fresh milled flour

G'day Tony,

Just a few points you may like to consider without getting too bogged down in the detail.

Freshly milled (stone-ground) wheat flour/meal can in certain circumstances retain the heat generated during milling for a day or two depending on the conditions at the time of milling, and mill settings. However, in the light of the above, long periods - two or three weeks - of storage of stone-ground meal can have a detrimental effect on its quality. As the germ - which contains oils - is ground during the milling process, in conjunction with the heat generated assists in liberating the oils which are responsible for the unique flavour of stone-ground meal compared to roller milled meal. But this also increases the likelihood of the oil being subject to enzymic breakdown as it comes into contact with lipases in the body of the meal, resulting in an unpleasant rancid flavour and odour in the final loaf. Of course this takes a relatively short period of time, which is why I tend to rotate my stone-ground stock within a week, or couple of weeks, at the very outside to ensure this is minimised or doesn't happen.

As well as releasing oils present in the germ, the stone milling process allows proteins and enzymes normally in the germ to come in direct contact with the endosperm. Some of these substances have an adverse effect the gluten structure. Some of these substances known as glutathione - which is really a collective term for a group of tripeptides - plays the role of a 'reducing agent' when in contact with gluten strands. A reducing agent behaves a bit like a pair of scissors cutting gluten strands into shorter units resulting in reduced fermentation tolerance, smaller bread volume, sticky dough character, less extensibility, etc. This is why cooler dough temperatures and slightly shorter fermentation times are usual when baking with stone-ground meal/flour.

Don’t let this put you off using stone-ground it’s a fantastic flour/meal as it has flavour, aroma and not to mention nutritional characteristics that make it worth the effort.

NB - there's a bit of controversity about the health, or nil, benefits of antioxidants, some glutathiones being recognised as antioxidants, but I'm not really fully informed on that score.

[quote="Panevino"]Hello,

I was wondering about freshly milled flour: any difference in how to use it. Should it be aged or used right after it is milled. How do your sift it? I guess the advantages are nutritional. Any other advantages? Disadvantages? Anybody have experience with it?

Cheers,

Tony[/quote]
Hi Tony,theres lots of overthink about stone milled flour.Ive used it everywhichway,and after all its how all flour was ground until the late 19century.It hasa larger particle size and absorbs water a little slower.you can sift it in a regular sieve.But as wholemeal,its incomparable.It seems to last a lot longer than is reckoned,and still produce a great loaf,and ive used it immediately after milling and made beautiful bread.Anyway,the soudough process regenerates and creates nutrients really.Biodynamic stone ground wholemeal from Four Leaf in SA is about as good as it gets,soft and flavoursome,and cool-milled,but will test your skill!