“Freshly Milled Unsifted Flour”
When I began to research Freshly Milled Unsifted Flour, I really balked at the idea of adding one more kitchen appliance and step to my already very busy baking schedule. When my friend and one of my favorite farmers, Tara from Crossville Acres gave me a bag of her freshly milled hard white wheat 2 summers ago, I prepared a loaf with the freshly milled flour in the same manner as I would have assembled my organic store-bought flour sourdough loaves. It did not come out as expected, and I wondered if *FMF was really worth it. I decided to continue with my research, and after being given hope that *FMF would work for my daughter, with the encouragement of a friend in PA, I took the plunge and purchased a WonderMill and some organic hard white wheat berries. I ended up blitzing through 25 lbs. of organic wheat berries in a blink last month! I am optimistic that the 175 lbs. I have for the month of March will be sufficient.😅
I feel it is worth mentioning that as a baker, when I use the term “Freshly Milled Unsifted Flour”, it involves two stipulations: 1) The wheat berries have been milled and the flour is used right away. Why is that important? To summarize, the live enzymes required to digest wheat are left intact, the 40 of the 44 nutrients needed for life are found in freshly milled flour due to the fact that all THREE parts of the wheat berry are being used - the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. Even if I were to mill the flour, and use it a mere 12 hours later, 45% of most of the nutrients would be oxidized, and in 72 hours, the nutrients would be 90% oxidized and considered all but “dead”, even though all THREE parts are still present. 2) The entirety of the baked good offered is prepared with 100% FMF. I have 2 separate sourdough starters - one is fed with organic storebought flour, and one is fed with *FMF. For the record, there is absolutely nothing incorrect with combining both organic store-bought flour and organic freshly milled unsifted flour. However, if I were the consumer in this situation, I would ask 2 very important questions: 1) When was the flour milled in relation to preparing the dough, batter, etc.? 2) What is percentage of FMF used in this baked good? For the majority of customers, these details may not be necessary, but for people like my daughter, both of these details are of paramount importance.
Store-bought flour, even organic flour, is considered a “dead” flour as what is contained in the bags at the store is the endosperm (protein and starch). The bran (fiber component) and the germ (where the nutrients are contained - think of it this way “as a yolk is to the egg, the germ is to a wheat berry”) have been sifted away, and the live enzymes contained in the freshly milled wheat or no longer present after the commercial processing process. That being said, even though *FMF is still superior in every way to organic store-bought flour, I have no plans to discontinue my use of organic unbleached wheat flour. My customers absolutely love the over 65 organic baked goods I make available to them using this flour, and it is still a much better option than the bakery items found in grocery stores. To summarize, I will be adding more FMF unsifted baked goods to my repertoire with plans to continue baking the delicious, well-loved items I have made available using store-bought organic, unbleached wheat flour. My customers enjoy both, and I will continue providing all kinds of baked goods using both *FMF and organic store-bought flour.
My baking journey has spanned over several decades, and I am continually looking to make improvements as I meet the needs of my family and my customers. If you would like to know what I have been learning these past 19 months and why I decided to add a grain mill and wheat berries to my life, send me a PM for links. I am so very thankful for two dear friends whose commitment and excitement to using FMF galvanized me to take this next step at Rachel Mae Bakes. The lynch pin for taking the plunge into this world was coming to the realization that *FMF unsifted baked goods just may work for my daughter (and they are!). Judging by the incredibly positive feedback from those of you who have already enjoyed the *FMF unsifted organic sourdough loaves and boules, and the over 20 of you on the waiting list, the excitement for this new addition to my bakery has been such a wonderful gift not only for you all, but also for my Inspiration - my precious girl who can now enjoy REAL bread.
*FMF = “Freshly Milled Flour”😍
Just look at that color contrast - sandwich loaf on the left prepared with 94% Freshly Milled Organic Hard White Wheat Berries and the loaf on the right prepared with organic storebought unbleached wheat flour!