Grinding Wheat

Yesterday we ran out of bread. It's a bad idea to run out of bread around here, because it's pretty much one of 3 things Tyler will eat.

Not only were we out of bread, we were out of wheat flour. So I went digging under our bed for the wheat, and out to the garage for our wheat grinder. This was the first time I'd done it by myself (normally Kenny does it for us). I called him on the phone to make sure there were no tricks to it. "You're going to do it inside?", he asked. "Well", I replied, "I'm sure not going to do it out in the freezing butt-cold weather outside!" Then he said, "It's gonna be messy."

After a couple minutes into it, I realized how right he was. It's like on the movie, You've Got Mail where they talk about every night a bunch of flour gets pumped into bins or something underground and it never seems to settle. Well that's exactly how this was. The sun was shining through our kitchen window, making it easy to see all the flour just hanging in the air. (maybe I was doing it wrong?) After a while it finally did settle, leaving a nice layer over everything. It was so fun to clean it up! (not.)

Not only was it messy, but it is LOUD. I felt like I was running really heavy machinery when it was on, and landing an airplane each time I turned it off.

Are you in the market for a wheat grinder? I wish I could say, "in my professional opinion...get this one." But the truth is I am no professional, and this is the only one I've ever used. BUT I really like it. Nutrimills can grind a lot of flour at once, and they have lifetime warranties. I also love that I can adjust the setting from coarser to finer, flour.

But, there's something you should know about wheat flour. I just learned this yesterday, and it boggles my mind. I read this online here: "...the vitamins and minerals dissipate quickly once the wheat has been ground into flour. IN fact, within the first 24 hours the flour has lost 45% of it's nutrients and by the time 72 hours has passed it has lost a whopping 90%! 90% of nutritional value of the wholesome grain that does not make it in to your family's bodies."

I can't believe it! Did you know this? If you did, why didn't you share it with me? What other important information are you withholding from me? And WHY, may I ask, is that the case? Where the does the nutrition go? Does it just evaporate into thin air? It doesn't make sense. Anyone have answers?

I was glad that I used it within the hour to make bread, and then that night I made thin-crust, whole-wheat pizza too. YUM. Looks like I will have to be making big messes a lot more often.