Sorry about not having this last week. It totally slipped my mind! So I will just pretend it didn’t happen and continue on where I left off 2 weeks ago. I have looked into how much it would cost to get a big bag of sugar for me. I am going to compare it with how much it would cost to buy in the big cans. storage is n issue for me, so I think the bag might win just for that reason.
This week, I wanted to talk about flour… well, more about wheat, but I wanted to touch on flour because it is something most people use regularly and have no idea anything about. If All-Purpose flour is in a sealed, air-tight can it can sit on a shelf for 8 years max. But as soon as you open it, you need to use it within a year. Wheat flour has an even shorter shelf life of 6 years when sealed and 6 mo-1 year when opened.
If you buy wheat and grind it yourself it costs much less. It also lasts much longer. Wheat lasts 25 years. So if you grind the amount you need and then use it, your flour lasts forever. Plus it is way more nutritious that way too. I have recently started to try this out. I have a Vita Mix and it has a dry grinder attachment for it. We used it and ground up the wheat and made bread with it. It was so good. It tastes a little sweeter then bread I have made with other wheat flour I bought at the store. I think the freshness of the wheat makes it that way.
If your going to buy your own wheat, you need to look for Red or White Hard Wheat These store the best.. Some say white wheat os easier to digest then the red. I have not tried white, so I don’t know. You also want to get whole wheat and not wheat berries. they are 2 different things. You want to be sure you are getting wheat with more then 12% protein and 12% or less moisture content. This way it has the most glutten for bread and the least amount of moisture to prevent fungi and bacteria in it.
If you have wheat you must have a way to grind it or you can’t use it as flour. You can buy electric wheat grinders or hand ones. Some also have used coffee grinders and I use my vita mix. It just takes longer when using those last 2 because you have to use a little at a time. I can do 2 cups of wheat at a time which makes about 3 cups of flour. HERE is a comparison of some electric wheat grinders. HERE is another site that sells an electric and a hand version of them. I will be covering wheat grinders more in a later post.
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