There are many types of grains from which you can make your own flour. Beyond wheat, options include oat groats (dehulled oats), rice, triticale, kamut, spelt, buckwheat, barley, rye, millet, teff, quinoa, amaranth, sorghum, soybeans and dent (field) corn. Imagine making fresh cornmeal for cornbread, or pancakes from just-milled buchwheat. Even with wheat there are many choices. You can choose red or white, spring or winter wheat depending on what you plan to bake. Some specialty retailers even sell heritage varieties of wheat - varieties that were grown before hybridization created the modern wheat found in most commercial flour
Flour is one of the cheapest things to buy in the shop. But did you know that processed flour - even whole wheat - has been stripped of much of it's nutritional value. It's easy to make your own fresh flour. It's not only much better for you, it has an amazing flavor that you won't believe!
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You can try a variety of grains
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It is more nutritious
Commercially-prepared flour goes through many steps from grain to flour - as many as thirty different procedures. Most of these steps involve cleaning the grains and removing the fiber-rich bran coating and nutrient-ruch wheat germ. This is done to allow longer shelf-life, as the oils in the wheat germ can oxidize and caude spoilage over time. To get the distinctive white color, most flour is bleached using benzoyl peroxide, the same chemical used to in blonde hair coloring. Cake flour requires a very fine consistency and bright white color and is more typically bleached with chlorine gas. Finally, sodium benzoate or other preservatives are added to retard spoilage. Using a grain mill like the Komo mill or Sana Grain Mill lets you make flour that contains nothing but wheat - and vitally it keeps the fiber from the bran and the nutrition from the wheat germ.
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It just tastes better
Just as with any other natural food, freshness is the key to awesome-tasting baked goods. The moment a wheat grain is crushed to make flour, oxidation begins. Using a grain mill lets you prepare the flour right when you need it, before any kind of oxidation or spoilage can occur. You also preserve the distinctive nutty flavor of the grain. The texture of home-made whole wheat flour is much lighter and finer than that purchased in a store. It is soft and has a sweetness that commercial flours don't possess.