I was first introduced to the concept of grain milling in 2007 when I was a busy mom with two small girls under the age of three and pregnant with a baby boy on the way. I was volunteering at our church, North Point Community Church, a few days each week while my girls attended their weekday preschool. During that time, I met a few women who shared with me their practice of grain milling and bread making. The first time I tasted "real bread" I could not believe how amazing and fresh it tasted. It tasted nothing like any of the whole wheat breads I had tried before. I would later learn that is because freshly milled flour has a short life span before the abundant vitamins and minerals begin to oxidize and the flour becomes rancid. The commercially available white flours remove all of the "good and healthy stuff" to extend the shelf-life. Even the flours and breads that are labeled "enriched" only add back a few of the dozens of vitamins and minerals naturally occurring in the grain. I never realized how much vital nutrition our modern society was missing out on due to "convenience" and our desire for faster, easier, quicker, less work, etc. etc.
I had always been interested in the movement towards cleaner and healthier eating and felt convicted to learn more about the health benefits of freshly milled grains. At that time, my understanding of"whole grains" meant any bagged bread or boxed pasta at the grocery store that had the word "wheat" in it. As I began my research, I was both amazed by the health benefits I discovered, and shocked at how deceived I had been by what I was feeding my family. As intrigued as I was by the superior health benefits, I thought there was no way I would ever have the "time" to do this, or that I would be able to convince my husband that I needed another couple hundred dollar gadget in my kitchen. And to be real honest, I thought this practice was for the kind of mom that also had chickens and goats running in their backyard and not for the minivan driving, Chick-fil-a drive-thru, tar-jay shopping, suburban mom that I was. So, I did what a girl of convenience would do and discovered that the next best option to milling and baking my own grains was to purchase breads and baked goods from Great Harvest (they mill all of their flour fresh daily, so all of the nutritional benefits are available in their breads and baked goods!), While this is a great option for many, I still yearned to bake my own breads, muffins, etc. from my own home. And, after going to a "grain milling/ bread making demo" at a sweet girl's home one evening, I was blown away by how the modern tools for milling grains and making bread made it much easier and more convenient than I ever realized!
In November 2009, my sweet husband was convinced that this was something we should do for our health and for our family. He talked with a friend of mine who had recently purchased the electric mill and bread maker and then did his research with The Bread Beckers before surprising me with the Nutrimill Grain Mill and the Zojirushi bread baker! (Little did he know at the time that the richest source of Vitamin E is found in the germ of the wheat kernel and this amazing nutrient would grow his hair back in thicker and stop his receding hair line....this fact alone might convince many other husbands to make the investment!!) I immediately purchased my buckets of wheat, honey, olive oil, sea salt, yeast and a few other items and was officially in the business of baking fresh breads for my family within a few days! My sister followed suit a few months later, along with a few close friends in the neighborhood.
In addition to the honey whole wheat bread that is a staple around here, I also regularly use my fresh flour for baking Ezekiel muffins, Ezekiel pancakes, cookies and occasionally soft pretzels, pizza dough and rolls. The Ezekiel flour I mill is a combination of 4 grains and 4 beans (hard red wheat, spelt, hulled barley, millet, green lentils, great northern beans, red kidney beans & pinto beans) that comes from Ezekiel 4:9 and is often referred to as the "fasting bread" as it is densely nutritious and makes a complete protein! My kids have no clue that these little muffins that they love are so healthy for them! They also have some seriously regular bathroom habits around here :) I have yet to buy a loaf of bread from the grocery store since Dec. '09! I have even found the taste superior enough that I'll prepare a few loafs to take with us on vacation to eat rather than purchasing the chemically-ridden, stale tasting, commercially available breads.
One other surprising fact I found with these fresh breads is how long they stay fresh! Whenever I had bought fresh breads from the bakery at the grocery store, they all seem to go stale within a few days. Because of the olive oil and honey used in baking my breads, they act as natural preservatives and I've never had a loaf of bread grow mold or go stale on me! So.....in a nutshell, that is how I got started doing this "primitive" sounding practice of grain milling and baking my own breads from home. I have developed such a passion for sharing this hobby of mine with others that I have set up this blog to have a less intimidating place for other "modern/suburban moms" to discover how easily they can start milling their own grains, baking their breads and delivering supeior nutrition to their families!
One final disclaimer so I don't fool you in to thinking that everything that passes the lips of my children is "clean", organic and healthy......this is just one of the major changes we have incorporated into our diets. My kids still dine on chick-fil-a at least once per week and enjoy some normal sweets and treats like any other kid. Knowing that they are getting such dense nutrition from the whole grain bread and Ezekiel muffins & pancakes that they eat regularly, I simply don't sweat it if there are some not-so-healthy foods they eat during the week. Oh, and most of the photos I've added here were taken with my iPhone, so I'm really not that sophisticated with the photography!
Blessings!
Holly
