Milling 101
A short miller’s briefing
Why mill at all
The moment you crack a berry, oils in the germ meet air. Flavor blooms for a day or two, then fades. Commercial white flour is stripped of that germ so it can sit on a shelf. Home flour tastes like the field because it hasn’t had time to forget.
Stone vs impact
Stone mills (Mockmill, Komo, Hawos) crush. Impact mills (NutriMill, WonderMill) shatter with steel. Both make excellent bread flour. Stones give you grind-size control; impact mills are faster and often cheaper. Keep any mill below about 110°F at the spout — hot flour is damaged gluten.
Extraction, in plain language
100% extraction is the whole berry. 85% is one pass through a #30–#40 sieve. 70–75% is a finer bolt, closer to grocery “bread flour.” Bran you sift off is not waste — cook it into porridge or fold a spoon into the next loaf.
Protein is not gluten
Einkorn can test at 16% protein and still make a slack dough. Gluten is a specific pair of proteins (gliadin + glutenin) that only some grains assemble into a net. Quern shows both numbers. Vital wheat gluten is concentrated wheat protein (~75%) — it will raise the net, and it will also make the loaf no longer “einkorn-only.”
Rest the flour
Fresh flour is thirsty and a little wild. An autolyse (flour + water, no salt, 30–60 minutes) lets bran soak and gluten start to organize. Some millers rest flour 12–48 hours in the fridge for calmer dough. Try both.
Ready? Open the mill desk or pick a berry. Numbers? Read the sources appendix.
Nutrition and protein figures are typical literature / miller ranges, not a laboratory certificate for the bag in your pantry. If you have celiac disease, “ancient wheat” is still wheat. Certified gluten-free oats and pseudocereals are the safe path — and only when the mill itself is dedicated.