sugars. We use honey granules for white sugar and sucanat for brown sugar.
Sucanat is pure dried sugar cane juice.
Honey Granules are a unique sweetener that are made from a combination of unrefined sugar cane juice (
Sucanat) and a bit of honey in order to lighten the color and texture of the final product. The best place to source
Honey Granules is from
Bread Beckers, who ships all over the US. I buy the convenient 5lb pail. I find
Honey Granules to
be the most accurate 1:1 natural sweetener swap for white sugar. The
color of the final product will be more rustic, resulting in a
cream/egg-shell rather than a pure white Unlike common white sugar,
Sucanat
is unrefined and therefore contains the molasses mineral content
typically lost in the refining process, resulting in a rustic and deep
flavor. Aesthetically, Sucanat’s closest relative is brown sugar, for
which a 1:1 substitution is commonplace; however, Sucanat is more
granular, less moist and more nutritious. Brown sugar is typically
common white sugar with just a bit of molasses added back.
I've made everything from sandwich bread, french bread, hamburger buns, muffins, Ezekiel bread, muffins, tortillas, pizza dough, biscuits, cookies, and more with my freshly ground flour and I LOVE it. The kids love it and my hubby loves it.
We love using freshly ground wheat and we don't plan to ever stop doing so!!
