The mill...

Above, my sweet friend Fran came to visit me a few days ago, and a little lunch date we came back to the apt. to do a little baking! As some of you know I mill the flour for most of my flour foods that we eat. Things like our bread, biscuits, cakes, pancakes, muffins, and on and on. I first learned about milling your own wheat while in college from the woman who discipled me (Jen Devine). After Jen and another close girlfriend became so convinced of this being the only way to eat bread and many other flour products, I became very intrigued and decided to do some research myself. There is a wonderful website for any of you interested in why this is so important at www.breadbeckers.com.

"At The Bread Beckers, we believe one simple thing can change your life: real food. Our mission is to show you how easy real food is to make and how delicious it is to eat...Here's why. What passes for food today bears little resemblance to the living organisms God created. The only way to know what you're eating is to make it yourself. We'll teach you how to do it in just a few minutes a day and help you take the first steps to a healthier life. Fatigue, sinus problems, constipation, high cholesterol and even warts are just some of the conditions our customers and our own families have overcome by rejecting processed foods and fueling our bodies with the whole, delicious fuel they were designed to use."

This is basically their mission statement and after reading many of the articles under the information part of the website I really felt like the Lord was leading me into a healthier lifestyle for myself and my family one day by milling my own wheat to make my own wheat and flour products. If my body is my temple because the holy spirit lives inside of me then I want to be putting good nutrient rich healthy things in it!Above is Fran holding my mill. Now this was an investment for me and I saved money for about 3 months to buy it! But now that I own it, I am so happy that I do!
Here I am just pouring some what into the mill while it's grinding it into fresh flour...
Then, tadaa! Fresh flour!
So today Fran and i decided to make homemade bread and some chocolate chip muffins. Both jam packed of fiber and all the goodness that comes along with freshly milled flour.
Adding a little cinnamon to our muffins...
and the picture above is our bread dough after it had been kneaded in the mixer for about 7 minutes...
Here are the muffins getting ready to get popped into the oven!
And above is the bread dough getting ready to rise for about 2 hours. The bread can be quite a time consuming task so I only cook it on days when I know I have at least 3 hours to dedicate to it! But the good thing about that is that for about two of those hours it is rising which is great time to get some laundry done or do some reading!

Did you know that after a grain of wheat has been cracked it begins to oxidize (loose it's built in nutrients) immediately. If you don't use the flour it makes within 24 hours it is basically completely nutrient-less. Which is part of the reason I started making my own bread. I would love to go into great detail here but why not read it for yourself at breadbeckers website if you are interested! If you have any questions please feel free to post below or e-mail me at brett.kat.barton@gmail.com.