Rolling in the dough

"Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven."
- Yiddish proverb

For several years my wife & I avoided buying wheat in bulk because we wanted a food storage we would really eat and use. So we stocked up on boxes of pasta, jars of spaghetti sauce, and canned soup, fruits, meats and vegetables. But we also like eating fresh food in season from farmer's markets so we found that the canned supplies stayed on the shelves until winter. If we bought a year's worth of canned food but only ate it 3 months of the year, then it would take four years to eat our way through the inventory and restock. That's probably safe but we prefer not to let cans get that old.

So to reach our goal of a one year supply we had to buy bulk grains and now have a closet filled with buckets of wheat, oats, etc. Wheat if kept airtight, bug free, cool and dark will last a very long time. Still it's a good idea to eat what you store. So we had to learn - what can you do with whole wheat?

Step one was buying a wheat grinder. I'll write more about grinders another day. We choose a hand grinder so it would always work but discovered that wheat grinding is HARD work and later bought a motor attachment.

Step two is discovering wheat and wheat flour recipes. Wheat berries (the whole grain) can be tasty in soups and salads when cooked. We've also learned to bake bread and make home made spaghetti.

Bottom Line
Wheat has sustained mankind for most of its history. And wheat can be fun to use. Many people find personal satisfaction in making bread from scratch. There are so many flavors & fillings & shapes to try out. And who can resist the yeasty smell of fresh bread just baked? So give wheat a try!