I’m neither a baker nor a foodie, however I decided to buy a grain mill. An odd purchase for me and it’s all because of a TV movie I saw when I was a kid… It was dark and he was out of options. Were it not bad enough he was confined to a prison cell, the guards threatened to put him on a diet of bread and water.
A bad feeling rose in me as I watched. That seemed like the worst punishment my young mind could imagine. It seemed so real as if it could have happened to me! No sandwich. Just bread? No thanks!
I don’t recall the title of the movie, just the seemingly harsh punishment that clearly imprinted on me as a kid. That scene pops into my mind now and then, but decades later it occurred to me that bread and water would be a death sentence today.
Commercial food production is more about lab coats than planting crops
Although we think of bread and water as simple natural foods, they are in fact much different today than decades ago, as an abstract threat in a movie. Our water is full of micro-plastics and bread is so over-processed it contains almost zero nutrition. That’s pretty scary combined with knowing that “natural flavors” listed as an ingredient can be anything from chemicals to filler.
I much prefer to bake a cake or some cookies at home rather than buying them from the store. The idea of fewer ingredients in homemade items seems like an instant benefit. In doing so, I’ve used innumerable amounts of flour only to discover that flour is also a highly processed grocery item.
Every time I try to eat healthy by using “natural ingredients” I realize most of them are the calculated result of modern science that puts priority on shelf-life over nutrition. Supermarkets are full of terrible food. And It’s getting worse.
Why I added a countertop grain mill to my kitchen
While searching for a new recipe on social media, the algorithm took over and fed me videos about making your own flour with a countertop grain mill. When I think “mill” visions of a rollicking stream and a gigantic water-wheel come to mind. A very pre-electricity type of image. To my surprise a grain mill can sit on your counter and be roughly the size of a blender.
The main reason I began making things from scratch was for better nutrition and fewer terrible ingredients. However, I’m constantly finding foods I thought were safe and natural, only to discover they’re highly processed. Flour is the latest for me, which led me to the purchase of my first grain mill and a 5-pound bag of wheat berries.
Wheat berries look like large grains of rice but become a fluffy flour in roughly a minute’s time in the grain mill. It adds a bit more effort to home baking but knowing you’re creating a superior end-result is quite satisfying. And it’s the reason I decided to purchase a mill.
I’m far from chasing an ultra-healthy diet. My goal is to further distance myself from toxic ingredients. In a world where profits rule ALL corporate decisions, there’s only so much you can do to ensure better food for your family. If you look into what happens to store-bought flour before you take it off your grocer’s shelf, you may be inclined to investigate grain mills.
As for the taste and texture of things I’ve made for years, I haven’t noticed too much of a difference with my home-milled flour. Again, I’ll remind you I’m not a foodie or accomplished baker. I just want a better cake with better ingredients than those on store shelves.
If you seek a healthier way to bake at home, decent grain mills are not terribly expensive and provide another way to escape the toxicity of retail shelves. And I’ve read you can boil wheat berries, to a softer state, and add them to a salad!
By CapeCod.com staff
