I have been trying to find a way to make healthier baked goods for our family, which are also cost-effective. I have been using speltr baking needs. However, the price of wheat and spelt are tripling this summer due to our ridiculous government tax and gas politics (that’s a whole other blog).
Anyways, I had been buying the Ezekial bread for our regular bread and have been very interested in the whole sprouted grain bread concept. So, I did a bit of research was amazed at what I found. Turns out that when you sprout a grain, it changes the make-up to that of a vegetable like substance, instead of a starch.
So, if you’re interested, here’s a website that tells all about it: http://www.creatingheaven.net/eeproducts/eesfc/about_sprouted.html
I think I am going to have to look into sprouting my own grains, dehydrating them, and then grinding them into flour as I need it. We’ll see. Not sure how much a good mill will cost, but it’s definitely something I want to look into:) Always up for healthier eating, in the most cost-effective way! I think I just need my own farm so I don’t have to rely on buying so much of my food. Some chickens, a milking cow, few acres for crops and I should be good to go…
June 6th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
The farm idea sounds good! “Won’t you be my neighbor?”
June 6th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
No! You can’t have her for your neighbor! She is *my* neighbor now, and I’m keeping her!
I have some friends - those Michigan types - that have mills. I’m actually shocked that you don’t already. I was sure you were over there milling your own flour.
I’ll see if they have any purchasing advice for you.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Rachel, you know, we have always wanted to live in that area:)
Jodi, that would be awesome. I need to see what people like, how much they cost and all that. I just haven’t done the research yet on them. I need to start saving up for one…
June 7th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Gina - I absolutely don’t know how you do it all! I admire you so much… wish I had half your energy and ingenuity!
Love ya!
Heather
June 7th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
And you can move to NH if you’d like to be MY neighbor!
LOL
June 7th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
No matter where we are…it’s so much fun all being neighbors “in spirit”!
June 7th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
That’s for sure, Rachel:0) I am just so glad that we can all connect online; “community of believers” - so no matter where I am, I never have to feel that I am the only one going on this way…
June 9th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Updated comment :-):
According to my mill using (Michigan) friends…
One friend has the Ultra mill but doesn’t like that you can’t adjust the coarseness of the grain. She didn’t think she’d want to adjust it but now realizes she should have given herself that option. Something to keep in mind. Other than that, it’s a great mill.
My other friend with a mill (who corrected me when I said you wanted to sprout grain and then mill it - because you don’t mill sprouted grain unless you dry it first LOL - you can see I am flying blind on this one) recommends the Ultra Mill. But as my other friend says, you can’t adjust the coarseness, so you have to kind of decide if that’s important to you or not.
While friend 1 and I were discussing it, she sent me to the site she uses (http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/) and there we discovered the Nutrimill, which might actually be the best choice. She says it looks like her mill (the Ultra) but you can adjust the coarseness. Read the comments on the site there, they give some good information. A lot of mills are back-ordered, from what we’ve seen, so you might want to order soon and you’ll still have time to save your money before they are in stock.
I know there was at least one vendor with mills and such at the convention this weekend so I’ll see if I can find their website(s) too, for comparison. There were a couple of cooking/bread baking sessions, even. I didn’t go to any of those, of course, but they had them.
I ran away from their booths, too. I didn’t want David to get any crazy ideas. *snort*
Let’s see…I found Paul’s Grains but they don’t sell mills, just the grain. You probably know about them, they sell locally. But did you know they homeschool? Okay, I’m not 100% sure they do, but they were at the conference which implies they at least support homeschooling.
http://www.paulsgrains.com/
http://shellysbreads.com/
It looks like she sells that Nutrimill exclusively. Her mill seems less expensive than the other site but she charges shipping so it’s actually more than the site my friend gave me. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of fluctuation in prices on these things.
You could also put the kids to work and get a hand crank mill.
Do you have a Bosch? Everybody who is into mills seems to have a Bosch, too. What’s up with that? I thought I was in the big leagues when I got my KitchenAid stand mixer. haha
Do I win the prize for Longest. Comment. Ever.?
P.S. - I am totally up for group lapbooking. That would be fun!
June 9th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Update to my update:
After further conversation with friend #2 (Heather), I have more for you. I sent her to the site you mentioned and she told me this (and told me it was ok to copy/paste this to you :-)).
We were chatting on IM, so that’s why the conversation is in short phrases and sentences LOL. She doesn’t write or talk like this in real life.
oh, I SO get this.
which is waaaay easier
[Note from Jodi - Heather owns a book store that is located in a working mill, so she has that extra bit of knowledge about the process]
these people are trying to make it easier for you to use sprouted grains
and they ARE healthier
but they can’t sell you sprouted grains…
because they’d go bad in shipment
so they sell you the flour … LOL
but for Gina… at home… it is MUCH more ideal to just add her own sprouted grain to the dough as she kneads it
or in the Bosch, etc.
she’s adding extra steps … but…. all flour goes rancid quickly
she’s making such wonderful fresh flour (fresh ground) at home….
she’d be adding flour that is relatively old
so she’d get SOME health benefits… but more if she does her own sprouting
you don’t need space, either
you lay them out on wet paper towels… the wheat berries
then roll them up
put in a jar… leave it open…. lots of rolled up paper towels
and just keep them wet
don’t fill the jar with water, but keep the papertowels real wet
you don’t need surface area that way
the miller does it for germination testing
Conversation continued…
here’s a simple recipe she can try with only a food processor…. before she buys heavy duty “equipment”
I suppose she’d only mill her own sprouts if she wanted smooth flour….like wonderbread texture
http://www.ezhealthydiet.com/sprouted-grain-bread.html
this is a very dense bread, but I’ve had it
yummy
Heather wants to know if you juice, also. I have a feeling you do… You put me to shame (she says as she tries to hide the Capri Sun juice pouches she bought for her kids last night).
June 15th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I have a nutrimill and love it! I have a kitchen aid mixer and had the grain mill attachment for it but it took a long time to grind the grain and it didnt grind it as fine as Id like. I also decided to get a Bosch mixer because my kitchen aid just kept getting really hot doing multiple loaves and with the Bosch I can do a big batch all at once and it doesnt seem to be worked hard like the kitchen aid was. I still use my kitchen aid stand mixer for normal baking just not for my bread.
I also recommend http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com