How to make All Purpose flour from Fresh Milled Flour

It’s super easy to learn how to make all purpose flour from fresh flour! If you mill your own wheat, there may be times you want something more similar to all purpose flour for your recipe. I’ve got you covered!

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Lady in white sweater holding a sifter over a white bowl

I’ve been milling my own grains for years and admittedly never sift it. However, there are rare occasions I will sift depending on the recipe I am making.

Sifting the fresh flour of some of its bran and germ makes for a lighter, fluffier flour that in turn produces a much softer bread product.

If you mill your own flour, you will be so glad to learn this trick! I have had so many questions about this, especially from those new to whole grains.

What recipes would benefit from sifted fresh flour?

Cupcakes
Cake
Biscuits
Pastries
Muffins
Quick Breads

A small amount of sifted fresh flour is also good in any fresh milled flour bread recipe.

Looking for a sourdough bread recipe? Give this one a try! It’s my most popular sourdough sandwich bread recipe on the blog!

Do you lose the nutrition when you sift the fresh flour?

When you sift out the bran and germ of fresh ground flour, you will lose a lot of the nutritional value that is in the flour.

The whole wheat berry has 40/44 nutrients and most of those are found in the bran and germ which is sifted out of grocery store ap flour.

Store-bought flour has a long shelf life because they have sifted out these components.

The resulting flour will have less vitamins and minerals, but occasionally sifting fresh flour for certain applications is certainly not a bad thing all together.

Fresh milled flour coming out of shute of grain mill.

What can I do with the bran and germ I have left over from sifting?

There are a few things you can do with the left over bran and germ. They are nutrient dense and full of fiber.

Add into muffin and pancake recipes for extra nutrition.
Soak in warm water to soften and add back into bread recipes.
Feed to your backyard flock for some extra vitamins and nutrients to their diet.

bran and germ that has been sifted out of flour in a sifter

How to make all purpose flour from fresh milled flour

Mill your wheat berries

I prefer to mill hard red wheat berries for this application, but hard white wheat, Einkorn, Spelt, or any of the ancient grains will work great, as well.

Mill soft white wheat berries for a pastry flour after sifting. Soft wheat flour is lower in protein and higher in moisture making it ideal for pastries.

If you are looking for a flour similar to bread flour, you want to use a hard wheat that has a high protein count.

Of course, use your personal preference for the type of flour you will need.

Mill the wheat berries in a grain mill on a coarse setting. It’s easier to sift out the bran and germ when they are in bigger pieces.

I use the Nutrimill Grain Mill to mill my flour. (Use my coupon code: rose20 for $20 off your order)

There are wheat berries in the hopper of a grain mill

Electric mills are high powered and will have settings for fine flour to coarser flour. A stone mill will give the most leeway with texture as you can crack grains and make super fine flour.

If you have a mill that is capable of re-milling the flour, you can put the sifted flour back through on the finest setting for the fine flour that is much more like store bought. (Refer to your manual before re-milling)

Sift the flour

To get the best all purpose flour, you will need to use a sifter that has the purpose of sifting fresh flour.

I use a 60 mess flour sifter to sift my flour for best results.

Keep in mind that when you sift fresh-milled flour, you will end up with less flour than you milled.

Lady pouring fresh milled flour in a sifter.

Always mill about a 1 extra cup of wheat berries to make up for this loss.

Use the flour right away as it will not lose all of the nutrients or vitamin E which can go rancid after a time at room temperature.

Any flour you have left over, store in the freezer until needed. This will make it last a lot longer.

A hand holding sifted fresh milled flour

How long will sifted flour last on the counter?

Since there is no way to know for sure how much vitamin E and other nutrients are left behind, I would suggest using the flour left on the counter in 5 days or less for best results.

What type of wheat berry works best for sifting?

I find that Hard Red Wheat is the best for this application. It is high in protein and generally leaves behind coarser bran and germ when milled making for easier sifting. The flour that is sifted is very fine and perfect for any recipe calling for bread flour or all purpose flour.

Does sifting fresh flour change the flavor of the flour?

In a sense, yes. You will notice a difference. The sifted flour will be less “earthy” and much more like flour you find on the grocery shelves.

Which kind of mill works best for making all purpose flour from fresh flour?

In my opinion, stone-milled flour will work best as a stone mill has more capacity to grind coarser than an impact mill does making it easier to sift. However, any mill will work, it’s just that when you use an impact mill more of the bran and germ will sift through because it is milled much finer.