Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Whole Wheat Flour

Most of you already know this, but just a little fyi, whole wheat flour goes rancid so it needs to be stored in the fridge or freezer.  If stored in the freezer let it warm up a bit before adding it to a recipe.

8 comments:

Jennette said...

Additionally, ground whole wheat flour will lose its nutritional potency over time--quickly. The best way to use/keep whole wheat flour is to grind your own from kernels in small amounts (maybe a month's worth) at a time. Besides, buying whole wheat as kernels instead of as ground flour makes more economical sense in the long run, too!

Anna said...

So does anyone know about buying organic wheat? I've heard wheat is very heavily sprayed with pesticides.

millie said...

Jennette and or Whomever,
What do you use to grind your wheat? I guess what I am really asking is what brand? Do you remember the approximate cost?

millie said...

Anna, I just linked from your Utah buy Local link and noticed Utah farmers growing organic wheat. They list a few different kinds...I don't know what is used for what...but they give their names and then we could probably do a search for them. What kind of wheat does one want...Red, hard, soft, spring?

Anna said...

I have no idea about wheat varieties, but would love to buy from local farmers. Anyone? Let's see what we can find out!

Jennette said...

I don't know a whole lot about wheat varieties, except that I've been getting hard red wheat.

Millie, I just use an old monster grinder that I inherited from someone in my ward. It makes all the lights in the house dim when I turn it on! I've heard about some really great hand grinders from friends, so I'll start looking into other options out there as well.

Also, I have been buying my wheat from the church cannery. It's probably not organic, but I wasn't looking into that. Mostly I was looking at cost....because it's pretty stinkin' cheap from them. At my last check, it was .20/lb and you could buy 25lb bags (or in whatever other form you want: #10 cans or pouches for storage, etc.). I don't have my "year's supply" but I have a bunch and I store it in big plastic buckets with resealable lids.

Prices may be going up with them, however. I also buy my oats from them at $10/25lb bag.

Anna said...

I read a bit online last night about varieties and it sounds like hard red is kind of a standard variety and good for bread. So Millie, should we pursue finding a vendor of organic?
I have heard that spelt is very nutritious and is not very heavily sprayed, but it is rarer and harder to find.

millie said...

Yes let's look into it.