Such a fun afternoon with good friends!

I went to a friends house this afternoon to play cards. We ended up grinding wheat berries to make whole wheat bread instead! What a perfect afternoon!

Working together in country communities used to be the norm. Shelling peas, shucking and putting up corn, killing hogs, stripping sorghum cane and cooking off syrup to make molasses in the fall…the list goes on. We help you–you help us. We have lost so many traditions that made everyday life such a joy.

Work does not seem like work when you are with friends! You should try it!

We shared the work and made it fun!

Watch this video to see the mill work. For every rotation of the wheel you get about 1 gram of flour.

Dave ordered this grain mill several months ago, and I have been dying to try it. So when he said, “Hey, ya’ll want to grind some wheat?” I was all in!

Dave’s mill has a hand crank, and if I were to order my own, this is what I would want. For every rotation of the wheel, you get about 1 gram of flour.

Who knows what hard times lay ahead. The world we live in is fragile, and we could wake up tomorrow with electricity and the convenience of electrical appliances only a memory.

This particular mill has a large flywheel designed with a groove for a belt. You can add a belt and motor if you so desire. You can use it to grind wheat berries for bread, soy, barley, beans, spices, herbs, peanuts, walnuts, dry corn to make cornmeal, and coffee.

Just make that sure whatever you grind is dry and not wet! For example, you would not want to cut fresh corn off the cob and try to grind it. Don’t laugh–I saw someone try to do this once!

If left on the stalk, in late summer, the corn shucks turn brown and the corn dries out and gets hard. The ears will turn down, shedding rain water that falls. Waiting for it to dry on the stalk preserves it, and you can then store in the barn to feed livestock in the winter or grind it to make cornmeal.

Our old barn had a “corn crib”–a little walled off section where my grandfather stored the corn. We pulled all the ears and threw them into this little room. My grandfather did not even shuck the corn first; he left the shucks on.

In the old days, they had corn shuckings. The whole community would come together. It was a big event! Women prepared the food; men shucked the corn. A little homemade corn liquor was usually passed around in a brown stoneware jug.

Wow! That triggered a memory. My grandfather was born in 1900. He was born at home, as were all babies back then. The attending doctor was given the privilege of naming the newborn. He dubbed the baby boy “Shuck.” The name stuck. His name was Aubrey Shuck Williams, but all of his close friends and family called him Shuck.

But back to the milling process. Dave ordered a 50 pound bag of wheat berries and purchased two 25 gallon food-grade plastic containers to store them and keep them fresh.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  This means, if you click on a link on my blog and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  THANK YOU for helping me start a college fund for Bella!  Here are links to two mills that are almost identical to Dave’s. RED HAND CRANK MILL and WHITE HAND CRANK MILL. I could not find the exact brand. I am also providing links to a KITCHEN AID GRAIN MILL ATTACHMENT and a link for a less expensive HAND CRANK MILL.

Step 1:

Weigh out 800 grams of wheat berries on a kitchen scale and pour into hopper on top of mill. (This will yield about 750 grams of flour once you sift out the bran–enough for two loaves of delicious bread!) We actually sifted out 754 grams of flour! I kept the bran to add to my yogurt.

Step 2:

With bowl under outlet, start turning the hand crank. It is a little hard to get started, but once it is in motion, it is so much fun to crank!

Work in batches, sifting with a #40 sieve. If you want a finer flour such as a pastry flour, use a #60 sieve.

Weighing the flour

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  This means, if you click on a link on my blog and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  THANK YOU for helping me start a college fund for Bella!  Here is a link to Dave’s SCALES. I still have to order myself a set of these!

We sifted out 754 grams of flour and Dave baked 2 loaves of whole wheat bread.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  This means, if you click on a link on my blog and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  THANK YOU for helping me start a college fund for Bella!  Here is a link for Dave’s SIFTERS. These are a must if you are going to mill your own flour.

Here is a short video comparing King Arthur flour and 100% home ground wheat flour.

Below are the two loaves Dave baked from the wheat we just ground. He used a yeast bread recipe that was ready to bake in 3 hours. It proofed while we played several games of cards. YES! We played cards after all!

Dave’s whole wheat bread was baked from 100% whole wheat that we just ground. Unlike a lot of whole wheat bread recipes, these loaves did not contain a percentage of regular bread flour. They were 100% whole wheat–and they were delicious!

Dave sent a loaf home with me, and we had it for breakfast this morning. I sliced it and popped it in the toaster for a few minutes–spread some real butter on top and some homemade muscadine jam. YUMMMMMMMM!

The texture was perfect–and the flavor was AMAZING!

When you get your grain mill, you’re going to want this RECIPE!

And of course, you will need to order Wheat Berries . As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  This means, if you click on a link on my blog and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  THANK YOU for helping me start a college fund for Bella!  These are HARD RED WHEAT BERRIES. They are  Wheatland™ : 25 lb Bulk: 30 Year Shelf Life : Non GMO: NO Glyphosate. These wheat berries are grown by family farms (mostly in Utah and Idaho)!

Tip:

Did you know that you can store butter on your countertop and NOT in the refrigerator? I did not know this until recently! All of my family stored butter in the fridge.

When stored on the counter, it is SOFT and spreadable. A life-changer for bread lovers!

The USDA suggests leaving it out of the refrigerator for no more that two days. Our house is air-conditioned, and I leave it out for up to two weeks–if it lasts that long. It won’t!

SALTED butter keeps better than unsalted.

I unpacked my grandmother’s antique butter bowl immediately. After the stick of butter has had time to soften, I take a butterknife and make a little mound.

My grandmother milked a little jersey cow. She churned butter in the kitchen of our old farmhouse. She used a small wooden paddle to shape hers. I never saw my other grandmother churn, but I do still have the little butter mold that she used to shape her butter. It molds 1/2 pound.

Books by Blog Author Anita Havens

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TOPASHAW BOTTOM TERRORISTS

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Dave’s Whole Wheat Bread

printable recipe

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