Easy & Nutritious Fresh Milled Waffles

Here at the farmhouse we prioritize healthy, nutritious food. These fresh milled waffles are fluffy, delicious and packed with many of the nutrients our families need.

I am all about a breakfast that is easy and healthy, and this recipe is it! This fresh milled waffle recipe comes together quickly and is very easy to double or even triple, keeping you stocked with the easiest and healthiest breakfast for weeks.

My kids love this these waffles and request them almost every morning. Knowing they are putting something so nutritious in their bodies at the beginning of the day makes me one happy mama!

Store bought waffles are filled with low quality ingredients, synthetic vitamins, preservatives and so many other unnecessary ingredients. We are skipping all that and getting only the beneficial stuff instead! I know you will love these fresh milled waffles as much as we do!

Why You Will Love These Fresh Milled Waffles

Quick – Some people may think grinding your own flour takes too much time, but it really doesn’t! These waffles come together just as quickly as a traditional recipe.

Nutritious – Fresh milled flour contains so many nutritional benefits that conventional flour lacks. You will feel so good about feeding these fresh milled waffles to your family.

Freezer friendly – My favorite thing about this recipe is its ability to maintain the flavor and texture straight from the freezer to the toaster. Make them once and you can have a nutritious breakfast on hand for your family without ever dirtying up a mixing bowl. Now that’s my kind of recipe!

Health Benefits of Making Your Waffles from Fresh Milled Flour

Fresh milled flour is not a naturally shelf stable product due to the oils in the freshly ground wheat causing spoilage if left out at room temperature.

In order for the flour to remain on the shelves, the oil containing properties (the germ) is removed to prevent the flour from spoiling. The removal of the germ causes the flour to lose much of its nutritional value that is found in freshly milled wheat.

When you make from scratch baked goods at home like these fresh milled waffles with home milled wheat, you are retaining all of those health benefits that are stripped from the flour in stores.

Some of these health benefits may include:

• Much of our needed dietary fiber
• Essential A, B and E vitamins
• Necessary minerals like Magnesium, Phosphorus, Cobalt, Zinc and Iron
• Unsaturated fats naturally present in the germ
• Antioxidants and enzymes beneficial to overall health

You may have noticed how conventional flour is marketed as “enriched”, meaning a synthetic version of some of these vitamins and minerals is added back into the flour after being processed. However these synthetic versions are not nearly as beneficial to our health as the naturally occurring versions found in freshly milled whole wheat flour.

What is the difference between home milled flour and store bought whole wheat?

While store bought whole wheat is marketed as a healthier alternative to bleached white flour, it also lacks in nutrition due to the loss of the germ in the milling process. This same germ with the nutritional benefits listed above is missing in whole wheat flour, making it far inferior to the quality of flour milled at home.

Not only that, but the nutritional value of fresh milled flour decreases as it remains at room temperature. That is why the best, most nutritious option is to grind wheat in your own home as you need it for a recipe. This retains the most health benefits for your home baking.

Where is the best place to buy wheat for grinding my own flour?

There are a few different places to source wheat berries, but my favorite is Azure Standard.

Azure Standard is a whole food co-op that makes monthly deliveries to drop sites all across the United States.

How it works…

1. When you create an account you will be able to search for drops in your area and choose one to join.
2. Once you have joined a local drop, you will see an order cut off date with a “week of” delivery estimate.
3. A few days after your order is placed you will receive an email with the exact date and time of the delivery.
4. On the day of the delivery you will show up the drop site and all of the members there typically help unload the truck and sort the packages by name. Then, you gather your items and take them home.

Benefits to ordering wheat berries from Azure Standard

Bulk pricing – because you are able to order 25-50 pounds at a time, the price per pound is much cheaper than buying from local health food stores.

Quality – Azure works directly with farmers and prides themselves on offering high quality goods. I always feel at ease when sourcing items from them.

Variety – Azure offers many different kinds of wheat berries, so you can get berries specific to the kind of baking you’d like to use them for. Some of the wheat berry varieties Azure offers are:

• Soft White Wheat
• Hard White Wheat
• Hard Red Wheat
• Kamut
• Einkorn
• Spelt

Ingredients

Milk
Butter or avocado oil
Vanilla – a high quality vanilla extract makes a huge difference in flavor
Eggs – high quality farm fresh eggs make these waffles even more nutritious
Sugar
Freshly milled flour – I highly recommend using soft white wheat in this recipe for the softest, fluffiest waffles. You can also use spelt and they will be delicious!
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt – I love using a mineral rich salt like Redmond Real Salt in my baking

Tools You Will Need

Grain Mill – this is the one I have and love!
Waffle maker

How to Make this Fresh Milled Waffle Recipe

1. Begin by grinding your soft white wheat berries (3 cups, 320 g). I highly recommend weighing the berries out before putting them through your grain mill as relying on volume measurements can be inconsistent. While the grain is grinding add to the bowl with the milled flour salt (1/2 tsp), baking powder (2 tsp), baking soda (1 tsp) and sugar (2 tbsp, 25 g).
2. To make the fresh milled waffle batter whisk together milk (2 cups, 480 g), 2 eggs, melted butter or avocado oil (1/3 cup, 75 g) and vanilla (1 tbsp).
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients and whisk just until the lumps are dissolved in the batter, making sure to get the flour in the very bottom of the bowl. Cover your waffle batter and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes. This allows the freshly milled flour to absorb the liquids.
4. While the batter is resting turn on your waffle maker and allow it to heat up. Set to medium-high heat.
5. Grease your waffle maker if needed and add about 1/2 cup of batter (or whatever amount fills most of your waffle mold) to the hot waffle maker. Close and allow the waffle to cook for about 3 minutes. Flip the waffle maker after adding the batter if yours has this ability.
6. Remove the cooked waffle and place on a cooling rack if you have one. Repeat the process until all of the batter has been used. This recipe will make approximately 12 standard sized waffles.
7. Enjoy your warm, nutritious waffled smothered in butter, fruit, maple syrup or all of it! I won’t tell!

Fresh Milled Flour Waffles Step by Step Instructions with Pictures

Substitutions

Soft white wheat – you can use spelt or another soft wheat variety in these fresh milled waffles. I would avoid using hard wheat varieties.
Milk – you can sub equal amounts of buttermilk for the milk in this recipe
Butter – avocado oil or coconut oil also work well for the oil component
Sugar – maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar are great substitutions if you want to avoid refined sugar. I would recommend adding about 1/4 cup if substituting with any of these instead of the 2 tbsp of sugar called for in the recipe.

How to make fresh milled waffles for the freezer

These fresh milled waffles are my go to make ahead breakfast to save myself time in the morning! Instead of spending a whole day prepping freezer foods, I love to just double (or even triple) this recipe. This leaves us with a lot of leftover waffles ready to go into the freezer.

The freezer instructions are super simple..
Just allow the waffles to cool after baking. Then break up the waffle sections (this allows to them to fit more easily into a standard toaster), place in a freezer safe ziplock and store in the freezer for 3-6 months.

The waffles may stick together a little which is no big deal (they pop apart just fine), but if you’re taking these to a friend and would prefer they didn’t, you can freeze the individual pieces flat on a cookie sheet and then place in the ziplock bag.

Common mistakes when making waffles from fresh milled flour

Not allowing the batter to rest before making the waffles – fresh milled flour is “thirstier” than conventional flour meaning it takes longer for the flour to absorb the water. For this reason the batter can be pretty runny when first mixed. Giving it time to rest and absorb the liquid makes for a thicker, more consistent batter.

Over mixing – over mixing your waffle batter develops extra gluten, which means your waffles will turn out more rubbery versus light and fluffy. We don’t want rubbery waffles around here! Mix the batter just until it is well combined and most of the lumps are dissolved.

Not having the waffle maker hot enough – if your waffle maker is not hot enough, the waffles will take longer to cook and will lose a lot of their moisture that makes them so light and fluffy. Make sure to set your waffle maker to medium-high heat.

Overcooking the waffles – this is easily done! These fresh milled waffles don’t need long to cook. Make sure to keep an eye on them and check them after 3 or so minutes.