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Thread: How much flour does one cup of wheat berries make???....I'll tell ya....

  1. #1
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    Lightbulb How much flour does one cup of wheat berries make???....I'll tell ya....

    Ok, so I put out a review of my recently acquired Country Grain Mill. One of the main questions was how much flour does one cup of wheat berries make. Well the consensus was that it was a 1:1 ratio (berries/flour). Today I finally took out some berries and the mill and went to work.

    Initially I just filled the hopper and my youngest and I just had some fun with it (more the novelty of it and all). So we did four grindings and ended up with the talcum like flour we have from the store, but better of course. The hopper was about 2/3's full and gave us 4 cups of wonderful flour - but I had no idea how much I put in.

    For the second run I measured one cup of hard white spring wheat berries that I picked up from wally world. The first grinding was comparable to a fine corn meal texture and it yielded 1 1/2 cups and probably a teaspoon, but at a minimum a cup and a half. So I put it through two more times to get us very close to commercial grade unbleached flour and remeasured. The third grinding yielded the same 1 1/2 cups with an extra 2 teaspoons or so left over in the catch bin.

    So there ya have it; a real world run on the Country Mill. For me 1 cup of wheat berries = 1 1/2 cups of flour, no matter how grainy or fine I'm still getting the same finished yield.

    Now I'm going to toss in all the usual internet disclaimers; YMMV, FWIW and IMHO.

    I just wanted to pass this along because I wasn't the first to ask or wonder about it. Hopefully this will help someone else.

    For the math (in my kitchen anyway...see disclaimers above):

    1lb hard white wheat berries = ~2 cups (actually a touch more than 2)
    2 cups HWWB = 3 cups of flour (2*1.5)
    3 c flour = 1 loaf of bread (in our house)

    If you extrapolate that out based on many food calculators for a family of four that state you need 600lbs of wheat berries for a year you get.........drum-roll please.....

    600lbs HWWB = 1200 cups
    1200 c HWWB = 1800 cups of flour (1200*1.5)
    1800 c flour = 600 loaves of bread (1800/3)

    OR 1.64 loaves of bread a day.

    Hopefully my math is about right.....

    Thanks for reading!! Hope this helps ya figure out where you are or whatever!
    'You have been warned of what they will do, you have a choice.
    Sit quiet and do nothing, wait until your hands are bound behind your back,
    and you are on your knees in a ditch, begging for your life!
    Or as an American, you had the privilege to be born free,
    If you wish to die free you better get up off your ass and make it happen.
    Stand and fight damn-it, if not these just might be the last words your hear,
    ‘AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar!'

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lurker View Post
    600lbs HWWB = 1200 cups
    1200 c HWWB = 1800 cups of flour (1200*1.5)
    1800 c flour = 600 loaves of bread (1800/3)

    OR 1.64 loaves of bread a day.

    Hopefully my math is about right.....

    Thanks for reading!! Hope this helps ya figure out where you are or whatever!
    except for ya left out the countless other things one uses flour for in the kitchen besides bread making.. wont be near enough to make 600 loaves by the time you account for all that.. plan accordingly..

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    Thanks for the research, Lurker. That knowledge will come in handy.
    Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author Unknown



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    Quote Originally Posted by dilligaf View Post
    except for ya left out the countless other things one uses flour for in the kitchen besides bread making.. wont be near enough to make 600 loaves by the time you account for all that.. plan accordingly..
    Yeah, where are the chocolate chip cookies and brownies?????
    Mama Ten Bears

    I don't have 10 children, but I did see 10 bears on vacation once. Thought it'd be a cool screen name.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mama Ten Bears View Post
    Yeah, where are the chocolate chip cookies and brownies?????
    Today....they were cooling right in front of the Country Mill... Yummy too!!
    'You have been warned of what they will do, you have a choice.
    Sit quiet and do nothing, wait until your hands are bound behind your back,
    and you are on your knees in a ditch, begging for your life!
    Or as an American, you had the privilege to be born free,
    If you wish to die free you better get up off your ass and make it happen.
    Stand and fight damn-it, if not these just might be the last words your hear,
    ‘AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar!'

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    Quote Originally Posted by dilligaf View Post
    except for ya left out the countless other things one uses flour for in the kitchen besides bread making.. wont be near enough to make 600 loaves by the time you account for all that.. plan accordingly..
    Oh yeah.... I'm going to throw all this into an excel sheet and create the formulas for how much actual baking powder (or is it soda??? Have to ask to the other half), salt, etc. for all this and find out EXACTLY where we stand with everything. THEN figure buns, rolls, whatever and start adding from there.
    'You have been warned of what they will do, you have a choice.
    Sit quiet and do nothing, wait until your hands are bound behind your back,
    and you are on your knees in a ditch, begging for your life!
    Or as an American, you had the privilege to be born free,
    If you wish to die free you better get up off your ass and make it happen.
    Stand and fight damn-it, if not these just might be the last words your hear,
    ‘AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar!'

  7. #7
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    Oh - did all this grinding by hand. If I/we do this a few times a week I will have spectacular looking arms and shoulders - it's a great workout!
    'You have been warned of what they will do, you have a choice.
    Sit quiet and do nothing, wait until your hands are bound behind your back,
    and you are on your knees in a ditch, begging for your life!
    Or as an American, you had the privilege to be born free,
    If you wish to die free you better get up off your ass and make it happen.
    Stand and fight damn-it, if not these just might be the last words your hear,
    ‘AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar!'

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lurker View Post
    Oh yeah.... I'm going to throw all this into an excel sheet and create the formulas for how much actual baking powder (or is it soda??? Have to ask to the other half), salt, etc. for all this and find out EXACTLY where we stand with everything. THEN figure buns, rolls, whatever and start adding from there.
    Will ya share when you're done? BTW, I'm on my way over for the cookies you've got cooling.
    Mama Ten Bears

    I don't have 10 children, but I did see 10 bears on vacation once. Thought it'd be a cool screen name.

  9. #9
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    Good job! And yes, it's VERY handy to know about how much you have on hand, in terms of what it will make in "finished food" terms.

    One thing... that's why commercial bakers or even serious cooks WEIGHT their flour, sugar, etc (but especially flour) when making bread, cakes, etc. Because 1 cup of flour may weigh up to 20% more or less depending on the humidity at the time. So 1 cup of "damp" flour will work differently than 1 cup of "dry" (light) flour in a bread recipe.

    Recipes make up for that by saying "4-5 cups of flour" and then "add flour until dough is workable or no longer sticks to the side of the pan". But most commercial bakers don't have time to fiddle with that... they need to dump in the right amount of flour every time. Hence... they weigh it. And all their recipes are in pounds and ounces (or kilos and grams)...

    Summerthyme

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mama Ten Bears View Post
    Will ya share when you're done? BTW, I'm on my way over for the cookies you've got cooling.
    Yeah, sure - if you're interested I'll post back to here. I'll see if I can post the ss, if not a PM will get things done.

    It'll be a basic spreadsheet but it'll be a good start.

    Mmm......warm, homemade cookies with chocolate milk......tasty! (And the Mrs. makes incredible chocolate chip cookies - not the junk from the stores...she has a secret weapon - just awesome).
    'You have been warned of what they will do, you have a choice.
    Sit quiet and do nothing, wait until your hands are bound behind your back,
    and you are on your knees in a ditch, begging for your life!
    Or as an American, you had the privilege to be born free,
    If you wish to die free you better get up off your ass and make it happen.
    Stand and fight damn-it, if not these just might be the last words your hear,
    ‘AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar!'

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