I've been grinding much of my own flour lately, but I have a question for the more experienced millers here.

Do you pick over the grain before you mill it? I've been carefully picking it over first to remove grains that still have the hull on them, small seeds of some unidentified type, stones, and the occasional piece of field corn. 14# of spelt produced a couple of tablespoons (at most) of this mixed detritus, so I'm wondering if I'd have even noticed if I'd just left it be.

I'm using a hand-crank mill made by Porkert. It produces a pretty coarse flour that works best when soaked overnight, but the price was right ($60.50). On the other hand, picking over adds a lot of time to a process that's already slow by nature; I have to run the flour through 3 times to get it to a fineness I can live with.

Thanks for any advice anyone cares to offer!

edh

Hi,

Just moved to the Boston area and am looking for good local sources for flour and grains.  I've searched the forum archives and haven't found any local sources other than the typical mail order sources.

In particular, I'm looking for good sources of stone-ground flour (wheat, rye), along with whole or cracked grains (again, wheat and rye particularly).  Strongly prefer organic products.  I expected there to be a "health food store" that offers these kinds of things, as it did in Cape Town where I've just moved from.  However, I've not been very successful at finding these.

At present, I use Arrowhead Mills from my local Whole Foods, but only the WW comes in a larger packet and they don't offer any rye flour or cracked/whole grains. 

Thanks in advance for any pointers you can offer. 

Cheers,

 MammaT

in response to harrygermany's post on November 11, 2007 which said in part

Maps of the US showing the major wheat growing regions. For those of us who must mail order, at least it can explain those shipping costs.

Every map has a link immediately below if you need to see it in a larger size.

As I am geographically challenged, I start with a basic US map that shows the states with their names.

Whilst cleaning out the coin container on my dresser in preparation for taking the coins to the supermarket to be counted, I found an unused gift card from Barnes & Noble.  Had it been there 8 months?  20 months?  Who can say; the question was - what to do with it?

Bakers and home millers might want to stock up on grain now, as weather problems have significantly reduced the projected wheat harvest. Eventually this will be reflected in consumer prices. Grain keeps well and does not require special storage conditions beyond a cool, dry place. IMHO, any non-white flour should be refrigerated or frozen to preserve flavor.

In spite of the crazy, rainy weather of the past week or two, farmers in Kansas and other Great Plains states are trying to get the wheat harvested whenever field conditions allow. On my way home from work this evening, I saw these guys making their way across a field:

I recently bought a grain mill and have tried to bake with fresh ground grain, but I'm baking up bricks instead.  So what's secret to freshly ground grain?

My Nutrimill arrived this week as did my organic white wheat and rye grains.  In addition our son decided to pay us an extended visit.  The timing is perfect.   I have an unbiased taste taster on site.  I'll try to get some photos posted over the next several days to show just what my process looks like and the results.