Why Fresh Milled Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread should be added to your baking repertoire
Ok, so making this bread fresh milled, whole wheat sandwich bread has been a game changer. I love baking and I am very much a health conscious person, but not the “fat is bad so are carbs” kind. And my journey to using fresh milled wheat berries has been a long one – in fact, I’m still learning so much. I’ve tried so many recipes it’s not even funny. I’ve tried sourdough and I’m not a fan of the “falling flat” loaf. So to keep this easy for me, I’ve used commercial yeast, it’s Bob’s Red Mill if that makes you feel any better, it does me. So there’s that. Also it’s like way cheaper to buy his pretty pink bags of yeast. Double yes.
Also I am using some affilitate links and make a very small profit off of your purchase. To read the full disclosure, here is the link.
This whole thing started when I stopped buying store bought except in a bread emergency. I don’t know what one is, but when it happens, it happens. Go with it. The reason I stopped buying store bread is because I had a loaf sit in my pantry for THREE MONTHS and not mold. Now, what in the world is in that bread to cause that to happen? Too many preservatives, not enough real food, very simple. Now once I went down the enriched flour rabbit hole, I knew I had to make my own from literal scratch. I did my research, found some recipes and bought my equipment. Flopped, flopped again, and tried until I found/made a recipe me and my entire family (ok everyone who eats it) loves. I am not a pro at this, I just write what I love, I will leave links to those much better at this than I am. Anyways, lets jump into why this is a game changer. Health benefits, Where to buy, Flavor – in that order. Let’s go.
Health benefits. K, like I said, I love baking, bread, but I also want to know what I feed my body. While white bread, and even “whole wheat” bread from the store offers little to no nutrition. I may offer an opinion that it is opposite of nutrition, with empty calories, simple carbohydrates, and some gluten allergy responses to some. Fresh milled wheat has most of the minerals and vitamins needed to fuel our bodies and keep us regular. You can actually feel full after eating two slices with some jam or butter on it too. Whereas I would have to eat like, half a loaf of white bread. The downside to this is, once the berry has been milled, after 24 hours, like 75% of that has been depleted, and after 48 – 90ish percent. So grind only what you need. To learn more about this, here are some links. Ecological Agriculture, Benefits of Fresh Milled Flour, Hidden truths about Enriched White Flour.
Where to get items. While I understand that not everyone can afford an electric mill to freshly mill your wheat, but there are hand cranks that you can use as well at a fraction of the price. I bought the NutriMill from Pleasant Hill Grains (not an affiliate link!) but you can also order from Amazon here. We waiting until it was on sale and then bought, we also saved for this as it isn’t a small purchase. Also, just in case, I bought a manual mill on Amazon. I haven’t tried it yet, but I should soon. This is a much more affordable price point. I used to get my grains from Amazon, but I found it cheaper to go through Azure Standard. If you decide to use Azure, use this link to help me out a bit! I buy my gluten (completely optional) from my local grocery store. Unfortunately, you can’t buy this at Aldi or Lidl, so you have to go to the regular supermarkets to find them – usually in the baking aisle. The other items – bread pan, dough whisk, and mixer can be bought where you love to shop best. If you’d like a reference to favorite items, let me know!
Flavor. Ok, to the most important part – the flavor. Nothing really compares to this flavor and it’s hard to describe. And depending on the type of wheat you use, will have a stronger, or nuttier flavor. I used hard white wheat. Regardless, it tastes fresh and delicious. I had some hesitation on this because I LOVE white bread, but I had to get that out of my head when making and initially eating a slice. Don’t compare it to whole wheat from the store either. It is just a good rich flavor. I accidentally left salt out of a batch and Ryan gave it to his work friend who said that it was the best bread they ate – their words not mine! It’s good, trust.
Ok, so on to the recipe, I found two recipes and I kind of merged them together. They were from this book, and Organic DIY on Youtube. One is a sourdough recipe I love, and I know I like enriched sandwich bread so I added an egg and a teaspoon of Vital Gluten like Organic homestead, I also used commercial yeast instead of sourdough starter. She also adds Sunflower Lecithin and I haven’t tried that yet. On my list for sure to try and I will let you know when I do use it. Once I perfect my recipe, I will add it here, but if you follow the youtube video, you should have no problem, plus she is incredibly knowledgeable on this!
To read about my garden lessons learned the first year – click here
To see how we turned a cheapo Amazon table into a classic look – click here