In a lot of recipes - yes. I have tried kinds of flours - I'll try anything really just to see what happens. It's really hard to get a great product without a load of trial and error. So many recipes have been designed for that all purpose flour. I really love crusty rustic loaves of bread and they do well with all kinds of flours but they aren't as popular with the rest of my family.
I've been talking to someone who's family had serious gluten issues. She started grinding their own wheat and all their problems vanished and they became healthier. It's really remarkable. She's studied it a lot and told me that with modern wheat they remove all kinds of nutrients (bran, wheat germ and others) to use in other industry food products and they replace it with lesser quality ingredients. I guess they also treat it with chemicals.
The wheat in the stores is totally "franken-wheat" and this is causing all the gluten issues. I think that it is insane that instead of undoing the issue and righting their wrongs they are simply coming out with whole new lines of "gluten free foods". I've read those packages - disgusting ingredients. I know some people really can't do gluten but they are the minority. The gluten epidemic is man made. (my opinion but I have read a lot on the subject).
If you buy non gmo wheat berries and grind them, you are getting a product that was intended to be consumed with all that healthy bran and wheat germ etc. I found a grinder than I really want to buy. Its manual but it has an attachment so you can use your cordless or corded drill to grind if you want to. I hand grind coffee and even meat and it is time consuming ...so hand grinding wheat would take a while (but heck - arm muscles!)
I like red fife heritage wheat best. There is a local mill not too far from where we live that grow organic wheat. I am hoping I can buy some organic wheat berries from them. Get the grinder and revolutionize our bread /wheat baking! I'd like to grow it but we don't have the right kind of land for growing such a large crop. It's mostly woods.
Sorry this is so long ... I just got excited! :)
ah what an awesome response! thanks @walkerland!! i totally agree with you that it's manmade and from the GMOs and pesticides, yuck!! thanks for all the tips on grinder and types of wheats you like. very exciting! is there anyone also on this page in your area that does have more land? i remember reading about something in Los Angeles where people were getting together and doing an initiative around alt heritage grains. yeah here it is... they mention red fife too! it'd be cool to collaborate locally!
It really would be cool! I have an open mind to the idea but have not yet found people in our area that hold to our philosophies (organic, chemical free, heirloom,heritage and all that). I know there are people out there - we just haven't met yet! Thank for the link. I really enjoyed reading that. It got me wondering about the local mill and how they afford to do what they do. It's a very small business!
You might also want to consider making it sourdough which helps break down the proteins and make them more digestible. We are experimenting with all kinds of sourdough versions of wheat products. I've tried sourdough chocolate chip cookies and pancakes. I would like to try sourdough noodles and soft pretzels next!
Very cool! I love baking with sourdough. I never thought about using it for pasta before. Very interesting!