Author Archives: Ron Nehrig

About Ron Nehrig

I grew up with a mother that put a lot of effort into making great tasting food from many cultures; thanks to her, and to a father that cooked some also, I learned to be a decent chef's assistant, and later to become the main cook, though it was still a challenge to progress from assistant to chef.

I have long grown a large garden for high quality vegetables, but only began harvesting grain for milling a few years ago, though I've grown grain for many years as cover crops. Once I began milling I wished I had started sooner, the bread is much better tasting and still has the complete nutrition of wheat, but without the off-flavors of store whole wheat flour, which I never really enjoyed, and now think may be due to being old. I consider the freshness of flour to be the same as other fresh produce; once it is picked, or milled in the case of grains, it is the best it will ever be, after that it is all down hill, oxidizing, turning rancid, losing flavor and nutrients, and possibly absorbing smells from the air. I use no commercial flour and don't miss it at all.

I don't try to grow all of my own grain, that is less important than using freshly milled flour, but I currently grow several varieties of Wheat, Corn and Rye grain for milling, and make bread, pasta, pizza dough, cornbread, Grissini, dumplings, gravies and everything from grains freshly milled in the WonderMill. Very few of my baked goods use only one type of grain; the addition of other grains adds character and flavor, and that is another great thing about milling my own grains--a creative door has opened that wasn't even there before.

Check out my recipe blog