How to Grind Wheat Berries into Flour

In this tutorial, I will show you how to grind wheat berries into flour using a blender and other machines. Grinding wheat berries and making your own flour at home is fun and extremely easy to do. Wheat berries are one of the oldest known food sources and have been used for thousands of years. They are one of the world’s most common food staples.

But once you have the wheat berries you need to grind them up somehow and make them into flour to use them in baked goods like bread, cookies, cake, etc.

This article discusses a few common ways that you can do just that. Time to make your own flour at home. And guess what, it hardly takes any time at all to make your own wheat at home. Let’s get started!

Why should I grind my own wheat berries at home?

There are several reasons why you may want to grind wheat berries at home. Here are a few of the more popular reasons:

• Wheat berries have a much longer shelf-life than already ground-up wheat flour. In fact, as long as they are stored in an airtight, cool dry place, they can last indefinitely, and not lose too much nutritional value. Some reports have said that wheat berries have been found from ancient times and then ground up into flour and made bread with it. Pretty awesome!
• Whole wheat made from grinding wheat berries is much healthier than store-bought wheat. There are no preservatives, no added anything, etc. Plus some of the nutritious parts of the berries (bran and germ) are removed by commercially produce wheat makers. They do this to extend the self-life of the wheat once it is ground.
• The flavor of the finished baked goods is better.

What you will need

In order to make your own wheat from wheat berries you will need a few ingredients and equipment:

• Wheat berries – There are large varieties of wheat berries that you can buy. You can get hard red wheat, soft white wheat, and einkorn wheat, but the two main types are hard and soft. I linked to one variety that can be found on Amazon.

NOTE: If you do buy a large number of wheat berries, it is probably a good idea to remove them from the bag and put them in a large airtight sealable bin. It will extend their self-life and keep things like weevils from getting in.

• High-speed blender, coffee grinder, or grain mill.

I like to use my Vitamix blender for this. It works super well, but I also am not constantly grinding grains. But I also use it for a ton of other things.

If you will be grinding a lot of grains, a specific electric or hand-cranked mill might be the way to go.

How to grind wheat berries at home using a blender

In this article, I will specifically mention how to grind wheatberries using a blender. Because that is the method I use most of the time. Growing up my mom had a large electric grain mill, which was pretty awesome. If you are into prepping and food storage, a hand-cranked mill is a good idea to have as well.

Actually grinding the wheatberries is pretty easy. Add the berries to the blender, and add the lid. Then turn it on. Start at the lowest setting and then slowly crank it up to the highest setting. Let it run for about 30 seconds and then it is ready. Pretty simple right?

The method is similar if using a coffee grinder. Food mills are super easy to use too. You just add the grains and then turn them on. The more expensive ones will have a motor speed setting as well as a feed rate. The NutriMill and the Wonder Mill are two of the top mills on the market.

Once ground up the wheat flour is now ready to be used in whatever recipe you want to use it in. Keep in mind, however, that what you just made is whole wheat flour. If you want white flour, then you need to sift out the germ and bran. But if you have a recipe that calls for whole wheat, use it as is. Otherwise, you will need to sift it for things like cookies, white bread, any pretty much any recipe that calls for all-purpose or plain flour.

Have fun grinding your own wheat!

How to store freshly ground wheat? How long does it last?

Store the freshly ground wheat flour in an airtight container in the pantry for up to 6 months. It can be stored in the freezer for longer, up to a year. With that said, it is freshest when used within a week of milling it. It is so quick and easy to grind your own wheat berries into flour, you can easily just do it right before you want to use it.

Here are a few recipes you can try using home-ground wheat flour:

Sourdough

Sourdough Starter

Amazing White Bread

Indian Fry Bread

Watch the short video tutorial I made!