Modern Milling "Easy Start" Checklist **
Welcome to our Modern Milling checklist...aka the Easy Start Checklist! :) Our goal is to make your transition into the Modern Milling Movement™ as seamless and delicious as possible, so we've simplified the process with our Modern Milling products (Starter Kit, blends, recipes) and this list is another helpful resource to offer suggestions on our favorite products.
We are so excited for you to start baking with Unsifted fresh flour! Here are some of our favorite ingredients, supplies, tools, and storage to make guilt-free baking easy-peasy. We personally use all of these products on a regular basis - if they are on this page, it means we highly recommend them! We recommend stocking your pantry, fridge, and kitchen right away so you can begin baking Unsifted goodness right when your Unsifted Starter Kit arrives. Just remember to drink lots of water when you are eating Unsifted because there's so much fiber in every bite!
NOTE: Unfortunately our product hyperlinks are temporarily unavailable. We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
Our Recommendations by Category ❤
If you are brand new to baking, it is great to stock your fridge and pantry with a few essentials so you're prepared to make all the Unsifted goodness. Here are the basics that you will need to make most of the Unsifted recipes, including the five Starter Kit recipe cards. These ingredients will last many many recipes.
Note: We made this list as if you are starting from scratch: empty kitchen, empty pantry, empty fridge. If you already have some of these supplies on hand, then great! We hope this some-what comprehensive list is helpful for those of you who are brand new to baking; however, don't stress if you don't have every single one of these items.
Pantry Ingredients
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This instant yeast is exceptional - no proofing required! We use it in all of our yeasted bread recipes including Simple Sandwich Bread, Cinnamon Rolls, Pizza Crust, Pitas, Focaccia, Pretzels, and more. This product lasts up to 1 year in the fridge or freezer once opened. |
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This is an OPTIONAL ingredient in our recipes, but we do think it provides a noticeable difference in bread softness and provides additional nutrients. Fun fact: Lecithin is a natural emulsifier, so it helps spread the oils evenly throughout the bread. We use lecithin in our Simple Sandwich Bread, Dinner Rolls, and Tortillas. It's packed with natural choline too! A quick google search can show you why that may be very helpful during pregnancy and/or nursing. |
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Raw Honey Raw honey has all the beneficial enzymes still included, and raw local honey is said to help with allergies. We use honey in bread, cinnamon rolls, muffins, pitas, banana bread, and more. You can also get Kirkland Brand honey at Costco. |
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Extra Virgin Olive Oil We like this from Costco for quality and price. We look for olive oil bottled in the country of origin to ensure it wasn't secretly "cut" with another cheaper oil. We use olive oil in almost all of our recipes, including Simple Sandwich Bread, Tortillas, Focaccia, Pitas, Muffins, and more. |
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Baking Powder (Aluminum Free) This is a rising agent used in many recipes, including muffins and cookies. We suggest using aluminum-free for improved taste (and to reduce your heavy metal intake), although any will work. |
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Baking Soda This rising agent is used in many recipes, including muffins. |
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Sea Salt Any type of salt will work, although we prefer sea salt, since the magnesium and calcium may help strengthen the gluten strands. |
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Organic Cane Sugar This sweetener, also called "honey granules" by some brands, is an excellent replacement for white sugar. It is a less-refined, natural cane sugar that is known for not creating the same sugar rush as more refined granulated white sugar. It's also important to note that some white sugar is actually made from beets which are one of the most common GMO products, which is why we specify "cane sugar". |
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Sucanat (sub: brown sugar) Sucanat sweetener is not required, but it is an excellent replacement for brown sugar. It is a natural cane sugar powder with minimal refinement and that does not have the molasses removed like white sugar does. We can’t tell much difference taste wise, but Sarah gets headaches from refined brown sugar and does not get them from Sucanat! |
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Vanilla Extract A key ingredient for cookies, brownies, muffins, banana bread, and more. |
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Cinnamon (ground) Used in muffins, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, and more. |
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Nutmeg (ground): Delicious in muffins, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, and more. |
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| Cocoa Powder (unsweetened): Used in our fudgy brownie recipe, Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chip Muffins, and more. Keira prefers to use Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder. | |
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Chocolate Chips Trust us, you're going to want to make our chocolate chip cookies and brownies ASAP. |
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Any Desired Mix-Ins: Think about any fruits, nuts, or candies you may enjoy adding to your pancakes, muffins, cookies, and brownies. |
Fridge Ingredients
- Eggs (free range): Used in our bread, muffin, pancake, cookie, and brownie recipes.
- Butter (unsalted): It's always good to have this on hand, especially for cookies, brownies, and pie crust.
- Buttermilk: We like to use dry buttermilk because it lasts longer and doesn't require us to keep fresh buttermilk in my fridge. Alternatively, you can substitute 1 cup milk +1 Tbsp vinegar. Sarah likes to use Vanilla Kefir (liquid yogurt) instead of buttermilk in her muffins. We will link each of our recommendations so you can take your pick!
Essential Supplies
Essential Supplies:
- Measuring Cups: You will use these primarily for measuring Berry Blends into the WonderMill.
- Measuring Spoons (pop outs): These measuring spoons are very convenient! One spoon has 4 measurements, pop the cup back and forth to change the size.
- 2x 1b Loaf Pans
USA Pans: These pans are TRULY nonstick! No grease or liners required! Plus they are made in the USA. They are an absolute must-have! (1.5 lb, muffin, 9x13, 8x8, cookie sheet, ) - Muffin Pan
- Baking sheet
- 9x13 pan
- Mixing Bowls: There are all sorts of mixing bowls available, and we like keeping a variety on hand. Here are some of our favorites.
- Cooling Racks: Cooling racks are important to keep your breads and muffins from getting soggy in the pan.
Additional Tools We Love for Baking
- Graduated Measuring Cup: We HIGHLY recommend this amazing measuring cup! The measurements are on an angled side, so you can see the measurements from above – no need to “check at eye level”
- Kitchen Scale: If you plan to make Dinner Rolls, Pretzels, Hamburger Buns, or other shaped dough, a kitchen scale is essential for consistent sizing. We recommend glass top so it’s easy to wipe down and clean.
- Danish Dough Whisk: This dough hook is dishwasher safe and prevents “overmixing” for pancakes, muffins, cookies, cakes, brownies, and other non-yeasted recipes. We use it for everything!
- Dough Scraper: This tool is great for dividing dough for dinner rolls, loaves, pretzels, hamburger buns, hotdog buns, and more.
- Baking Thermometer: You can be confident your breads are "done and not overdone" with this simple kitchen thermometer - makes baking even easier!
- Cookie Scoop: This mini scoop is great for perfectly portioned cookie dough. (2 Tbsp of dough)
- Muffin Scoop: This scoop is just right for perfectly portioned muffins and pancakes. (1/3 cup of batter)
Time-Saving Tools
If you are an avid Unsifted baker, here are some tools that are exceptional for any lifestyle.
Tools for Mixing and Kneading Dough
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This exceptional bread machine has a motor that can easily handle 2 lbs of unsifted whole grain dough. With two paddles, 3 customizable programs, and a delay start feature, this is the ultimate bread machine! You can use this to knead & rise dough overnight, so in the morning you can have dough or bread ready for you! If you are worried about time to make bread this is the ultimate time-saving tool for a busy lifestyle! |
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This is the ultimate mixer for doubling and tripling recipes. It can make up to 6 lbs of dough at a time, perfect for "baking days" and mass production. The mixer features a timer so you can set the knead time to your preference. Our friend Ashley McCord is the USA rep for these mixers, and she is exceptional to work with!
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KitchenAid Pro 600 Series Stand Mixer Fresh Flour is harder on your mixer than commercial flour is, so it is important to get a top quality mixer motor. We have read reviews of lower powered Kitchenaid motors burning out with fresh flour kneading in particular. For this reason, we recommend the KitchenAid ProSeries mixer (Disclaimer: the Ankarsrum is our favorite overall due to durability). |
Tools for Added Efficiency and Specialty Baking
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Artisan Baking Steel (Pizza Stone) This baking steel is a must-have for golden crust pizza and perfectly "poofed" pitas! We love the size of this and prefer it in functionality to the ceramic versions. We will warn you though, it is very heavy. |
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This press is outstanding and a must have for regular bakers! Great for breakfast burritos, fajitas, quesadillas, and tortilla chips! |
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Pasta Makers Hand crank, automated, rolled out or pressed, these pasta makers are exceptional!
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Specialty Pans You guessed it, our favorite USA pans have everything you need for specialty baking. Some of our favorites are the:
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Light, delicate, flexible, fresh flour crepes are just minutes away! |
Grain Storage
Unsifted Blends won't expire for a long time as long as they are stored properly. We recommend keeping them airtight in a cool dry environment. Once the bag is opened we do not recommend storing extras in the bag alone (unless it's placed in the freezer between uses) because it's not airtight.
Here are a few things you may want to consider:
HOW MUCH grain do you want readily available? In order to make this an easy lifestyle change, we recommend finding a convenient location for your grain so it is quick and easy to use. Excess grain can be stored in a basement, pantry, or closet.
Consider your available space:- Common storage locations for grain containers include on the counter, on open shelving, in cabinets, or in the pantry. Once you see how pretty it is, you may decide you want your blends visible, for decoration as well as function!
- Common, gallon-sized containers store roughly 6 to 7 pounds of grain. This allows for more time between refills, although refilling containers is not a difficult task. (For reference, our Unsifted blend photos show half-gallon, glass containers- see pictures on our product page) and make for a beautiful countertop decor.)
- Bulk storage buckets are great for storing excess grain tucked away in the cool basement or pantry for easy refills and/or mas baking needs
- Glass cannisters for the counters - These have wide mouth tops so it's easy to dip a measuring cup into it. The size is personal preference, depending on how often you are baking and how much space you have available.
- Glass container (wood top): These are airtight and have a wide mouth. The natural wooden lid is a nice touch and the gamma seal makes these airtight.
- Air tight clip containers: Many of us already have this type of container...empty out that commercial flour and refill these with your new Unsifted Berry Blends!
- Plastic Gallon Container: These work great in drawers and cabinets. The handle makes them easy to grab and helps with pouring.
- Unlimited options based on your style and size needs!
- Bulk Berry Buckets: If you want to live Unsifted, you need these buckets. The gamma seal twist-off lid makes it easy to get in and out, and the 5 gallon capacity holds approx. 3-5 months worth of berry blends. Having a stockpile of grain prevents the "fine china" mentality - you are more likely to bake with fresh flour if you're not worried about running out of grain! We keep some grain in jars on the kitchen counter (the blended colors are so pretty!) and restock from our Bulk Berry Buckets which are kept in the pantry. HIGHLY recommended!
Where do you want to store your WonderMill? We recommend finding a convenient solution that will enable you to easily make flour for all your cooking and baking needs. We personally enjoy storing our mills on the counter so it serves as a reminder to incorporate whole grain nutrients daily.
The WonderMill is relatively small and compact and can be stored either with or without the flour cannister, on the counter or in a cabinet. Choose a spot that works best for you!
Thank you for reading! We hope you have found this page helpful as you begin your milling journey.
If you are the proud new owner of an Unsifted Starter Kit, we just want to say a big congratulations!! We can't wait for you to get your hands on this goodness to start seeing all the benefits of fresh ground flour for yourself. We look forward to seeing how you will use your Unsifted Blends. Don't forget to tag us if you post on social media @unsifted.kc !
Still considering jumping in? Read more information on our "Seek Truth" webpage.
Made it to the bottom of the page, but still want to read more while you wait for your Unsifted goodies to arrive?? Enter “health benefits of whole grains” or “whole grains + <your ailment>” into your preferred search engine and then scroll to the Harvard or other medical journal articles. Note how each study repeatedly recommends 3+ servings of whole grains per day. We can't think of a better, more convenient lifestyle change to help improve your health than just switching out your flours to include wholegrain nutrition. The articles are mind blowing! Go see for yourself!
Note: Unsifted, Inc. may earn compensation from affiliate links in this content. However, that does not influence our recommendations at all. We use all of these products regularly (often daily!) in our Unsifted baking. Please email info@unsifted.com if you have any questions or would like additional information.