The Best Bread is Made with Fresh Ground Grains

I have been, or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

This post, The Best Bread is Made with Fresh Ground Grains, was made possible thanks to Mockmill providing a unit for review. Links in this post are affiliate ones which means we may earn a small commission when you purchase through them. The limited time deal with my coupon code is awesome for anyone wanting a mill at home. 

I remember well when my mother brought a bread machine into the house. Using recipes from some of the small cookbooks, we made some incredible tasting bread. There is nothing like the smell and taste of freshly baked bread.

About a year before we got married, my then fiancee purchased a basic bread machine for me (well, us as he’d soon reap the rewards, too.) There was such beauty in using the delayed timer feature and waking to a house which smells of freshly baked bread.

Fast forward several years to our recent arrival in Alaska. At the homeschool curriculum fair our charter school runs, I met a lady who is passionate about whole grains including grinding your own grain for bread. Her bread tasted good. Real good. Much better than some of the store-bought ‘healthy’ whole grain breads made shelf stable.

 

Why Use Fresh Ground Grains in Your Bread?

I sat through a basic bread making class with the boys. We learned about the huge disparity in nutritional value between bread made with freshly ground grains and those made with flour from the store. Even the ‘whole wheat’ flour from the store is not as packed with nutrition compared to that you grind at home.

When grains are processed to be sold as flour commercially, the initial flour is sifted to remove the bran (goodbye fiber!), wheat germ and wheat germ oil. The end result is a flour with less nutritional value with the need to add back the nutrition. Some parts of a whole grain (e.g. the wheat germ oil) lead to the flour going rancid more quickly than the fully processed white counterpart.

You can find a wealth of information out there on the benefits. For me, I like to just know that my nutrition is as optimal as possible when I use fresh ground grains to make breads and other baked goods. The bonus is that the final product is usually tastier, too. (I don’t promise pretty, though!)

How to Get Fresh Ground Grains at Home

To get fresh ground grains at home, you either need to buy a grain mill or have a nearby friend with one willing to grind your grains for you.

There are several mills on the marketplace. Each has pros and cons. For many of us, the cons include a large footprint (needing a place to store a large mill on your counter or in a cabinet) and the noise the mill creates.

New to the market, the Mockmill helps to eliminate those 2 negatives.  The Mockmill is attached to a Kitchen Aid mixer with a much smaller storage footprint than other mills. And, the noise generated by the Mockmill is noticeably less than other mills I have tried.

For those who are unfamiliar with different mill companies, the Mockmill is the latest one from the Wolfgang Mock Company. Wolfgang Mock is what some might consider a pioneer in the push for home grain mills and eating whole grains. He became convinced of the benefits eating  whole-grain diet could provide and sought a way to mill his own flour more expediently than with a hand crank mill. Dissatisfaction with the electric mills on the marketplace in the 1970s, he built his own and soon found himself in business. (Read more of Wolfgang Mock’s story.)

You want the grinding process to produce the best flour possible.  The Mockmill uses true ceramic-bonded corundum stone, which produces very fine flour and will not wear down in time. It also does not raise the temperature of the flour in the grinding process, something that can alter the overall quality of the nutrients.

Using a Mockmill for Fresh Ground Grains

Set up is relatively easy, especially if you’ve ever used an attachment on your Kitchen Aid stand mixer. You match the end of the Mockmill to the receiver on your KitchenAid. As the mill might not be fully upright when you attach it, you’ll need to gently twist the mill to get it into place before adding the screw to lock it into place.

The first time you use the Mockmill, you need to clean the stones by grinding a grain like rice. This flour is then tossed as it contains residue from the stones. I used about 3/4 cup of a good quality white rice to do the cleaning. As you can see, there was still room in the hopper.

 

Once the mill has been cleaned, you can start grinding your grain. The Mockmill offers many options of grains that can be milled.

For my initial run, I used Prairie Gold, a spring hard wheat grain which I love.

 

As I mentioned, the Mockmill for KitchenAid is new to the market.  You can purchase the special Summer Promotion. It includes the Mockmill,  the book Flour Power by Marleeta F. Basey and a few grains to get your started. (There is a gluten free package available, too! The grains in that one are Maize, Buckwheat and Tefft.)

 

Priced at $259, this is already a great deal.  Use my code (daybydayinourworld) to save $80 through August 31, 2016 and get on your way enjoying whole grain baking.

 

 

 

 See the Mockmill in Action Making Fresh Ground Grains

Check out my recipe for Irish Potato Brown Bread. I made it using my fresh ground flour from the Mockmill.

My boys are not huge fans of whole wheat breads. I got thumbs up all around. And, requests to make it again the next day as the loaf vanished quickly.

What are some ways that you would use a Mockmill in your home?
Have you ever tried to grind your own grain before or is it something you’ve just considered?