We're excited to see many people make the decision to switch to feeding their families fresh milled grain products. We want your switch to be a very successful lifestyle change that will impact the well-being of your family's health and save your family money as well. We have put together a little sampling of how to get started, with certain information that will help you make decisions as you make this a successful change in your home.
1. Purchase a grain mill. This is the most important step in the process, and an investment you won't regret. Our favorite mill is the Nutrimill. Once you have a mill and some grain, fresh, wholesome bread, pancakes, muffins, etc. will always be just a few minutes away! You will immediately begin saving money on your grocery bill, and save trips to the store as well.
2. Order some grain. Most people who are just beginning like to use our Hard White wheat. It is easy to work with, very nutritious and is light in color and texture. It will be the easiest to switch to if your family is used to eating store bought bread.
3. Decide on a mixer. The best mixer we have found, and the one we recommend, is the Bosch Universal Plus. It is a fantastic, high powered mixer that was created to mix and knead small or large batches of whole grains extremely effectively like no other machine I know of. It is possible to make fresh milled wholegrain bread products by hand, or in some other mixers, but please keep in mind the benefits of the Bosch mixer for when you're ready for that step. Many who use/buy an inadequate mixer get frustrated and give up altogether and we would hate to see that happen to you. The people I have encountered who have the most trouble making bread, or making a consistent lifestyle change to whole grains, are people who are using a mixer that is inadequate. Having a good quality mixer will save you a lot of time, and multiply your efforts greatly in the kitchen. For example, in a typical mixer you could make up to 2 loaves of bread at a time. In the Bosch you can make up to 6 loaves, so you can bake once and freeze several loaves for later use. It takes less time to make bread in a Bosch, because the Bosch is designed to knead more effectively than a common mixer, activating the gluten in such a way that you only need to rise your bread once instead of twice. It also leads to a more consistent, quality loaf of bread. This is an area where you can be flexible if you want to try the machine you already own, but I would encourage you not to try to save a little bit of money in exchange for wasting it on a product you are dissatisfied with.
4. Purchase bread making supplies: When making whole grain, nutritious bread, be sure to use quality ingredients so that you may have the full health benefits from your bread. Use 1st cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, or organic coconut oil instead of vegetable or other oils. Use local honey, raw and unfiltered when possible. Use a quality yeast, such as SAF instant yeast. We like to use 100% Natural Dough Enhancer in our bread as well, to give our bread a more spongey texture and to help it stay fresh longer. Liquid lecithin and Vitamin C powder also help to make a perfect loaf of bread every time.
You'll need bread loaf pans and a cooling rack.
I like to use a dough cutter to split my dough into loaves. And a good bread knife is also very important so you can make nice, even, thin slices of bread without it falling apart. These 2 items aren't essential, just helpful!
You may purchase bread bags for your bread, or save your old store bought bread bags and recycle those for your homemade bread.
For a complete list of supplies needed and prices, see "Starter Packs" below.
3. Consider how you will store your grain. Grain is purchased in 25-50 pound bags. A 50 lb bag will fill a 6 gallon bucket with a little left over. Think about where you will keep your grain. In the kitchen pantry? A cupboard? A little in the pantry and the rest of it in the basement? You'll want to evaluate your space and storage needs and decide what will work best. Try to keep at least a couple gallons of grain easy to access if you'll be keeping most in a basement. I store a few unopened bags in large rubbermaid containers in my basement on a shelf (you'll want to keep out critters who also understand the benefits of whole grain.) Then I keep my opened grain in 6 gallon buckets (food grade) with gamma lids on them. The gamma lids are very easy to open and close, and protect your grain from bugs and moisture. They are a very effective way to store and use grain. I keep my buckets on the floor of my pantry. I also like to keep gallon sized pitchers with grain in them in my pantry. I can just pour grain from them into my mill, and refill them as needed. You can also get smaller 3 gallon buckets with the gamma lids. If you need help or unique sized buckets, we can help you and special order products to fit your needs. Where and how you store your grain really depends on your space issues. What's important is that you make it easily accessible so it will be ready to use when you need it.
4. Now you're ready to make delicious and nutritious bread for your family!
Starter Kits:
Here is a suggested ideal list of everything you need to make bread... You can use this as a checklist for what you need, as you may have some many of these items already, and many of these are optional...
Mill – Nutrimill - Mixer – Bosch Universal Plus – Grain –1 - 50# Hard white Wheat Berries (or other variety of grain) 6 Gallon bucket – (one for each type of grain/oats etc. you’d like to store)
Gamma Seal Lid – (one for each bucket)
Dough cutter/scraper – 6 Bread Loaf pans - the stainless steel loaf pans, size 4 ½w x 8 ½l x 2 ¼ h 2 Cooling racks - Quality Bread Knife - Bread Bags (100 large) - 1 lb SAF yeast - 1 16 oz Dough Enhancer - 16 oz Liquid Lecithin - Vitamin C Powder – 16 oz. Honey – Madhava pure unfiltered raw organic - Olive Oil – Salt –
(*The Nutrimill and Bosch prices are subject to change based on sales, promotions, etc. Call for current price. They always include free shipping.
We have some starter kits if you're looking for easy, one stop shopping to get started on bread making! Cal or contact us for pricing, or See our order form page for details.
Ultimate Starter Kit: Includes everything listed above, and starter recipes from NurtureWise.
Premium Starter Kit: Includes: Nutrimill Grain Mill; Bosch Universal Plus Mixer; 50 lbs of Hard White Wheat Berries; 1 6 Gallon food grade bucket, 1 Gamma lid, 1 lb SAF yeast, 1 can Dough Enhancer, Liquid Lecithin, Starter recipes from NurtureWise.
Basic Starter Kit: Includes: Nutrimill Grain Mill; 50 lbs of Hard White Wheat Berries; 1 Six gallon food grade bucket, 1 Gamma lid, 1 lb SAF yeast, 1 can Dough Enhancer, Liquid lecithin, Starter recipes from NurtureWise.
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