{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Fresh Milled Flour on Marshmallow Ranch", "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2026/36/1962506.jpg", "home_page_url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/", "feed_url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/25/finally-a-great-loaf-of.html", "title": "Finally, A GREAT Loaf of Bread!", "content_html": "\n
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I am sure I read online that I could turn my smoker up to at least 350° to bake bread. I got the bread ready and went out to turn on the smoker. It only reached around 240°. In the meantime, with the temps hovering in the low 90s, my bread was going to run out of yeast pretty quickly. I was down to two choices… heat the house and bake there, or run out to the farm. Mr. FixIt looked at me, horrified, and I said, “Don’t worry…I’ll head to the farm right away.”

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I grabbed my go bag that I keep pretty much ready to head out to the farm on a moment’s notice, gently carried the two loaves in their carriers, and hightailed it out of there. One good thing is that the air conditioner cooled down the truck quickly, and that slowed the rise a little. I only saw two deer on the way out. One of them was two houses away from the farm, and it walked out in front of me. I rested my hand on the top of those two carriers the whole way because I wasn’t about to lose my bread. This recipe turned out lovely. The only thing is, I think I’ve overproofed the dough again. No surprise there, given the timing. Baking with fresh-milled flour isn’t as forgiving as commercial flour.

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As I write this, the loaves are cooling on their wire racks. They look and smell lovely. I considered spending the night here at Grandma’s house, but I thought about the nice air conditioning at home and decided to drive home. I’m running out of time before next week’s trip to Colorado, and there’s still lots to do. You know me…I always get down to the wire before I complete something. Still, it feels so nice to sit here for a few minutes… remembering a time I came to visit Grandma. She mentioned that she could never bake yeast bread. She said the best hot rolls she ever ate came from my Uncle Ernie’s mother, who was a caterer in Chicago.

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I went to the store, bought the ingredients, and made a HUGE batch of bread for her. I think I baked two dozen hot rolls and 12 loaves of bread. We drove all over the countryside, visiting family and friends and gifting them some homemade bread. I think Grandma looked at me differently after that. I kinda proved myself to her in some way, and I was no longer the little kid who sat on her knee. That made me so proud!

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Our pool is still hazy. This time last year, it was sparkling clear. The heavy rains this summer drew our attention away from opening the pool and onto things like keeping the basement from flooding and rescuing baby deer from the floodwaters. We’re trying to get it ready before the weekend so the kids can come out and swim. I hope you are all staying safe in this dreadful heat! Water is your friend, y’all!

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🔆

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Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. Psalm 37:24 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal*** I am grateful I got another couple of loaves of bread baked before I have to leave for Colorado. I’d love to bake a great deal and leave it for him in the freezer, but ours is on the fritz. We’ll have to enjoy this batch, and he can buy bread while I’m gone.
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My latest attempt in the kitchen? Baking Buttermilk Biscuits with Fresh-Milled Flour! I decided to try a traditional recipe and swap out the commercial white flour for a blend of Soft White Wheat and Kamut. Both have very low gluten content, so I figured I’d give it a try.

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I ground the wheat berries and Kamut on nearly the finest setting I could. I was pleased the resulting flour wasn’t overly hot. That can harm some of the nutrients, and I want to preserve as many as possible. I don’t cook with a recipe, but here’s the best I can do.

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Whole Grain Buttermilk Biscuits

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Dry Ingredients:

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Directions:

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If you have leftovers, warm them in a toaster oven or under the broiler till they are the temperature you want. Don’t keep them in too long, or you will just have hard hockey pucks.

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Honestly…I love baking with fresh-milled flour. The results are far more flavorful than those you get with commercially milled flour. And you get all the nutrients that commercial mills strip out and replace with enhancers, chemicals, and synthetic vitamins and minerals.

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If you don’t have access to fresh milled flour, you can use this recipe with commercial flour. Fresh flour starts losing its nutrients as soon as it’s ground. If you find a place that sells “fresh milled flour”, ask them when it was ground, where and how it was stored, and what kind of berries were used.

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💜

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The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. 1 Kings 17:16

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful for the supportive community that is eager to share new cooking and baking techniques with the newbies out there. More and more young people are eager to learn the old-timey ways of doing things and that’s not only heartwarming…it’s reassuring that maybe these skills won’t be lost after all.
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Mr. FixIt went to town yesterday for the annual reunion dinner for the place he worked most of his adult life. I was up bright and early making chicken and noodles for his contribution to the potluck. As he was leaving, he called me out to see this beautiful box turtle making a beeline to the hedges. I try to photograph the turtles I find here. Then if I recognize them again, I’ll know it’s one of our regulars. Box turtles commonly live twenty years but there have been documented cases of them living forty to fifty years.

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Once I sent Mr. FixIt on his way, I got to work in the kitchen. I made Almond Milk with Cashews, Oats, Almonds and Dates with a splash of my home brewed vanilla extract. It is so delicious and creamy. I made a video showing how I made it and I’m in the process of uploading it to YouTube. Once we get that fiber optic internet out here, I’ll be able to make more videos. It takes so long to get anything uploaded with the service we have now.

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Once the Almond Milk was cooling in the fridge, I mixed up some cornmeal mush and put it in the fridge for breakfast. Then I made a double batch of Sue Becker’s Basic Whole Wheat Bread. I’d never made this recipe before. It didn’t rise as much as I hoped it would, but it made three loaves of bread and a pan of cinnamon rolls. I just can’t get over how flavorful this bread is. The fresh milled flour is a huge game changer. 

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I sure wish I would have known about grain mills back in the day. I would have raised my family on much healthier food. We visited with our son and his wife last evening and she told me the young girls are all learning how to do the grandma things and homesteading. I’m thrilled the pendulum swings back. I’m hoping my new Substack, Kneading Faith, can help these young people learn the old timey skills. It’s an honor to share our knowledge with the younger generations.

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We don’t have a busy week. We are scheduled to camp 6/17-19 but the weather looks like it will rain again. We may have to reschedule again. I hope you have a Blessed day today and enjoy the special gift that is June.

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🩵

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And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4:19 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal***  Today, I am grateful for the blessings of family.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-08T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/08/baking-day.html", "tags": ["Baking","In the Kitchen","Fresh Milled Flour"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/07/so-this-is-what-real.html", "title": "So THIS is What Real Food Tastes Like!", "content_html": "\n
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I padded into the kitchen at around 8:30 yesterday morning. I turned on the teakettle and emptied the dishwasher while it heated. I watched a little hummingbird hovering around the feeder. We haven’t seen very many this year. We need more feeders. I also want to put out bird houses. The Carolina Chickadee and the House Martin abandoned the little birdhouses in the backyard. I think there was too much activity for them. I’d like to set some posts in the pollinator gardens with birdhouses to offer more nesting spots.

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When the water boiled, I fixed my cup of RYZE mushroom coffee and settled in the Big Red Chair to wait for Mr. FixIt to get moving. I turned on the television and opened YouTube. I’m almost finished with the class Sue Becker did on baking with Fresh Milled Flour. It’s informative and has answered some questions I’ve had. She has an Ankarsrum Mixer that I would LOVE to have. I watched her kneading the dough, and it looked much better than my Kitchen Aid Pro. The problem is it’s $749.95 online! Yikes!!! Maybe someday.

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When Mr. FixIt was settled in HIS Big Red Chair, I headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. I found a recipe in Sue’s cookbook for Basic Multi-Grain Pancakes. I got all the ingredients in place, and when it was time to add the flour, I poured the necessary amount of wheat berries in the NutriMill. I used half Soft White Wheat and half Spelt grains. It took less than thirty seconds to grind the flour. I added the salt and baking powder to the freshly milled flour, whisked it together, and poured it in the bowl on top of the combined wet ingredients. You don’t want to stir too much when you’re making quick breads like pancakes, muffins, and cakes or you can develop the gluten and they get tough.

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I had pancakes on the griddle less than two minutes after grinding. OMGosh! I’m not sure I can explain how amazing they were! I’m telling you, it’s like I never knew flour had FLAVOR. My tastebuds were doing the tango! I will use up the commercial flour I have by baking for others. But I’m hooked on fresh-milled flour. Oh, and. Mr. FixIt told me THREE times how good those pancakes were! We’ve got a winner, folks!

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Mr. FixIt went out and mowed the fenced-in part of the yard while I cleaned house. It looked like it was going to rain, so I went out to the garden to trim back the yellowing leaves and fertilize the tomatoes. We have quite a few tomatoes set on our tomato plants, and they look great, but the lower branches keep turning yellow. I’m hoping the fertilizer helps. I got it on just in time before the rain started. 

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Today will be kinda slow. Mr. FixIt is going to his company picnic, and I’m going to bake bread! I will try to film it for you…or do a Facebook Live. I hope you enjoy your weekend!

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🩵

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For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”   1 Timothy 5:18

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful for discovering eating the way God intended…with whole grains, whole foods.
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If you’ve been reading my posts here, you know I’m on a quest to improve our nutrition. Mr. FixIt (aka Hubs) and I are in our early seventies. We want to be in good shape to keep up with our combined family. We have four great-grandchildren…so far! I’ve done a pretty good job of eliminating sugar and processed foods from our diet. I cook from scratch with fresh ingredients - not cans or boxes.

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I follow several pages and groups that look to do the same thing. What grabbed my attention was the recent surge in freshly milled flour. Ancient cultures in the Middle East began grinding seeds between stones during the Mesolithic period around 10,000 years ago. From such humble beginnings, the mighty staple of bread was born.

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I’ve been baking bread off and on for years, but it’s only been since the Covid lockdown that I’ve thrown myself into perfecting the process. I never realized there was so much to learn about something so simple as bread. I got really good at baking sourdough, then when I realized we were eating two loaves a week and I was gaining weight like crazy…I knew we had to cut way back.

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Instead of baking bread, I studied the details of what makes a strong dough and how to know when the bread is done rising. That went on to learn about the history of flour and how Big Agra stripped the nutrients from flour in order to create a shelf-stable product for the home baker. This was great till people started getting beri-beri and other diseases caused by nutrient deficiencies. Then the government stepped in and made the flour mills put nutrients back into the flour. The only bad thing with that is, not all the good nutrients can be returned…at least not with natural ingredients.

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Hence, the freshly milled flour craze was born. With an electric flour mill, you can have a healthy, nutrient-packed ingredient to make bread that is good for you. I’ve been stocking up on the grains I want to try. You can buy small amounts online to discover which grains give you your favorite bread. I received eight pounds of Spelt berries yesterday afternoon. After I put the groceries away, I sorted through about five pounds of them to clean the chaff and little sticks that find their way into the fabric bags of grain.

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I’ve never done this work before, and I found it to be meditative and peaceful. My mind wandered as I picked through the grains. What was it like for women coming across the prairies to find a better life out west? How did mothers find the time to invest in the sorting of grain, the grinding of wheat, and the baking of bread? In my grandparents’ day, fifty-pound sacks of grain were carried by wagon to the local mill where it was ground for them. The same was done with corn for cornmeal and grits.

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This is going to be an interesting endeavor, and I’m excited to bring you along with me to see what all the hype is about. I should have all the grains sorted and cleaned by the time the grain mill arrives this Thursday!

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🤍

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and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— Ecclesiasted 12:4 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for the opportunity to own a grain mill. The possibilities are endless now!
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#milling #grains #flour #ancientgrains

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Image created through AI via Copilot

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I’ve been baking with fresh milled flour (FMF) for the last month or so. It’s become the latest craze on social media…like sourdough or home-brewed vanilla during the lockdown. I’ve been studying the techniques from several FMF enthusiasts and homesteaders for the last year, and finally have decided to try it myself. I revived my sourdough starter last week, and with just a couple of feedings, it’s bubbling away! I think I will invest in a grain mill for my kitchen. Now I need to decide if I want a manual stone mill or an electric model. From a self-reliance standpoint, a manual model makes sense, but they’re slower and take a lot more effort.

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Do any of you mill your own whole grain flour? If so, what model of mill do you use? What would you do differently if you were just starting today?

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Ginny’s Sourdough Buttermilk Pancakes with Fresh Milled Flour

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Ingredients:
1 cup fresh milled Soft White Flour
1 cup fresh milled flour blend of my choice (I used a combination of Einkorn and Kamut that was left over from baking on Tuesday)
1 cup fresh sourdough starter discard
1 cup warm buttermilk + ½ cup warm water
1 large egg
2 tbsp oil or melted butter (plus more for cooking)
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract (I used my 4-year-old home-brewed extract…extra special!)

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Instructions:

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  1. Mix wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter discard, warm buttermilk-water mixture, egg, oil/melted butter, honey, and vanilla until smooth.
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  2. Add dry ingredients: Sprinkle in the fresh milled Soft White Flour, fresh milled flour blend, and salt. Here’s where you can adjust the thickness. When you’re happy with the consistency, add the Baking Powder and Baking Soda and use a whisk to quickly blend them in. Don’t overdo it or you’ll make the batter tough. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate. Don’t worry if it’s a little loose. It cooks up beautifully.
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  3. Heat & cook: Preheat a griddle or non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Grease with butter or oil. An oil spray bottle works great! Pour ¼ cup of batter per pancake and cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook until golden brown. I use a large cookie scoop to get consistently round pancakes.
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  4. Serve & enjoy: Stack high, top with fresh fruit, warm syrup, or a dollop of butter, and dig in!
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Tips for Perfect Pancakes:

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Yield: 18 four-inch plus 7 six-inch pancakes.

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ᓚᘏᗢ

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And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs[a] of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” Genesis 18:6 ESV

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Gratitude Journal Today, I am grateful for the many cooks who have helped me grow my skills over the course of my 70+ years.
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📌 Save this recipe & tag me when you make it! 💬 Let me know your favorite sourdough creations!

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*Note: Image created with AI via Copilot

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