Grinding Grains and Legumes

[lliefveld]

Do any of you grind your own grains and legumes? I just got a grain mill, with a nut and bean auger (Country Living Mill). I know the bare basics, but I was wondering if any of you have and suggestions, information, etc. I've looked on Amazon for books, but I already know the advantages of whole grains, and I've already bought my mill.... most of the books seem to concentrate on that.

I have no idea what I would do with ground up beans. But I'd definitely like to make my own cornmeal, wheat flour and rice flour.... I don't have enough information for anything else.

[egon]

Look for recipies on google. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon

[Pat]

I can recall when all the "natural folks" had or wanted mills (not just hippies.) If you don't have a good mill which is capable of giving a pleasing fine grind, on demand, for palatable bread then the mill will become a conversation piece, something talked about more than used.

You have already noticed that it has great promise as regards all the foodstuffs it can grind but the usual question asked when the new owner comes out from under the ether is... what will I do with ground up mung beans? Is there something "better" about grinding up split peas before cooking into split pea soup vice cooking them and then mashinig?

Don't grind up excess quantities of things as they "age" and lose freshness much faster after grinding than before. Having your own mill will let you have fresh ground flour for baking in a "just in time" methodology.

You will probably want to have various dry whole things on hand to grind fresh as needed rather than grinding and storing. A good practical question is how to store things for a long time without weevils or other bugs hatching and messing them up?

One way is to place some dry ice in the bottom of the storage container and then add the foodstuff. Seal the top with Saran wrap or equivalent, adding rubber bands for additional security. Poke a small vent hole in the Saran wrap to let the air and carbon dioxide vapor out. As the carbon dioxide is heavier than air it will fill the contaiiner from the bottom up like water would. The air (and its available oxygen) will be mostly purged and replaced with carbon dioxide gas which will not support air breathing insects. The longest an insect can last is till it hatches and then it dies for lack of oxygen and will not damage the food or breed additional of its kind to damage the food. Exposure to carbon dioxide does not harm the food. The air we breathe has considerable CO2 in it anyway as does our breath. You aren't using CO2 because it is poison. It is used because it is NOT poison but is heavier than air and will purge out the air which woiuld support insect life in your storage containers.

Carbon dioxide, in it's frozen form, is highly compressed compared to it's gaseous state. A pound of it contains enough carbon dioxide gas to make 8.3 cubic feet of carbon dioxide gas. A six gallon bucket contains .78 cubic feet of space. Fill the bucket full of beans or wheat and you have about 0.25 cubic feet of air left in the container surrounding your food. So, if you use twice as much dry ice as you actually need to displace the air in the bucket, you will need about .06 lbs, or right at one ounce of dry ice. Be generous, double the dry ice just to be sure!

You will not get a perfect job and there will be residual O2 left in the container but so little as to not sustain bug life. Also the removal of the O2 helps preserve the food as the food's aging to a large degree involves oxidation. Reduced O2 gives reduced spoilage, i.e. fresher product.

Oh, how do you know when the dry ice has sublimated? (Sublimation is when a solid goes directly to a gas without passing through a liquid state which is what dry ice does.) A small drop of water dripped on the vent hole in the Saran wrap will show an outward flow until the dry ice is gone into its gaseous state. This is way faster if everythihng (except the dry ice of course) is warm. Be careful handling dry ice as it is at 110 F below zero and will freeze/damage you if you are in initimate contact with it. Don't hold it in your hand.

Have fun,

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Adron]

Also make sure where your grains come from and their intended use. Do not go grinding up corn or wheat that was intended to be planted if it has been treated.

Practice. I know it is supposed to be simple, but try it a time or two right off so you kinda get a feel for how it should grind. Do yo have to make more than 1 pass to get the consistency you want.

Be aware of moisture content. It can make the grain go bad in practically no time at all.

As was previously mentioned, don't get too far ahead of usage. Seems to me that the ground grain just seems to draw moisture from the air.

G'Luck!

[Pat]

Mercury was traditionally used in agricultural chemicals as a fungicide, mildewcide, or pesticide and there have been cases of folks getting poisoned by "accidently" getting into treated seed stock and eating enough to be dangerous.

The only case I recall first hand was peanuts but it could be just about any seed product. Good comment on moisture content. Two things about moisture content: 1. Why pay premium grain prices for water and 2. moisture will increase mold and fungus growth.

If you are going to all the trouble to grind your own flour, you should use premium grain. Saving a buck on grain can bring your quality down and remove the incentive for putting in the effort.

I know if I were going to do all the work required to have a superior product I would not want mediocre grain to be the weak link.

Oh, and be sure to let us know how the first baked goods using your own flour turn out.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

There are many different species of wheat grown in many different locations. Only some species and locations are suitable for proper bread flour.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Egon, Don't all you aging hippy types think it was better if it was made from course ground flour and produced loaves with the consistency of a hockey puck. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Seriously though I think parts of Canada (with a decent year) produce some wheat that is about as good as it gets. You know... northern North Dakota... not too far from Winipeg. Out where except for a few molehills like Turtle Mountain the land is so flat you can see yesterday leaving and tomorrow coming.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Darned that Hippy Tag. Somehow I missed out on the whole era due to work problems.

Yes, some parts of Canada and Norther US grow quality # 1 Hard wheat. Where I grew up was too far north for the good quality.

Your Black & Decker bread maker instruction booklet should have different recipies for Canadian Wheat and other wheat.

Course that Hockey puck stuff still has all the desirable ingredients in it. Peristolic movement will definetly be enhanced.

And yes, I do have a manual cranking grinder that can reduce the wheat to acceptable flour size quality.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[GareyD]

"Hard Red Montana" used to be the most sought after wheat...not sure about now though with all the genetic crops being grown...

About all I use my mill for anymore is rice flour which is hard to come by here in the south, homegrown corn meal and grits...and my favorite...popcorn meal...makes some of the finest muffins ya have ever tasted [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

GareyD

[Pat]

Egon, For the Hippy era I had only medium length hair but looling at pictures It looks like "Meathead" of Archie Bunker fame. I was a bit too busy soldiering in USAF/SAC during the overheated 60's to be a hippy. Going to college on the GI bill at a campus where SDS, commies, hippies, and radical leftists were very prominent and vocal I managed to only come close to doing anyone bodily harm just one time. Some one came into our "modern" physics class during a discussion on Bosons and wanted us to go to a rally. About 1/3 of the class was ex military and rose as one to toss the guy out but he beat feet and class went on.

My psyche was not untouched by some of the philosophy and I admit to eating some health foods and Natural stuff.

My first attempts at whole wheat bread in a bread machine produced hockey pucks that were virtually inedible and certainly not fi for human consumption.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]