There is a very specific reason I labeled this category “grains.” not breads, not flour, not muffins, but grains. There are so many things you can do with grains, that it would be wrong to lump them all into a food item or genre. The obvious uses are your breads, cakes, muffins, pastries etc. The less obvious, yet still well known uses are your pastas, rice, couscous, tabouleh and cereals. And what is fascinating is that most grains are so versatile, they can be used as either. Brown rice can be a hot dinner dish or ground into bread flour and used for many things. Wheat berries and barley can obviously be ground into wheat flour, but they can also be cooked whole in water and dried fruit to make a hot or cold cereal. I won’t get into it all here because I will probably address how much grains and their uses fascinate me with every post.

Not only are grains versatile, but they are extraordinarily healthy for you. Not the flour you buy in the store. Sadly even the organic flours have been stripped of their nutrients for the sake of shelf life. The real nutrient of the grain is in the germ. The wheat germ contains all those healthy oils and vitamin E. However, these nutritious oils are what cause the flour to go rancid within a day or two unless it is frozen. But fear not. It is easier than you think to mill your own flour by grinding your own grains. I have recently started milling or
grinding my own wheat berries and other grains into flour for baking. I do not use a grain mill, which are upwards of $300. I use a good old fashioned Cuisinart automatic burr coffee grinder. I have found this contraption does all I need it to in terms of grinding wheat berries, oats, flax barley etc. into the flour I need to make breads, cakes, muffins etc.