When I was introduced to the concept of whole foods cooking, the first, most life-impacting change I made was to eliminate white flour from our diets. It’s not just conservative moms who are touting the health benefits of whole grains; an online search for the nutritional benefits of whole grains yields government and medical study after study heralding reduced risks for cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, gum disease, obesity, mental illness, and more, attributed to the fiber and intact nutrients (particularly the B vitamins) in whole grains.Whole wheat contains 40 of the 44 known nutrients. God designed a wheat kernel (or any whole grain) to be the perfect long-term storage container for the nutrients, as long as the outer covering, or hull, remains intact. Once the hull is broken in the milling process, flour loses approximately 90% of its nutritional value within 72 hours of milling, and the wheat germ exposed to oxygen during the milling process begins to turn rancid without immediate refrigeration/freezing. (See addendum, below.) A little history: For thousands of years, flour was milled fresh daily for baking (sort of like manna – collect only what you can use in a day). At the turn of the last century, millers discovered that they could mechanically separate the germ, germ oil, and bran from the white endosperm to produce white flour with a longer shelf life than the whole grain flour they had been milling. It wasn’t long before nervous system disorders such as beriberi and pellagra – caused by vitamin B deficiencies – drastically increased, so health officials, tracing the epidemic to the new white flour, appealed to the mills to return to whole wheat products. However, not only had the millers found white flour to be a profitable endeavor, they had a new, lucrative market in the animal feed industry for all the by-products.
They compromised by agreeing to replace four of the 25-30 vitamins and minerals they had removed – those most beneficial in reducing the illnesses. In short, in the refining process for white flour (and other refined grains, such as white rice), nearly all of the vitamins and minerals are removed, then four to six are replaced to "enrich" the end product. [If I took more than $25 from you and then I gave you $6 back, would you feel “enriched”?] (For more details, see Sue Becker's info in Further Study, below, as well as other resources.)According to Rachel Ramey in X+Y = Dinner?, besides the obvious loss of the remaining nutrients (which are not replaced), there is in most refined grain products an imbalance of nutrients because the vitamins with which the product is enriched are added in unnatural ratios; the abnormally high levels of some of these added B vitamins can cause deficiencies of others. That ruled out store-bought bread for me. Even store-bought whole-wheat flour was not an option for us, since I don't have any idea how long it's been out of their mill, but I’m fairly confident it’s longer than 24-72 hours so the nutrients have pretty much oxidized away and the oils are becoming rancid.The good news: I can make whole-grain bread with fresh, “whole” ingredients and no “stuff I don’t recognize” for under 60 cents a loaf. Comparing this to the store price tag of the least expensive whole-grain bread in our discount grocery, a home mill pays for itself in as little as thirteen weeks, estimating that our family would consume some equivalent of one loaf of bread a day.* [Updated 5/24/11 to 90c with increased grain, honey, oil pricing, but since storebought has also risen, I will leave the time for return on investment as is.]I love having a countertop mill - we mill what we need as we need it. Lest you have visions of us taking turns at the hand crank for hours, grinding the stones to make our daily bread, I will assure you that my electric countertop micronizing mill takes up less space than my mixer, and it's so simple and convenient that we can mill enough flour in just seconds for a batch of brownies or tortillas, or in a few minutes I can mill enough flour for six loaves of bread. Because we mill our own flour quickly, easily, and inexpensively, we can use a wide variety of grains. Some grains found in my pantry include hard and soft white wheat, spelt, kamut, oats, rye, corn, millet, barley, quinoa, flax, brown rice, red wheat, and a seven-grain mix; I buy my grains in economical 25-to-50-lb sacks or pails from our local food co-op. Hard white wheat, spelt, and kamut are my primary bread grains because they are all high-gluten flours that make successful yeast bread. When adding low-gluten flour to a yeast bread recipe, try to keep the low-gluten flour to no more than one fourth of the flour in the recipe.Red wheat gives more of the traditional “whole wheat” taste and darker color. Millet is high in B-17, which is thought to be beneficial in the prevention of cancer cell production. Rye should be combined with a higher-gluten grain to make a traditional rye bread. Most of your grains can be combined in appropriate proportions (at least three-fourths high-gluten grains) to make a multi-grain mixture for breads, rolls, tortillas, muffins, and more.Soft white wheat is our main non-yeast-baked-goods flour, but we can add virtually any other grain we would like if we aren’t making yeast bread. We like to add some barley flour to the wheat when making cakes, muffins, etc. – this is closer to a “cake flour” and gives a lighter texture. When using soft white wheat or spelt, use more flour or less liquid than usual.If I could buy only one grain, it would be hard white wheat, since it is quite multi-purpose and can replace soft wheat in my other recipes, including pancakes, cookies, muffins, and more. Hard white wheat gives me a loaf of bread that is actually lighter in color than most brands of store-bought “whole wheat” breads. With its mild color and flavor and light texture, hard white wheat (such as Prairie Gold from Wheat Montana) yields a soft, fluffy loaf of bread that most children will eat – and you can even serve peanut butter and jelly on it!. Here’s our family’s favorite basic recipe.* A loaf of whole grain retail-type (not bakery) bread at our Wal-Mart is $2.74 before tax (at this writing). Calculating the cost using the most expensive mill our business sells, the variable-speed NutriMill pays for itself in four months. Calculating using the cost of the one-speed NutriMill, the mill would pay for itself in 93 days, or about thirteen weeks. The WonderMill would be just under four months. ADDED 5/24/11: I reworked my bread figure, using updated grain, oil, honey pricing, and the cost per loaf is still at 90 cents per loaf; I'm sure the storebought loaf price has gone up proportionately as well, so I'm guessing that the return on investment time is still comparable.
ADDENDUM:
Once the outer bran of the wheat is compromised (by milling), the nutrients inside begin to oxidize (with the estimate being that roughly 90% of the nutrients are oxidized away within about 72 hours after the bran is compromised). What nutrients happen to be left in the endosperm get bleached in white flour (using chlorine dioxide, nitrogen peroxide, chlorine, benzoyl peroxide, or acetone peroxide, generally). In whole grain flour, if the bran and germ are intact, by the time they hit the shelves, they are likely rancid or on the way, and the endosperm has lost most of the nutrients.
On page 15 of her book, Flour Power (which can conveniently be found on the front page of my website LOL), Marleeta Basey has a chart for you from the USDA -- Nutrient Comparison of Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries vs. Unenriched White Flour vs. Enriched White Flour.
Examples:
fiber - 12.2 gr vs 2.7 vs 2.7
calcium 25 vs 15 vs 15 mg
potassium 340 mg vs 107 v 107
selenium 70.7 mcg vs 33.9 vs 33.9
vitamin E 1.01 mg vs. 0.06 vs 0.06
manganese 4.06 mg vs 0.682
etc.
The few enriched items have MORE in the new version than the original, but the other 15 of the 22 major nutrients reduced have no compensation made. And there's skepticism as to whether the enriched version of the nutrients is as easily assimilated into the body.
On the issue of baking heat vs. milling heat:
"Won't those vitamins be destroyed anyway in a 400-degree oven? ...the fermentation process in breadmaking involves enzymes that protect vitamins during baking. In the case of the B-vitamin thiamin, only 5 to 35 percent is lost in baking, because starch provides some protection. Recently discovered powerful antioxidants in the orthophenols of wheat survive the baking process." (p. 14)
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For further study:
http://eap.mcgill.ca/Publications/EAP35.htm - extensive studies - You have to read the rat studies!
Although it doesn’t list the 90%/72 hr part, it does stress that ground whole-grain flour can go “bad” within 2-14 days. I would love to have included the whole article here and highlighted parts. I think you’ll find this article interesting. Note that at the time of this article, impact mills were not common but now should be considered equivalent to stone mills for her purpose; the heat is still within acceptable range and well below that of commercial steel roller mills.
http://www.breadbeckers.com/enrichment.htm (Sue Becker has a degree in food science and worked in the industry in food biochemistry.) You’ll find the numbers/percentages listed in her article.
Scroll down to “An Honest Loaf” – not specific times but stresses using it the same day.
www.grainsoftruth.com Donna Spann ("The Bread Lady") is author of Grains of Truth, a primer on whole grains for those of us who are clueless. Donna's bread was my introduction to yummy whole grain baking and freshly milled flour!
Many other articles make reference to the loss of nutrients due to oxygen exposure, although they don’t specify a time period. Dr. Rex Russell also makes reference (in his book, What the Bible Says about Healthy Eating) to the loss of quality of stored flours, mainly referring to the rancidity of the wheat germ.
Hopefully this will give you a springboard into further study.
Copyright 2007-2011 by Vicki Bentley
Whole Grains 101
Don’t have a mill yet?
Other whole grain pantry items include brown rice, rolled oats, whole grain pastas and couscous, whole grain tortillas and bread products (look for stoneground whole wheat or 100% whole grain at the top of the ingredients list). Although many of the nutrients may be stripped from the processed items, you will have the benefits of the fiber. Also, many of the whole grains listed in the article can be added to a soup that cooks an hour or longer, or cooked and eaten as a side dish, cereal, or in salads. Sue Gregg has several blender batter recipes using whole grains (www.suegregg.com).
For more information and/or recipes:
Busy Woman’s Guide to Healthy Eating by Emilie Barnes and Sue Gregg (www.everydayhomemaking.com)
Everyday Cooking by Vicki Bentley (www.everydayhomemaking.com)
Flour Power by Marleeta Basey (recently revised and re-released; see our Amazon store)
Grains of Truth by Donna Spann (www.grainsoftruth.com) Donna's was the first great whole grain bread I ate!
More Than Breakfasts cookbook by Sue Gregg, from her Eating Better series (www.suegregg.com)
“Only Real Bread is the Staff of Life” seminar DVD by Sue Becker (www.breadbeckers.com)
X+Y=Dinner? by Rachel Ramey (www.homeworksbest.net)
What the Bible Says about Healthy Living by Dr. Rex Russell (www.everydayhomemaking.com)
Introduction to Whole Foods by Rachel Ramey (www.homeworksbest.net)
