Newbie to milling- with a Country Living Grain Mill (not motorized)
I've made about a dozen loaves, some pancakes and quite a few muffins in the last couple of weeks using my new mill. I did have to mill about 4 lbs of flour one night when I got a little over ambitious but other than that, hand milling isn't too bad.
I've read some of the topics here and tonight I did a little test with the only sifter I have. It's a fine, scoop shaped sifter that has two layers of wire mesh. It appears to be stainless steel. What's the measurement? I haven't a clue. Anyway, I was suprised when it sifted the flour and left the darker bran behind. I had thought the the flour was all uniform.
I have my mill set for a fine flour which puts a bit of resistance into the cranking but the result has been very soft breads. Especially when I use 50% or more white wheat. If I sift out this bran, what percentage of whole wheat do I have left? Is it still 'whole' wheat? Is it closer to bread flour? Without spending a lot of money and time on sifters and sifting, what impact could sifting have on the resulting breads?
addendum: I ground 8.6 oz of flour and ran it through my little sifter. This left me with 8 oz. I'll work on the math later.
Mike