Fresh Milled Flour
Fresh Milled Flour is Perishable ❄️
MOST IMPORTANTLY — Freeze your flour as soon as possible!
Fresh milled flour is like fresh fruit. Imagine you just peeled a banana: you either eat it right away, or you freeze it to preserve it. Milled flour is no different. Once the wheat berry is cracked open, the countdown begins. We take great care to get our flours into the freezer immediately after milling, and we recommend you do the same.
There are two main reasons this matters:
Peak Nutrition: Wheat is at its most nutrient-dense the moment it's ground. Freezing locks in those vitamins and minerals so they make it to your plate.
Incredible Flavor vs. Bitterness: Grocery store whole wheat flour is often bitter and heavy. That’s because the natural oils in the wheat germ and bran oxidize (go rancid) sitting on room-temperature shelves. Freezing significantly slows oxidation, preserving the rich, nutty, and sweet flavor that makes fresh flour flour so special.
Welcome to the Fresh Milled Life! 🌾
If you’re reading this, you probably just picked up a bag of our fresh milled flour from the freezer (or you're thinking about it!). Freshly milled flour is honestly life-changing, but it behaves differently than standard store-bought flour.
Here are three things to keep in mind for the best possible experience:
1. Fresh Milled Flour is "Thirsty" 💧
If you try to convert a standard recipe to fresh milled flour, it will require more water. The bran (the outer protective shell of the wheat berry) acts like a tiny, highly absorbent sponge.
💡 Pro-Tip: Add your liquid slowly. Fresh flour absorbs water much more slowly than highly processed white flour. Give your dough a few minutes to rest during mixing so the bran has time to fully hydrate before you decide to add more liquid or flour!
2. Start with Dedicated Recipes 📖
To minimize frustration and save your ingredients, I highly recommend starting with recipes specifically formulated for fresh milled grains. Once you get a feel for how the dough handles, you can start converting your family favorites.
Grains In Small Places and Lovely Bell Bakes are two incredible creators with fantastic, foolproof recipes for beginners.
3. Start with "Non-Breads" First 🥞
Hard white wheat is incredibly versatile, but jumping straight into a high-rising loaf of bread can be tricky. Instead, get your feet wet with quick bakes:
Great Places to Start: Pancakes, muffins, cookies, and biscuits.
What Hard White Wheat Excels At: Cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, or anything that benefits from great protein structure and gluten development.
Moving on to Yeast Breads? Watch the Mixer! 🍞
Yeasted breads are a wonderful next step and are much easier to find success with than sourdough. However, fresh whole grains almost always require extensive kneading to develop the gluten.
A quick warning for your kitchen: Unless you are using a commercial-grade machine, please avoid heavy bread kneading in a standard KitchenAid mixer. Freshly milled whole grain dough is heavy and dense; it can easily strain the gears and burn out the motor. (I almost broke the beautiful mixer passed down to you-know-who, and I want to save you that heartbreak!).
If you have a heavy-duty mixer designed for bread—like a Bosch, Ankarsrum, or a dedicated spiral mixer—knead away! Otherwise, manual hand-kneading or no-knead overnight methods are your safest bet.
The Sourdough Challenge 🌀
Sourdough is the ultimate test with fresh milled flour. Achieving that airy, open, fluffy crumb with 100% fresh whole grain takes practice, so don't be discouraged if your first few loaves are a bit dense—they will still taste amazing toasted with butter!
If you're ready to dive into fresh-milled sourdough, keep these three golden rules in mind:
Aim for High Hydration: Start around an 80% hydration level. Fresh milled sourdough needs that extra water to stay pliable and rise beautifully.
Front-Load Your Gluten Development: Work the dough thoroughly at the very beginning of the process to build up structure. (Again, hand-knead or use a robust mixer, not a standard countertop one!).
Check the Internal Temp: When baking high-hydration whole grains, you need to make sure the center is fully cooked. Don't pull it out of the oven until the internal temperature reaches 205°F to 210°F.
What are you baking first?
Have questions or want to share your countertop triumphs? Let us know the next time you visit the farm grocery, or drop us a line through our contact page!
If you're reading this, more than likely, you have just purchased or thinking about purchasing some fresh milled flour from our freezer! Fresh milled flour is honestly life changing, but there are some things you should know before you get started to give you the best possible experience!
Fresh milled flour is perishable (see above, it's that important!)
Fresh milled flour requires more water than store bought flour
Fresh milled flour will most likely have a learning curve. Don't fret! I'm here to help (see the last point below).