wheat and corn grinding

I bought a small hand grinder years ago. A hand grinder requires a lot of effort, but think of it as good excercise. For wheat flour, grind the wheat, experimenting to find the proper tightness for the burrs. Sift with a kitchen sifter. You will have wheat flour and the coarser stuff you sifted out is probably called wheat germ and middlings. I used to eat that with milk as cereal. The flour will make dark bread. If you want to use all the wheat for bread, regrind the middlings you sifted out at a tighter setting, mix the two, and have really dark bread.
Grinding barley requires more sifting to get the bran out, and I never was really successful. Made some crunchy pancakes.

Open pollinated corn makes better tasting grits and corn meal than hybrid field corn IME. I think there are hybrid varieties of white and yellow corn for meal that have a better taste, but I fooled around with crossing varities until I got a variety that makes good yellow grits and meal. These home ground grits to me are much better than the store kind. There is an old mill at Boykin, SC that grows their own variety of yellow corn and stone grinds it.

To grind your own corn with a hand grinder: grind the corn with as tight a setting as you can stand to turn. Sift the corn. What you sift out can be used for grits by putting an appropriate amount into a pot of water. Wait a few minutes and the bran will float to the top. Pour the bran off. Repeat as necessary. Grits will take a lot longer to cook than store grits and will be a little crunchy. If you don't want to eat grits, feed the sifting to livestock.
For meal: take the meal you have sifted out and regrind it at a tighter setting, otherwise the cornbread will be crunchy. It will be necessary to add some baking soda and baking powder to the meal to get it to rise properly. Wife does that, I don't have the exact recipe.

I also experimented with grinding soybeans. Made some high protein pancakes.

KEH

We did live clean and healthy, and learned a good work ethic, but I don't want to go back. Jim

I grew up on a farm in Ohio back in the 40s and 50s. Corn meal mush was a staple of our diet. I always liked it fried with maple syrup.

I haven't had any for about 40 years, but I can still "taste" it. Thanks for the memory.

Tom in TN

I have eaten a lot of wheat right out of the bin without even looking too close - but for some reason, once I get it in the kitchen for grinding, I'm pretty paranoid about any grasshopper legs (or whatever!) slipping by! ha...

The kids and I ground some corn with an Indian mano and metate I had found out on the farm - they thought that was really neat, but I don't know how the Indians put up with the grit that gets mixed in...

Grinding and baking your own is sure an interesting hobby... Final fruits of what all this old iron was really for!! :)

Howard