Whole Grains: Boosting Nutrition for My Family

I know that current food fads and trends are all about gluten and grain free. But in my family, we don't have any medical need to be gluten or grain free. That's a crazy hard train to jump on board for no reason except it being the most recent fad, so I've made the choice not to do that! I have decided that I want my family eating more nutritious grains though. In recent months we've made a lot of simple, little changes in our breads and baked goods that cut out some of the white flour and add in more nutritious whole grains. Below you can read just a little about what I've been doing to increase these whole grains in our diet. I hope it helps you, too. I'm not going to share all the nutritional content of each grain here. There are many websites you can refer to with far more information than I could give. The Whole Grains Council and World's Healthiest Foods sites have a lot.

Whole Wheat: I buy hard white wheat grains on Taobao as its hard to find them in my city. Search 小麦粒.  I grind it fresh and use it to make whole wheat bread for toast or sandwiches. I use it for half the flour in most yeast breads we eat--like French Bread, pizza dough and calzones. I add it here and there in many other baked goods as a percentage of the flour called for. Search 小麦仁 for another option--I'm not really sure that this is a soft white wheat or just a pearled wheat grain similar to how they pearl barley (which actually takes most of the good stuff you want off it). I buy the other. Whole wheat can be a little tricky regarding the gluten content it needs to make nice texture and give good rise to yeast breads. You can add vital wheat gluten in small amounts to help with this. I have found it available from a Taobao seller. 

Oat Groats: These are called 燕麦 and are everywhere in my city. It is the whole oat grain. It packs a big protein punch. I grind this into flour and use it for up to half the flour called for in things like banana bread or muffins. I've used this in place of flour in streusel toppings. I've even used it and whole wheat flour in place of all the flour in these lemon crumb bars! 

Millet: I have not played with millet (小米) as much as I'd like yet. Its a really nutritious grain. I know many use it as a porridge option. I have been grinding it to flour and replacing about a 1/4 - 1/3 cup flour in many breakfast breads and muffins. On my list to try is using it like you would couscous in some recipes. 

Buckwheat: This is a gluten-free grain--locally called 荞麦. I've been making wonderful buckwheat pancakes with it! I've also added it to things like Apple Streusel muffins (only up to about 1/3 of the total flour in a recipe). 

Barley: Most of what I see in local stores is a pearled barley, so most of the outer good stuff has been removed. I have not tried to use barley in anything yet.

Corn: Grinding up popcorn kernels has revolutionized cornbread at our house! I tried grinding the local cracked corn, but that's just the same as what is already ground into cornmeal in the markets and gives only so-so results. 

Storing Grains: All these grain flours are best used the day you grind them for maximum nutrition. However, its nice to have some ready to throw into things. I have been grinding up several cups of the oat groats, buckwheat, or millet and storing them in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks. Place in the freezer for longer amounts of time.