grinding the grain

Mother’s Day approaches and we’ll join my parents and brother’s family for a backyard barbecue. Our assignment is to bring burgers and buns. We have great beef that comes from a farmer friend of my husband, so hubby will make the patties. I’m happy to make the burger buns as I very much enjoy baking breads. (You’ve figured this out by now if you’ve read me before.)

The recipe search is always the first step. I found one for Soft Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls from a past issue of Eating Well magazine. “Soft” in the title (first word!) was good as that’s a must for home-baked bread. “Whole wheat” scored another point as I find the texture and flavor of whole-grain breads more interesting than white.

My next step was grinding wheat berries for the whole wheat flour. This may sound a bit Little House on the Prairie-ish, but it’s really not all that crazy. Wheat berries are readily available in bulk at co-ops and natural food stores. They’re also sold packaged in many mainstream grocery stores. And grinding wheat berries means I get to play with another kitchen toy.

I enjoyed my electric grain mill for a number of years, though one day it just stopped working. My next piece of equipment is the one I use today–an attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

It may or may not save money in the end, but I like transforming wheat berries to flour in my own kitchen. It’ll grind any grain into flour and I’ve also used it to make nut flours. (Not as easy as grinding grains as the nuts have more fat and tend to gum up the auger in larger batches.) When I grind flour, I make more than I need and freeze the extra, leaving me with a stash for times when I’m rushed.

The rolls, which I made larger than recommended so they can hold burgers, turned out nicely and will make first-rate partners for our Mother’s Day burgers. Even better, I had fun making these rolls. They allowed me to play in the kitchen, which is always a pleasure.

wheat berries

grinding

into flour!

hamburger buns

split and waiting for a burger

Recipe Note: Per usual, I did not follow the recipe to the letter. No cake flour in the house, so used the standard substitution: 1 cup all-purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons for each cup of cake flour, plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch to add lightness and make up the lost bulk.