Low gluten and gluten-free items can be very expensive to buy in the store. So if you want to know what you’re getting and if it ‘s right for your gluten-free or lower gluten diet, it would be good to learn a little more about the grains you can use. I began my journey in home-milling because of a diagnosis of gluten sensitivity. Thankfully I found it was the processing of wheat flour that was my issue, not the gluten (as is the case in many people’s mis-diagnosis) and I can again eat freshly milled whole wheat. But I did learn of several grains that work well for a lower gluten or gluten-free diet.
Because these grains all contain a trace to no gluten, they will all require some kind of binding agent in the recipe in which you use them. Gluten protein forms strands to hold dough together when baking. These grains do not have those strands so you cannot replace the milled flour of a low to no gluten grain exactly for wheat flour.
Millet (pictured above) is one of the staples in a gluten free diet. Millet can be cooked as a replacement for couscous (which is a wheat pasta, not a grain) or milled into a flour.
Quinoa is another low gluten grain. It is very high in protein and also cooks well whole.
Rice is a gluten-free grain. When milled the flour is very fine and suitable for thickening sauces.
Rye is an extremely low gluten grain. The flour is suitable for baking flat breads and using in batter bread mixtures.
Corn is low gluten. There is a trace amount of gluten & starch in some corn meals.
Oats can contain a trace amount of gluten. If you suffer from Candida or Celiac’s , be sure the oats you purchase are labeled ‘Gluten-Free’ since not all oats are gluten free.
Spelt is another grain often used in low to no gluten diets, but it does indeed have trace amounts of gluten in it. It can be kneaded but only for a short time after which over kneading causes the dough to become very sticky.
Kamut is not low or gluten-free. Kamut is an ancient grain akin to today’s wheat derivative.
Let me encourage you that if you have been diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity or a gluten intolerance, you may be able to enjoy whole wheat bread again if you mill the wheat at home and use it fresh. However, if you have been diagnosed with Candida or Celiac’s consider milling these low to no gluten grains at home to save yourself some money and give you variety in your diet.
I hope you’ve had the chance to view our daughters’ video: Pancakes from Scratch. Below the video is the (whole) recipe and a little history behind this recipe that is a Miller Family Weekend Staple.
Usually every Sunday, we have either Whole Wheat pancakes made from scratch or Whole Grain Waffles made from scratch. As the girls show you above, it is actually quick and simple to mix all the dry ingredients together in one container and all the wet ingredients together in another the night before and have easy, almost instant Whole Wheat Pancakes faster than a box mix.
Heart-healthy Whole Wheat Pancakes
Wet Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups of Low Fat Buttermilk
1/2 Cups Egg Whites
2 Whole Eggs
1/4 Cups Canola Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Dry Ingredients:
4 Cups Fresh-Milled Whole Wheat (white wheat) Flour
2 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
Just follow their lead for instructions!
If you have left over pancakes (we do that on purpose) allow them to cool on a cooling rack and place in a zip-lock bag with wax or parchment paper between them and freeze. They pull out singularly and toast in a toaster to the perfect pancake once again! Great for those mornings on the go!
By the way, the ‘Yellow Bowl’ featured in many of our videos is the famous yellow bowl that has been in my newsletters before. It is one of the inanimate objects I would try to grab in a house fire. The reason is because it was one of the first things given to me by my mother-in-law (who also influenced my and the daughters’ love of cooking) and because we have so many family meals together that the beginnings of which start in that yellow bowl. It, it priceless only because it links me to my greatest gift on earth, my family.
I hope you enJOY and become a part of the Millers Grain House extended family by subscribing to our Newsletter. You’ll get free recipes!!
Share Your Favorite Recipes!
We always love hearing from our extended family (you) at Millers Grain House! We are very excited about the new addition of a whole grain recipe section! We’re going to need you to help us build and share it!
The best part about submitting your whole grain recipes is that we will be testing and trying a few in our own test kitchen. Who knows, your recipe could end up in one of our videos or on our newsletter! Even if we tweak it (it’s always fun to play with a new recipe) we’ll give you the props for sharing it with us!
Whole grains don’t have to be boring and we know you can help us widen the variety of uses! We are looking forward to sharing, testing and TASTING what you share with us!
Go HERE to submit a recipe! Put the words WHOLE GRAIN RECIPE in the subject line.
Whole wheat is so good for you compared to white bread. There is no denying that the health benefits of whole wheat out-weigh those of it’s white flour counter part. But a loaf of ‘healthy bread’ in the store is getting increasingly more expensive! Not to mention, many ingredients in the so-called healthier breads really are still not that good for you!
So many folks turn to trying to make whole wheat bread at home only to be disappointed in texture, taste, density, shape, gooey and/or short stocky loaves. Also, many recipes give a list of additional ingredients that are supposed to make white flour bread more ‘healthy’ and the cost per loaf begins to sky rocket.
It’s enough to make someone give up and go back to the colon clogging white loaf bread in the store! NO! Please for your body’s sake – don’t do that!
It is with the utmost of anticipation that I am delighted to announce the recent release of my newest e-book. As a better teacher, I can teach a class on this subject and everyone leave with a perfect loaf of bread, even if they’ve never touched whole wheat flour before. Live classes are my favorite! I love to see the joy and confidence on the faces of the participants as they take home their creations to share!
This book has been a labor of love for me. Usually in a class, I have the benefit of conversation and hands-on demonstration. In this book, I’ve endeavored to show and describe techniques and tips that we discuss, demonstrate and do in a live class together. I hope it helps you on your way to producing consistently tasty and beautiful loaves of whole wheat bread for your family!
You can follow this link to see what others say about it and get a copy of your own: Whole Wheat Bread Making
Do some of these convenience food mixes grace your shelves at home?
- Quaker Instant Flavored Oatmeal.
- Eggo Frozen Waffles.
- Aunt Jemima’s Frozen Pancakes.
- Jiffy Muffin Mix.
- Bisquick.
If so, for your health and the health of your family please take the time to read this article.
The most recent class I taught was on how to make each of these foods at home into a convenient mix-type method using whole grains and real, healthy ingredients. It occurred to me, while teaching class that many of us have picked these (or similar) items up out of habit or based on budget.
The truth is, we can make the mix itself at home, quickly with far healthier ingredients (omitting many of the killer ingredients) at a fraction of the cost. With home-made, whole grain, convenience mixes and making ample extras to freeze, you can increase the nutritional value of each serving and still save money without sacrificing time. After all, isn’t that why you’re using the convenience mix? To save time?
Each of the foods listed above include ingredients intended to extend the shelf-life. Become a label detective and take a look at what is hiding in the boxes that have a picture of real food on the cover.
Here are some of the top offenders you can omit by using a home-made mix:
- Enriched White Bleached Flour (Elmer’s Glue for the colon)
- Lard
- Hydrogenated Lard (as if Lard were not bad enough)
- Artificial Colors/Dyes
- Aluminum
- Artificial Flavor
- Partially Hydrogenated Soybean or Cottonseed Oil
- Calcium Carbonate (also known as chalkboard chalk)
- Sodium Sulfite
- “Fruit” is often sugar -bits with artificial flavoring (the list of fake ingredients is too long)
The more box foods eaten, the sooner you’ll be in a box of your own.
It is almost impossible to put into one blog post the best way to tackle this issue!! WE WANT TO HELP YOU! This is going to be a topic for several of the Free Online Classes! So if you are on our newsletter list (and you have the newsletter email in your approved contacts) you’ll be getting notices SOON of these Free Online classes! If you’re not sure if you’re on the Newsletter list, or you’ve changed email – go HERE.
It is my desire to show you just how simple some of these changes can be. They are cost effective and healthy changes that you can do easily at home and enJOY the journey!
Maybe you’ve stopped by and wondered what is going on at Millers Grain House!?! Things look a little different and there is a new logo at the page top.
Don’t worry, Millers Grain House has not changed hands – we’re doing some house keeping to serve you better. We are growing and we are getting busier. With that, we also want to be sure to give you the best possible service we can! We’ve put everything that was once in different places across the web in a more user friendly one stop place: http://www.millersgrainhouse.com
And more than offering whole grains, wheat, grain grinders and mills – we want to be able to serve you with in other areas as well.
Some of the changes already include:
- Easy access to the last 3- 6 months archives of m weekly radio show: Encouragement in the Kitchen.
- An ever expanding FAQs and Knowledge Base section that covers everything from which whole grain to use to questions about grain mills/grinders and how to store grain and other food.
- A brand new Support Team that will not only organize your questions so they are answered in a more timely fashion, but by asking – you help grow the Knowledge Base!
- Clearer categories to get you where you want to go: Main Store – Bulk Delivery Route – Classes
- As always, a way to stay in the loop! Subscribing to the Newsletter (risk nothing and get a Free Recipe each month while we stay connected!)
- YOUR Testimonials are running along the bottom of the home page! Thank you! (o:
But wait! There’s more! NEW things coming SOON:
- Free Webinars with live lessons, question & answer sessions and recipes!
- A Jazzed up YouTube channel with some new faces to continue Free Videos for you!
- A Discussion Forum to share your whole food and whole grain trials and triumphs!
- Recipe Sharing!
- The Member’s Group with perks of its own with exclusive online classes, exclusive discounts, exclusive downloads and discounted merchandise.
It is our desire to serve you the best best we possibly can! With these new and exciting additions and the ones we’ve organized in place already – it is our hope that you will settle in and join the ‘family’ here at Millers Grain House. We’d love to have you share with us!
Best Blessings and enJOY the journey!
Donna Miller
FOR A SELF-SUSTAINING LIFE
