A common question for anyone starting with a home mill is: “If I mill white wheat, do I get white flour?” Or put another way: “Can I make proper white flour at home?”
The answer is yes – but not in the way you might think.
When you use a home mill, you’re stone-grinding the entire grain: the starchy endosperm, the bran, and the wheatgerm. That means the flour you get is wholemeal. Whatever the cereal – wheat, rye, spelt or anything else – the result is always wholemeal because all three parts of the grain are present.
The Three Parts of Wheat
Starch (Endosperm)
This is the soft, fluffy white part of the grain that gives bread its rise and crust. For really white flour, the bran and germ must be removed so you’re left with just starch. That’s why highly processed white flour is essentially pure carbohydrate – pleasant as toast with cheese or, let’s be honest, with a thick layer of Marmite (or jam, for the strange Marmite haters). But it’s missing most of the grain’s goodness. To balance this, in the UK most white flour is fortified (see our unfortified flours) to replace some of the lost nutrients.
Bran
The outer husk gives wholemeal flour its darker flecks. It isn’t rich in vitamins but is high in fibre, which is excellent for gut health. Bran also makes bread heavier. Historically, white bread was a luxury because milling technology was labour-intensive and only the wealthy could afford flour with the bran sifted out.
Wheatgerm
This small, yellowish, slightly oily part is where most of the nutrition lives: B vitamins, vitamin E, folic acid, minerals – plus a nutty flavour that adds real depth. In commercial white flour, it’s stripped away, but with a home mill it’s always present. Stone mills simply can’t remove it, and that’s a good thing. This is what makes for a truly nutritious flour.
So How Do I Make Flour Whiter?
If you want flour that’s closer to white at home, you’ll need to sift it after milling. This removes some of the bran, leaving you with a stoneground “off-white” flour. It still contains the germ and therefore keeps almost all the nutrition and flavour of wholemeal, but gives a lighter loaf that some people find more palatable.
The Best of Both Worlds
Milling and baking with your own flour means you control the balance – keep all the bran for hearty wholemeal loaves, or sift some out for lighter breads. Either way, you’ll keep the wheatgerm and with it the nutrients and flavour missing from ordinary white flour.
So yes, you can make flour whiter at home – but even your whitest flour will be richer, tastier, and more nourishing than anything in a supermarket bag. Explore our range of stoneground flours, or try milling your own with a home mill to discover the difference. And for the best results, pair them with the right baking equipment.
