How to Grind Wheat Into Flour

Have you ever ground your own flour? If you have a simple grinder, you can easily grind wheat into flour. For this edition of the Self Reliant Skill of the Week, that’s exactly what I’m doing!

Last year, when the pandemic hit, there was NO flour on the store shelves. None! So what did I do? I went to the feed store and bought a 50 pound bag of wheat. It was less than $10.

My thinking was that if I needed flour and couldn’t get it, I could grind my own flour from this wheat. Plus, if the shutdown continued for an extended time, and shortages kept on, I could even plant my own wheat to make more flour in bulk. Since these were whole soft white wheat berries, I knew I could plant them and grow my own.

While the wheat from the feed store isn’t perfect (it’s not screened of all the miscellaneous plant material), it’s still very usable. And it’s cheaper than I’ve seen other wheat for!

Well, the shutdowns lifted, and the world went back to ALMOST normal (or at least the NEW normal). So I ended up not using the wheat until now. It’s still perfectly good, since it was stored in containers in our barn. So I pulled it out today to grind it into flour for this post and video.

The basics of grinding wheat into flour

First, you of course need a grinder or a grain mill. You can get a manual grinder (like I used), or an electric one. I chose to buy a manual grinder so that it could be used if a long-term grid-down type situation ever occurred. I think it’s a fabulous idea to have plenty of manual tools for just in case.

If it’s a manual grinder, you will likely have to attach it to a table to keep it stable while you’re grinding. Electric grinders usually don’t need to be anchored to anything.

Second, you need wheat berries. I used soft white wheat berries, but you could also use hard. Wheat berries are just the whole kernel of wheat from the threshing process. About 1 cup of wheat berries will become almost 2 cups of flour.

Third, pour a decent amount of wheat berries in your grinder. Grind away until it’s spit all of the crushed grain out. I had to put mine through a few times to get it to a flour consistency. If you have an electric grinder, it would probably be a much quicker process. A quality grinder will most likely do it for you in one shot.

Fourth, use your freshly ground wheat flour in any of your favorite baked goods!

Here is a video from my YouTube channel showing my first time grinding wheat into flour.

Why would you store wheat berries?

That’s a great question! Most people prefer to store wheat berries in their long-term food storage, as the shelf life is MUCH longer. White flour will go rancid after just a few months in storage, wheat berries will stay fresh for a long time. If stored properly, wheat berries can still be good for decades!

Storing wheat berries also gives you the option of planting your very own wheat if needed. You can also sprout them into a power-packed microgreen or sprout.

Wheat berries can also be cooked whole for a nutritious breakfast cereal. Or cook them and use them as a rice substitute.

Storing wheat berries, as opposed to storing flour, is a much smarter option. Just make sure that you have a grinder so you can use them to their fullest potential!

Can you grind other things into flour?

You sure can! If you have a good grain mill, you can grind rye, oats, nuts, millet, quinoa, lentils, beans, seeds, or nuts. So if you or one of your family members has a gluten allergy, you can try other grains to avoid the gluten.

You could also grind corn into corn meal.

All in all, a grain mill is a great thing to have in your kitchen for self reliance.

Are you going to try it?

So, are you going to try to grind wheat into flour? Or have you done it before? Please share your experiences in the comments. Let’s learn together!

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