The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Wheat grinding

Marissa's picture
Marissa

Wheat grinding

Is it possible to make my own bread flour by grinding hard red wheat on the finest setting?

I currently grind my hard red wheat on a coarse setting and mix with A grocery store bread flour to make my bread. I trying to replicate their bread flour using my own wheat. Do I need to purchase different wheat berries to achieve this?

Using both flours along with vital wheat gluten creates a lighter sandwich loaf.

Justanoldguy's picture
Justanoldguy

What mill do you have? That will help get answers to your question. I use a Mockmill attachment for KitchenAid mixers and regularly grind hard red, hard white and rye on its finest settings to make sandwich loaves. I have in the past used commercial flour mixed with my home-milled flour but now all my loaves are made with home milled flour exclusively. Duplicating commercial flours will require you to sift out bran and germ if you're not attempting to create a whole wheat flour. Most hard wheats have a protein content equal to or greater than commercial bread flour making the use of vital wheat gluten unnecessary. 

Marissa's picture
Marissa

I have a Nutrimill grinder. I was under the impression that vial wheat gluten helped create higher rise in bread. I also use potato flakes for the same reason.

I grind red wheat but on a more coarse setting for sandwich bread. Maybe I should use a finer setting to grind my wheat. 

David R's picture
David R

Just as you don't add salt to something that's already salty enough, you don't add gluten to a flour that's already high enough in gluten.

Justanoldguy's picture
Justanoldguy

We all approach home milling and home baking from different perspectives and have different objectives. Once I began to mill my own flour it dawned on me that attempting to duplicate commercially available flours and commercially available bread wasn't a realistic or, for me, rational objective. After all the reason for home milling was to produce a much more flavorful and nutritious flour than the products that were commercially available. The goal for commercial mills is to produce a product that has a wide appeal, a wide range of applications, a narrow range of variation so that consumers could count on its "quality and dependability" and a margin of profit for the mill and the retailer. That's why they bleach it and also have to replace key nutrients that their processing destroys or diminishes. Once I realized that I didn't want to replicate commercial flour I also realized that attempting to replicate commercial breads was rather pointless as well. Those are just my thoughts on the subject and you may very well have other goals in mind. After all it's a free country - if you can afford it. Once I stopped being frustrated by attempting to duplicate commercial products and embraced the challenge of home milling I was happier and, unfortunately, a little more overweight. Best of luck to you and enjoy the adventure.  

wmpflueg's picture
wmpflueg

I very much appreciate the sentiment.  I have been baking bread all my live but just a little less than three years ago created the sourdough creature and created loafs that I only dreamed about previously.  I got a Kitchen Aid and Mockmill attachment last Christmas and have replaced my commercial whole wheat flow with what I mill but still buy bread flour.  Are you generally doing 100% whole wheat in your breads that you mill? 

 

Justanoldguy's picture
Justanoldguy

Yes, I am now. Like you I started with a mix of milled and commercial flours but I'm now going with whole grains, wheat and rye, that I milled. Because the mill dumps the flour right into the KA's bowl and I only mill the amount I need I'm sure I'm using the freshest flour. My starters, wheat, rye and NMNF are only fed home milled flour. The only commercial flour used is a light dusting of AP on the counter when I'm shaping up the loaf. I'm not attempting artisanal loaves just sandwich loaves. 

wheatbeat's picture
wheatbeat

I make bread from fresh milled wheat and rye all the time. I use a Komo Classic on the finest setting. i do not sift anything out but I usually mix with 50% bread flour. I use a hard white spring wheat which is 14% protein. Any hard wheat will work great.

The only caveat to using fresh milled flour is that you may need to adjust your water. Store-bought flours all come out of the mill at a specific moisture level (usually 14% moisture in the USA). Home milled flour tends to be lower in moisture, so you need to increase you water.