How to Start Baking with Your Own Flour: Grinding Grains at Home
I’ve obviously been very vocal about switching from American flour in the past. It’s got a ton of bad things in it, and it hurts my belly and everyone else’s (ever wonder why so many people are gluten-free all of a sudden?).
You hear the hum of the mill, feel the weight of the past, and smell something warm and ancient rising in the air when you switch to grinding your own flour at home.
It’s not nostalgia either, it’s something more like memory, buried in the wheat itself. The kind that lives in bread crusts and grandmother hands. Baking with your own flour isn’t just a culinary decision, it’s a return to texture, nutrition, and to the real soul of baking itself.
Once you’ve tasted bread made from grains you milled yourself (your hands in your home) you’ll really never want to go back.
Why Grind Your Own Flour?
Let’s start with the question most people ask first: why?
Why mess with a perfectly fine bag of all-purpose flour? Because that flour is a ghost of what it once was. By the time it got to your kitchen, it’s been stripped of oils, bran, and germ, the most flavorful and nutritious parts of the grain. Then it’s bleached, “enriched”, and preserved to survive on a shelf.
Fresh flour is alive. It tastes like fields and warmth and a nuttiness I can’t put my finger on, it smells like sunlight. It brings real nutrients your body craves: vitamin E, fiber, protein, antioxidants, and oils that nourish everything from your brain to your belly.
Baking with your own flour is more nutritious, way more flavorful, extra versatile, and more emotionally satisfying. Trust me on that, you’ll show everyone the bread you made with the grain you ground.
It’s not even in the same league as flour you got in the store, it’s the difference between white noise and a symphony.
Related Read: Why French Flour Is Better Than American Flour
Choosing Your Grains: What to Look For
Every grain tells a different story when milled. Some are sweet and soft, while others are dense and nutty. The right one depends on what you’re baking…and how bold you want to get.
Hard Red Wheat
Your go-to for hearty loaves and rustic sourdough, high protein, deep flavor.
Hard White Wheat
Lighter in color and flavor but still high in protein. Great for sandwich breads and everyday baking.
Soft White Wheat
Low protein, tender crumb. Ideal for cakes, muffins, and pastries.
Spelt
An ancient grain with a sweet, earthy flavor. Makes delicate, rich bread and pasta. Can’t recommend pasta enough here.
Rye
Dense, slightly sour. Perfect for rye breads and dark-crusted loaves.
Kamut
Golden and nutty. Higher in protein than wheat, gorgeous in pasta and flatbreads.
Einkorn
One of the oldest cultivated grains. Slightly sweet, more digestible, lower gluten. Excellent for sensitive guts.
Oats, Barley, Millet
These can be milled too…but typically used in combination with wheat or spelt for structure. They get a little weird on their own sometimes, which is totally fine, we can all use a little help every once in a while.
Where to Buy Whole Grains
Bob’s Red Mill (in bulk)
Your local co-op or farmer
Palouse Brand Hard White Wheat Berries
Always buy whole grain berries…not pearled or processed. Look for organic if possible, and store in a cool, dry place.
Home Grain Mills
You don’t need a windmill and a barn to grind your own flour. You need a small machine, and a little intention.
Electric mills are fast, easy, ideal for daily use.
Top Picks: NutriMill Classic and this KitchenAid attachment. I’m working with the KitchenAid myself.
If you have a giant bodybuilder husband at home like me, manual mills work wonders. They’re quiet, muscle-powered, and meditative. Perfect for off-grid or small-batch use.
Top Picks: Country Living Grain Mill (this expensive puppy takes the cake at around $800! WonderMill
If you’re baking weekly or more: go electric. If you love a tactile ritual, or you’re prepping for the apocalypse: go manual.
Step-by-Step
Measure the amount you need beforehand and store away the rest. Fresh flour actually has a short shelf life. Grind only what you’ll use in a day or two.
Check your settings, use coarse for polenta, medium for hearty bread, or fine for cakes and cookies.
Start slow and don’t rush this. Turn on your mill and pour the grain in gradually. Let the machine simmer to life like it’s trying to speak in its non-native language.
Store flour in an airtight container. Use within 2–3 days for peak flavor, or freeze for up to 30 days to preserve oils.
Related Read: 5 Common Baking Ingredients That Could Be Harming Your Health
What we gain when we return to the basics, and what we lose when we don’t.
Using Fresh Flour in Recipes
Freshly ground flour behaves differently. It’s thirstier, fuller, and more complex so you probably need to adjust.
Adjust hydration. Start by adding 5–10% more liquid than the recipe calls for, fresh flour absorbs more.
Texture will be different too. Expect a more rustic feel, whole grain loaves are denser…but more flavorful.
Let it rest and breathe a little more. Fresh flour benefits from an autolyse or long fermentions, it softens the bran and develops gluten.
Start with a blend if you’re nervous, try 50% fresh flour and 50% store-bought. Then increase from there. Trial and error is a big part of the fun.
Recipe: Rustic Fresh Flour Bread
Ingredients
500g hard red wheat flour (freshly ground)
375g water
10g salt
5g instant yeast
Instructions
Mix flour and water. Let sit 30 minutes (autolyse).
Add yeast and salt. Mix until sticky dough forms.
Let rise for 1–2 hours.
Shape into a boule and rest 30 minutes.
Bake at 450°F in a Dutch oven, lid on for 25 minutes, lid off for 15.
It will sing when it cools, listen for the cracks.
Other Ways to Use Fresh Flour
Try some pasta dough with spelt or einkorn, you won’t be disappointed.
Muffins with soft white wheat are so very delicate, you’ll wonder why you never truly had a muffin before.
Flatbreads with kamut are perfectly rustic and delectable.
Pancakes with oat and barley flour are filling in a way you’ve probably never experienced before. And you’ll want to experience it again and again afterwards.
Pie crusts with a rye-wheat blend might be my most controversial take yet, but I personally, really like it. You don’t need perfection at all, you just need some curiosity.
Whole grain berries be sure to keep in a sealed container in a cool, dark place. They’ll last up to a year.
Fresh flour should be used immediately for best results. Refrigerate or freeze for up to a month. Pro tip: label your jars with dates and grain types. Milling is addictive, you’ll forget what’s what before you know it.
Troubleshooting
My flour smells bitter.
→ Might be rancid, use fresher grains or grind smaller batches.
My bread is too dense.
→ Increase hydration, mix longer, or blend with lighter flours.
My mill clogs.
→ Clean after every use, avoid oily grains like flax unless your mill is built for it.
Grinding your own flour isn’t just baking, it’s a beautiful and artistic act of sovereignty. You take the raw seed of a plant and turn it into something nourishing. You control what goes into your body on a deeper level than you probably ever had, and you listen to the sound of a machine, the echo of the past, and smell the promise of what’s rising in the oven.
Somewhere in the scent of warm crust, in the steam of a broken loaf, you taste something you didn’t know you missed.
Not just flavor, but origin with a dash of wonder.
