Whole Grains 101

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 becomes rancid without immediate refrigeration/freezing after being milled.

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”?]

According to Rachel Ramey of Naturally, Holistically Healthy, 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. Well, 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 right at one dollar per 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 fifteen weeks, estimating that our family would consume some equivalent of one loaf of bread a day.*

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 (WonderMill) 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.

 

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. (The recipe is also found in my cookbook, Everyday Cooking, where you’ll find several variations using that same dough, as well as other whole grain recipes.)

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).

WANT TO BUY A MILL?

I’m happy to help! Our store doesn’t have the mixers and mills moved over yet, but we do recommend the WonderMill micronizing mill ($299.95) and the KoMo Classic stone mill in beech or walnut ($549).

For further study:

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.

UPDATED BREAD PRICING: In 2024, as ingredient prices have risen sharply in the grocery aisles: I can make a loaf of freshly milled whole grain bread for $2.35 (pricing SAF yeast, Prairie Gold wheat berries, EVOO, and honey). Using the same recipe and the same other quality ingredients to make homemade white bread using nutrient-stripped/enriched white flour (vs freshly milled flour) saves me 90c. My family’s health is worth the 90c.

Store bread is at least $3.28 here. So making it myself saves me almost a dollar a loaf and I know I’m using quality ingredients. (I could substitute less healthy oil and sweetener and save 41c per loaf, but let’s think big here and go for healthy all the way!). A Wondermill is currently $299, so it will take almost 10 months to recoup the cost of my mill — but that’s ten months that my family is eating better food! And the remaining years, I’m just saving money!

(Affiliate links give you the same great pricing while providing a little bit here and there for me, so I can continue to bring you fun content!)