(mis) Adventures in Flour

My frugal side came out when it came time to replace regular flour with special gluten-free flours. Even the cheapest ones were quite a bit more expensive than a bag of all-purpose flour. As usually happens with anything I find too expensive (which is pretty much everything), my first thought was "how can I do this myself?"


After some research on the internet, I determined that basically rice flour is just ground up rice. Easy enough, except the only blender I own holds approximately eight ounces. My sister-in-law gladly loaned me her blender, which I used for maybe five minutes before I broke it. Oops. So, okay, factor in the cost of a replacement blender, I still think grinding my own flour is going to be cheaper in the long run.


Now my mind was really working. What could I use that might be a better machine than a blender? Coffee grinder? Maybe. Then I found this lovely contraption at an estate sale:

From what I can tell, it was manufactured circa 1977, so it has thus far managed to stay alive and functioning for the past 34 years. Also, it weighs approximately 17 pounds. Let's see how it holds up now that I have my destructive hands on it.

I ground a batch of rice last night. I poured in enough rice to fill the bowl about half full, then added some water to make it a little bit pasty. I tried grinding it dry and it seems to work better a little wet.

After it was finely ground, I poured the paste into a big plastic container and put it in the fridge without a lid overnight. It would probably dry on the counter just fine but I theorize that the cold helps speed things up. I could be totally wrong, it has been awhile since I studied condensation and evaporation in science class.

This morning I took it out of the fridge and chopped up the little rocks of dried rice. They were still moist enough that they weren't actually rocks yet. Here is what it looked like after preliminary chopping:

Finally, I will sift it to make it finer and to get rid of any rice grains that didn't get ground up.

Here ends my adventure in white rice flour making. Hopefully there will be no more kitchen appliance casualties in the future and that I can get good enough at this to be able to have enough flour to get back to baking after being away from the oven for several months.

Why I'm starting this blog

Seven years ago, I came down with what I thought was a stomach virus. It lasted a day or so and I didn't think much of it until I had relapse after relapse of the same bug. I went to a couple of doctors who couldn't find anything wrong with me.

Two years later I realized that I got sickest after eating cheese and figured I was lactose intolerant. I started cutting back on dairy and my symptoms seemed to improve but never entirely disappeared.

Over the years, I started having other symptoms which I didn't connect with the upset stomach issues: I was always sore, I was tired all the time, and at times I would lose my appetite.

Two things happened in May of 2011 which caused me to pursue a gluten-free diet. I found out that gluten sensitivity runs in my family and I also had a conversation with a good friend. She sent me a link to an article about celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. I was amazed when I read the article. Almost all of my symptoms were there. Either I simultaneously had five different illnesses, or this was my answer. Immediately I cut out wheat from my diet and I have been working on finding alternatives to the foods I used to cook all the time.

Anyone who knows me realizes that the word "cheapskate" is an accurate description of my approach to buying things, food included. When I first started this learning experience, I had fears of only shopping at the health food store and never being able to socialize anywhere there was food. As an Aldi devotee, I didn't want to abandon my frugal ways.

Fortunately, so far my adventures in gluten-free eating have not caused me to miss out on good deals or an active social life. I'm still in the learning process but this isn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I wanted to start this blog to keep a record of my successes and failures and to hopefully help someone else going down this path.