Richard, I've baked with freshly ground wheat. It makes a wonderful, high-rising loaf with great flavor. As I recall, the hydration needs to be a bit different, but I'm sure you've figured that out. Freshly ground grain retains all of its nutrients. If you bake with it right away it makes a great loaf; but if you wait even a day, its baking qualities start to become inconsistent, until about 3 weeks after being ground, when it all settles down again; so keep that in mind, OK? As for sifting bran - I found this on a mill site, explaining the numbers attached to sifters: "Mesh size is the number of openings in the screen, in each direction, from center to center of parallel filaments or wires per linear inch. For instance, a 30-mesh screen has 30 openings per linear inch." So the higher the number, the finer the screen. And the finer the screen, the less bran you'll have in your flour (but the longer it'll take to sift). So it sounds like some experimenting is in order... Good luck - PJH

• Reply