? about storing bulk GF grains

[LBMarie9]

so I've had grains in my cart at azure standard and other places for months...a couple questions...

so obviously GF grains don't have a shelf life like good 'ol wheat (which I have a year supply of which we can no longer eat)--

soo--I for sure can't go through a 25lb bucket of brown rice flour before it goes bad right? ALSO if I buy the bulk packs of bob's mill grains (ie--12 packs of 1lbers) do those stay better longer since they are air tight meaning thet will last longer? and if that is the case--couldn't I buy a 25lb bucket and then vacuume pack smaller bags airtight--would this give me more time?

how much time DO I have? I soo WISH a freezer was an option but for now it's not-I have two and they are full--one day I'll have a bigger one when I have a house--but for now...what do you think?

I want things like millet, quinoa, buckwheat, sorghum, and brown rice. --in all of them would buying the whole grain thing give me significantly more store time? enough to make it worth having to grind it myself when the time comes to use it?
TIA

[WuWei]

I buy whole grains locally in 1-2# from the bulk bins. And mix them together and store in the refrigerator.

I use Sue Gregg's blender batter method to make whole grain, soaked baking products, such as pancakes, etc. I just buy whatever whole grains I want to use, (we avoid wheat), and use the blender. I use the same process to make pizza dough, doughnuts, pretzels, muffins, banana bread, pasta, etc. She has several cookbooks available with the 'how to'. But, about everything is free on her website, if you read through it. http://www.suegregg.com/recipes/brea...erwafflesA.htm

I do find that homemade pasta is easier with sprouted flour than with the blender batter, since there is so much liquid. And I haven't been successful with making sandwich bread, only dinner rolls with the blender batter. I don't have an exact recipe, I just do the 1:1 grain to liquid ratio and add extra sprouted or freshly ground flour to make the dough the right texture.

I grind grains in my blender dry, but they do heat up a bit. So, I believe the (expensive) sprouted flour is probably easiest and most nutritious, maybe.

Here are a bunch of her recipes: http://www.suegregg.com/teaching/Who...ingLessons.htm




Pat

[LBMarie9]

I don't think we even have local grains..hmm are all bulk bins local?

I'm a little confused at your post--but I'll check out that ladies' website and see if I have other questions...I do think it's best ot soak grains and even sprout when you can (we had sprouted bean burgers tonight- yumm!!!) and I make sprouted buckwheat pancakes in my blendtec blender--but I don't know how to do it otherwise--I know I cna soak but then how do I dry them? I'm still learning. thanks for asnwering though

[Chinese Pistache]

Check out this blog: http://glutenfreemommy.com/gluten-fr...t-flour-blend/ She has a lot of good information and a lot of good recipes. I love her millet bread.

[LBMarie9]

so I have the blender pancakes in the blender for tomorrow morning (soaking) we'll see if they work.

however I still haven't gotten an answer about the flours (or whole grains) and storing. do I just have to let the idea of buying in bulk of ANY grain go since they don't store well? noone here buys more than a bag or two at a time of gf grains? thanks! by grains I mean (millet, buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa, sorghum, amranth (though i haven't had amranth yet), etc)

[mamafish9]

I buy the grains all the time, but my local stores carry them, so I don't need to buy in bulk. Have fun with your Sue Gregg pancakes, they're yummy!

[mama_daba]

i have not bought grains in bulk yet but from what i am reading the flours are best stored in the refrigerator or freezer so i would imagine the whole grains will last longer stored the same way but if you don't have space in the fridge or freezer a cool dark place. i don't know how long they would store but generally whole grains store a lot better than flour so i would think they have a longer shelf life than flour.

[WuWei]

I would not purchase large quantities of flour, more than 10#, unless you have freezer space. You can order bulk grains online. Again, you probably have to order 25# bags, or pay a lot of shipping on smaller bags. We use a bunch of the different whole grains you mentioned. So, I just purchase them from the natural foods store. They are not grown locally. I buy about 2# of several different whole grains and do the blender batter method for all baking. We don't make bread daily, here.

I add (purchased) sprouted flour to thicken the batter, if needed. I don't have the time/energy/inclination to sprout and dry and grind whole grains into flour.


You can soak flour, or you can soak WHOLE grains, for baking. I most always use the whole grains, per Sue Gregg's blender batter method. The (multiple) whole grains keep more easily, have more nutrients, and are cheaper, imo. I use sprouted flour, just to make dough/batter thicker, if needed. (however, the sprouted flour is not further 'soaked' when added to dry out the batter.)


HTH, Pat

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by LBMarie9

do I just have to let the idea of buying in bulk of ANY grain go since they don't store well? noone here buys more than a bag or two at a time of gf grains? thanks! by grains I mean (millet, buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa, sorghum, amranth (though i haven't had amranth yet), etc)

I think there's a major difference between buying flours and whole grains--you can store the whole grains, I believe, in bulk in a sealed container without them going rancid, but not flour for too long.

This is a link to a store where I recently bought some gf grains: http://www.barryfarm.com/Grains.htm I'm still trying to figure out if it was a good deal or not, and am on the lookout for more gf whole grain suppliers...

When using whole grains, I do the blender batter mentioned by Pat as well as grind my own grains using a coffee grinder for making sourdough breads. I grind just what I need right b/4 mixing up the sourdough starter or the actual dough. The coffee grinder makes flour less fine than an actual grain mill would be, but it's a lot cheaper. I don't use tons of grains in my cooking, or a grain mill might be something I'd look into (electric--I have a cheap manual and it's a lot of work!) The coffee grinder method has worked well for me.

So, to answer your question, *I* don't buy gf flour, for the most part (unless it's coconut or sweet potato flour or arrowroot, etc.--I don't buy GRAIN/BEAN flour.) I buy them whole and grind them or blend them, always soak and/or sourdough them, and am learning to sprout them! (Starting w/ rice. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be!! I also sprout garbanzo beans [first soaking, then sprouting, then cooking] and use them a lot for making cookies among other things in place of bean flours...yum!!)

HTH!

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by LBMarie9

I want things like millet, quinoa, buckwheat, sorghum, and brown rice. --in all of them would buying the whole grain thing give me significantly more store time? enough to make it worth having to grind it myself when the time comes to use it?
TIA

Like others have said, buying whole grain will give you more time to use it versus pre-ground up/milled flours. Store in the coolest part of your home (such as a basement) in air tight containers and packaging and grind as you need it or in smaller batches.

You'll have to estimate what the cost savings of buying in bulk is for your family -- but buying in bulk to have grains go rancid before you use them is never, ever a good deal. IIRC, rice has a much longer shelf life than whole grains, so maybe rice would be a good place to do bulk.

[LBMarie9]

thank you--I have a lot to learn about soaking grains wow--

the blender pancakes did NOT turn out--man! maybe it was too thin? MAN
I used brown rice, GF oats, rice milk and apple cider vinegar. added everythign and they were THIN and wouldn't cook in the middle--I tasted the browned one side and they tasted yummy and sweet--scared to try again though--and how would you use that technigue for all your baking? SO confused--I'll read more of teh site later- maybe that will answer my ?'s

the huge reason I want bulk grains is for my food storage--I want to have a year supply or atleast 3 months supply and I've had a hard time..in a crisis I have this huge fear that all of a sudden I couldn't get the foods we need (like the GF grains will dissapear from fred meyer and we will starve)--however I have a lot of other things that we can use--I guess I just wanted the grains too--I could focus more on storing rice and beans I guess.

I have a blendtec to grind grains (do this for buckwheat and millet) and I also have a nice electric that I used to use for wheat--just gotta clean it out VERY VERY well one of these days..)

I guess I'm at a loss--I realize that now.

[FairyRae]

the blender pancakes did NOT turn out--man! maybe it was too thin? MAN
I used brown rice, GF oats, rice milk and apple cider vinegar. added everythign and they were THIN and wouldn't cook in the middle--I tasted the browned one side and they tasted yummy and sweet--scared to try again though--and how would you use that technigue for all your baking?

Did you add egg, baking soda and powder, salt and the oil prior to cooking? I usually add the baking soda and powder (whatever she says you can leave out w/ the soaking method), even after soaking overnight.

I also find if I blend the mix at night, then transfer it to a bowl, let sit overnight, then just add the extra ingredients with a spoon in the am (instead of blending again in the blender) the batter will be thicker as well.

Mine always seem to work, and I use rice and oats as well usually, but I also grind my rice in a coffee grinder b/4 adding to the blender (not sure that makes a difference) and I sometimes use coconut milk instead of rice milk (although I've done rice milk too). I cook them on my well seasoned cast iron skillet as well, w/ plenty of ghee to be sure they don't stick...(I've done olive oil as well and it's worked too.)

I haven't tried using the blender batter for making gf breads, but I just tried this recipe, and it's now, I think, my absolute favorite sourdough/sprouted gf bread recipe. I also added 1 tsp. guar gum (could use xantham gum) and 2 eggs, just to be sure it would work for me. (It can be disappointing when gf baked goods end up liquidy in the middle, so I avoid that at all costs and add in gums/eggs if I think it will help! ) And I used gf oats (freshly ground) in place of the buckwheat flour, and maple syrup in place of the molasses. YUMMY! (Takes a couple of days to make the bread, but it's worth it!) I also make my sourdough starter using the method from here mixing equal parts freshly ground rice flour w/ apple or grape juice kefir--works awesome!

Using the various soaking/sprouting/sourdough methods w/ your GF baking takes practice (IME), and I have personally had a lot of poor outcomes, but they did lead to future good ones! The sourdough bread I just made, I think, is the best gf bread I've made yet (even compared to the non-soaked breads I've made)! Keep on trying, and post more if you think any of us can help!