The Selling Point

For me, the selling point on forging full steam ahead into home grain milling and bread making was a passionate teaching by Sue Becker of The Bread Beckers in Woodstock, Georgia. Sue is an expert on all things grain and as a pioneer in her field of expertise, she cleared a trail convoluted with myths and mistruths about wheat, gluten, bread, carbohydrates and the food industry at large. I was surprised to learn that my bread (my pricey, whole grain, sprouted, organic, sometimes gluten free, sometimes even homemade and certainly fresh bread) was – in point of fact – dead!

In her teaching, Bread of Idleness, Sue describes that once a wheat kernel is broken open, as happens in milling, the nutrients contained within the wheat immediately begin to oxidize.

Within about seventy-two hours of milling, over thirty nutrients are all but gone! 

Important vitamins and minerals our bodies need to thrive are vastly reduced, even altogether missing. In effort to counter this nutritional loss, store bought bread is usually fortified with a measly four to five vitamins (folic acid, iron, thiamin and niacin are most common). Jesus knew we require these nutrients for proper nervous system function, vision, energy, healthy skin and more; which is why He placed them inside the grain of wheat.

What Bread is Not Dead?

The way to accomplish eating nutrient-dense bread, you ask? Well, it’s by milling your whole grain into flour yourself! Once I incorporated this delightful process into my homemaking, I never looked back! It’s fun! It’s delicious! It’s Godly!

“Give us this day our daily” Matthew 6:11 KJV

This Bible verse bears significance regarding the importance of freshly milled, freshly baked bread.

Think about it.

• How long has that sack of flour been sitting on the grocery store shelf?
• In the back corner of your pantry?
• More than seventy-two hours?

I’m guessing that’s a YES! Which, months on a shelf is more than ample time for flour to go rancid and stale. Actually, days on a shelf is more than ample.  You get the gist; store bought flour and breads are “just fluff.”

And so, as God gave the Isrealites daily manna from Heaven, as Jesus taught us to ask God for our own “daily bread,” so also are we exhorted put forth effort for providing our families fresh bread.

As Jesus is the basis for my spiritual health, I do believe that bread – freshly milled real bread- is His plan to be the basis for undergirding my physical health. Baking with freshly milled grain retains vitamins and minerals, providing us with a near-complete food to nourish our bodies. And, who doesn’t love eating a good hunk of bread? Maybe dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, maybe toasted with butter and cinnamon…

Folks, thirty is greater than four! I prefer thirty (or more!) nutrients in my bread, plus all the inherent nutrient cofactors like antioxidants and phytochemicals the Creator put inside wheat to nourish myself and those I love.

Don’t you?

With love and butter,

Jessica