how to convert recipes to freshly milled flour

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Incorporating freshly milled flour into all of my baked goods has been so much fun! I’ve learned how to convert recipes to fresh milled flour and how to set up my kitchen for milling my own grains efficiently.

Whole grains are satisfying, delicious, and full of earthy flavors. Our children have come to love it and that’s a big deal for a mom who serves 3-melas a day.

My Fresh Milled Flour Journey

I first heard of fresh milled whole wheat flour from my Mennonite friends back around 2019. The internet was not big on that topic and owning a grain mill was unheard of.

I knew it was healthy so, I ordered my first grain mill which was an attachment to a Kitchen aid mixer. It didn’t make fine flour and to my disappointment made pretty dense loaves. That’s not to blame the coarser flour, I really didn’t know how to work with whole grains.

Later, I realized that the process was so different. Here I was making fluffy hamburger buns from white flour and then this freshly ground whole wheat flour, was producing bricks.

But I kept trying, and to my surprise my husband found a bread machine recipe that finally worked!

After time, my grain mill was being used far less.  Maybe because it was too long to grind all the wheat berries so, that ended up going on the back burner for a couple years until we moved in 2020.

Fresh Milled Flour with Sourdough

In 2020 we moved to a small rental home with a gifted sourdough starter. After that my husband was still determined to eat fresh milled flour.

I don’t blame him, he grew up on whole grains. His mom used to make about 6 loaves of whole wheat bread weekly and used lots of rye flour in her baking. So, my husband was familiar with the hearty flavors of whole wheat.

He remembers going to the local mill back in Ukraine where they would bring the wheat berries that they grew to the local mill to make flour.  Then they would bring back bags of fresh milled flour that they stored in sacks.

Whereas my mom would buy this delicious Canadian bread made with whole wheat flour and sourdough sold here in the United States at European markets. Ukrainians just love hearty whole grain bread.

So, I started back up experimenting with fresh milled flour and sourdough now. However, my breads were too sour and still so dense, but I wasn’t giving up.

I then came to realize that it was a sourdough issue so, I ended up tossing my whole wheat flour sourdough starter. (Terrible, I know).

Stumbling Upon Sue Becker

Anyways, we stayed in that rental for a short time and later moved into our farmhouse. It was sometime here that I was given my aunts ripe sourdough starter.

That was the real deal. It worked like a power horse and I think it was because it was always fed with unbleached bread flour.

So, I was making sourdough breads using white flour and really enjoying it. Then…

I don’t know how I ended up finding Sue Beckers Only Real Bread Video but I did. This was probably somewhere between 2022 or 2023.

I remember the video didn’t have much views but I was listening to it multiple of times, sharing it with people, and digging deeper into the information she shared! I probably watched just about every one of her videos on her Youtube channel and even got to attend one of her cooking classes in person. I even have a photo taken with Sue Becker and had the privilege to meet her in person!

It was so eye opening, and changed my life forever, really. I never felt so convinced on making a better food switch in my life like I did.

I was shocked that she said you can make anything with fresh milled flour! So, I realized it was all about technique here. After finding out all the health benefits and how it aligned with scripture, it made way more sense. I was all in! There was no going back and I was excited to get on this journey more than ever.

You see once you are convinced of something, you want to do better. For me that eating more whole grains. I felt good about this decision because Sue uses a lot of scripture to backup her thoughts so it was rest assuring.

Fresh Milled Flour Recipes

From there on, I started my unbending freshly milled flour journey. I first started with commercial yeast to see if what was working for Sue was true. I thought can you really make fluffy bread with freshly milled flour? You sure can. I started diligently with this basic recipe and used this dough for cinnamon rolls, hamburger buns, and sandwiches.

Later, I found out that the key to fluffy whole wheat bread was in the kneading time. You have to knead hard wheat varieties for a longer time than white flour recipes (at least 12-24 minutes) until it passes the window pane test.

I also realized that fresh milled flour recipes do better when the dough is more on the hydrated side. Meaning it’s slightly tackier. I learned that you do not want to add too much flour right away. This is because it soaks up the flour slower and more gradually.

Whereas making white flour doughs, you can instantly tell whether or not you have added too much flour.

Converting Existing Recipes to use Fresh Milled Flour

Then one day I decided to weigh white flour in my set of measuring cups. This is because weighing your flour will give you the most accurate measurements every time.

It’s no surprise that’s a fact. In culinary school we were taught that the metric system and that weighing dry ingredients such as flour yielded a more accurate result.

And with accurate measuring you can make the same recipe multiple of times with the same exact results whether it’s a single portion or a hundred. By the way grains and fresh milled flour always weigh the same.

So, I measured all the white flour in cups and put it on a kitchen scale, each cup from my measuring set. I wrote down every gram and made a conversion chart.

It was like my cheat sheet. I had written all the gram conversions on a sticky and taped it to my cupboard. 

This is when I realized I can convert my favorite recipes to freshly milled flour!

It was really life changing! I no longer had to eyeball and guess on the measurements. I could literally take any white flour recipe and convert it to whole grains. 

My friend uses 140 grams per cup of flour as her conversion and that’s all she needs. But I find it helpful when I need that quarter cup measurement to have it written in grams. 

Yeasted Breads vs Sourdough Breads

I prefer sourdough breads with fresh milled flour. However, I still use many yeasted bread recipes for the convenience.

For example if I need English muffins for breakfast sandwiches I’ll quickly make them with yeast. It’s better than buying store-bought.

If I need hamburger buns I’ll make my universal whole wheat bread dough using yeast. Then I’ll make a cinnamon swirl raisin loaf with any leftover dough.

Now, if I stick to my weekly sourdough bread baking I can plan in advance what I’ll be baking for the week. Usually, I’ll choose bread recipes like my dinner rolls for sliders, Artisan bread, Sandwich loaves, and bagels.

I always switch it up depending on what meals we have going for that week.

I find sourdough breads are more forgiving and that you don’t have to baby sit them like yeasted breads. Once you make yeasted dough, you need to get that in the oven, not with sourdough. I can delay my bread baking for the next day if I want to.

Figuring out a Routine

  • Use a heavy duty electric grain mill. A hand cranking one isn’t going to work long-term if you make all of your breads with fresh milled flour.
  • Set up a baking corner for your mill and grains. This is so important because if you make a grain station, you’re more likely to make fresh milled flour.
  • Calculate how much breads your family goes through. Then plan on making those breads at home with fresh milled flour.
  • Have a baking day where you make all of your essential breads in one day. For example if you’re planning Mexican suppers, count in a batch of tortillas and freeze them until Taco Tuesday!
  • Start with beginner-friendly recipes. I can send you 4 of my favorite fresh-milled flour recipes for free, if you fill out the form on my about page.
  • Make a list of your favorite homemade snacks or baked goods and convert them to fresh milled flour using my conversion chart.
  • Have a huge baking day and freeze your baked goods. I have a friend who makes cinnamon rolls dough and freezes them unbaked. Then she’ll thaw them, let them rise, and bake them fresh.
  • If you create an efficient work flow for baking all your fresh milled flour goodies, you’re going to be organized and be able to provide deliciously baked breads for your family.

In Summary

Baking with freshly milled grains is simple. Hopefully by choosing the right mill, using the proper grains, and converting your favorite recipes, you’ll be inspired to make nourishing breads for your family!

I don’t offer a course for freshly milled flour, but hopefully you can find this free information helpful for baking with home-milled flour.

I want to inspire your baking journey by sharing mine. If you found this helpful in any way I’d love to talk. Leave a comment below and let’s build a community around these healthy grains!