100% Whole Wheat

BAKE A LOAF OF BREAD FROM SCRATCH WITH THIS RECIPE.

- ASHLEIGH KRISPENSE

My mother-in-law has made whole wheat bread at various times throughout the years. After it's been harvested, she fills food-safe 5-gallon buckets with the wheat berries and then saves them to use later in the year. While this method of making bread does require a bit of extra work, it's not difficult at all and can be very simple if using a food mill. (In a pinch, you can even use some food blenders instead of a mill. They just might not grind the flour as fine.)

Wheat kernels are made up of three different parts: the germ (the embryo of the seed and where the wheat plant sprouts from), the bran (the outer shell of the wheat kernel which is full of protein), and the endosperm (which makes up a majority of the kernel, is full of carbs and protein, and is where white flour comes from). All-purpose flour is created by separating and milling only the endosperm, while wholegrain flour mills the entire kernel.

While not everyone washes their wheat before grinding it into flour, we find that it can sometimes surprise you how much dirt is actually on the wheat berries.