I avoid trading with Amazon also, Jeff Bezos doesn't need my money and he doesn't seem to put his profits to good use.

For books I mostly use Better World Books, Thrift Books (the latter has the Hildegard book), and Abe Books.  Their inventories are mostly used books, which I prefer because of the usually lower cost, and it includes books out of print or hard to find.  They also carry some new books.  I use their wish list features a lot.

When I do look on Amazon I click on the "More Buying Choices" hyperlink if there is one.  That brings up a list of the Amazon partners offering that book or product, and I'll buy directly from them.

Unfortunately, Thrift Books is an American company so the postage is not worth it for us. The others such as ABC books do not seem to stock it. I did click on 'more buying choices' as you suggested however the alternatives are silly money. Still, I'll know this for future use so thank you very much for the tips.

Whole grains contain 40 out of the 44 nutrients needed to sustain life.  Once ground they start to oxidize and begin the spoilage process.  Up to about 100 years ago, people would grind their flour at home or purchase from a local miller.  They would use the whole flour in a short time span before it would go bad.
In 1878 commercial flour mills ...

Wheat and bread are biblical and God made it perfect for our health, unfortunately, because of the introduction of seed oils, chemicals and high processing of our food supply, American health has declined drastically. 

In 1975 we bought an home ELECTRIC  wheat grinder. My Mom was all for healthy foods. When they were kids in 1930's, they lived mainly from their gardens and local good wholesome foods. 
Fastforward to 1975, I built a hopper and container to make our wholewheat flour. Organic wheat from a Trad farmer, of course! I would grind enough for 6 loaves batch. It just so happened that we never stored that flour...luckily.
About 4 years later I read that when you use these grinders  the flour gets hot in the process. ..So it starts to get rancid, unless you freeze it. Rancid foods/oils are CARCINOGENIC!! Burnt oil is really scary too!
   So thousands are using these grinders but are ignorant about the real dangers of storing the once overheated flour.
Cancer #2 killer, no wonder!!?
*****
https://eap.mcgill.ca/publications/EAP35.htm
STONE-GRINDING OF GRAIN

In the third century B.C., rotary grindstones powered by animals, * and small rotary hand mills called querns, replaced stone or wooden mortars and pestles for the grinding of grains. Querns are still used in rural areas of the Middle East, Far East, and parts of Africa (Hall, 1974).

There are several advantages to stone-ground wheat flour. The endosperm, bran, and germ remain in their natural, original proportions. Because the stones grind slowly, the wheat germ is not exposed to excessive temperatures. Heat causes the fat from the germ portion to oxidize and become rancid and much of the vitamins to be destroyed (Aubert, 1989). Since only a small amount of grain is ground at once, the fat from the germ is well distributed which also minimizes spoilage (Mount, 1975). Nutritive losses due to oxygen exposure are also limited by the fact that stone-ground flour is usually coarser (Thomas, 1976). As expressed in The Bread Book (Leonard, 1990), stone-ground flour is preferred by many bakers and natural food advocates because of its texture, its sweet and nutty flavour, and the beliefs that it is nutritionally superior and has a better baking quality than steel-roller-milled flour. Moritz and Jones (1950) and Schultz et al. (1942) showed that stone-milled flour was relatively high in thiamin, compared to roller-milled flour, ..."
******
* In the Old Testament blind Samson had to push the milling wheel as punishment, and he very strong. That flour was not overheated, of course.

"semolina" (otherwise known as white flour here in the U.S.)."

My research indicates otherwise, I believe you are mistaken. 

https://www.bobsredmill.com/articles/what-is-semolina

Semolina seems to be more of a SIZE of durum (hard) wheat, not sifted, bran free, white wheat flour.


cz


 

I am sorry if I used a wrong term.  I was just using the term as quoted in the book in the section on Wheat:

"But if anyone sifts out the bran from the flour (which is semolina), and then makes bread from that flour, the bread is weaker and more feeble than if it had been made from the proper flour.  Without its bran, the flour loses it's strength somewhat, and produces more mucus in a person than that made from the whole wheat flour."

Is that in St. Hildegarde's book? If not, could you share some tips?!

I never actually (properly) backed a horse until I was 17. Well, when I was 4 my father did put up on a pony ride and it was at that moment the seed was sown - I fell in love with horses then and there. I did try to ride the horses at the back of our property but as I was only 4, I kept falling off (I'd climb the fence with a carrot, draw them in close and then make the daring attempt!). Alas, every attempt ended in failure (if my mother only knew ). Still, I made up for lost time when I started work at our local stables in Hampshire. Now training horses would have been a dream! I think in this day and age, when young people spend so much time on their computer and phones, your way of life is ideal. It's the way family life should be - teaches responsibility, instills a taste for outdoor living, and encourages family unity. Well done. Sounds like your boys are getting a very well-rounded education.

It isn't in the book as to how to make homemade bread strictly from whole grains...

In a nutshell the most important thing is "fresh".  Fresh flour and fresh bread.  Whole grain ground flour and bread tend to go stale and dry out quickly.  I have "Kitchen Mill" grinder which uses rotor and stator action to burst the grains and keep more of their nutrients intact.  Spelt is more fluffy in general than normal wheat and doesn't take as much kneeding.  I currently have worked out a good method with dry active yeast and am hoping to work into using sourdough starter soon once a friend shares some with me.

I start by heating about 2 cups of water until warm.  Then I add about a tablespoon of dry active yeast with a little sugar or honey and let it sit for about 5 minutes(to help activate the yeast).  After the yeast starts to bubble a bit I add about a teaspoon of salt to flavor and stabilize it from rising too fast and then sinking.  

From that point I add flour slowly and mix it in until the dough is no longer sticky and bounces back when you poke it.  At this point I pour a little olive oil over it and roll the outside of the dough ball in it until lightly covered.  Then I let it rise for an hour.  After an hour I fold the dough several times until it is the shape I want (especially for rolls) and dust with additional flour so the outside does not stick.  Then I place in a buttered and floured pan and let rise until about doubled (around 30 minutes).  

While waiting for the dough to rise I preheat the oven.  For large bread loves I cook at 350 (to keep from burning before the entire loaf is cooked thoroughly).  For rolls I cook at about 400.  I pull them out of the oven once the tops are golden brown and the top seems solid.  For bread the button should be solid as well.  If the pans are properly buttered and floured for the loaves, they should pop out easily after 5 minutes to cool.  I usually butter the top of the crust.

In 1975 we bought an home ELECTRIC  wheat grinder. My Mom was all for healthy foods. When they were kids in 1930's, they lived mainly from their gardens and local good wholesome foods.
Fastforward to 1975, I built a hopper and container to make our wholewheat flour. Organic wheat from a Trad farmer, of course! I would grind enough for 6 loaves batch. It just so happened that we never stored that flour...luckily.
About 4 years later I read that when you use these grinders  the flour gets hot in the process. ..So it starts to get rancid, unless you freeze it. Rancid foods/oils are CARCINOGENIC!! Burnt oil is really scary too!
  So thousands are using these grinders but are ignorant about the real dangers of storing the once overheated flour.
Cancer #2 killer, no wonder!!?
*****
https://eap.mcgill.ca/publications/EAP35.htm
STONE-GRINDING OF GRAIN

In the third century B.C., rotary grindstones powered by animals, * and small rotary hand mills called querns, replaced stone or wooden mortars and pestles for the grinding of grains. Querns are still used in rural areas of the Middle East, Far East, and parts of Africa (Hall, 1974).

There are several advantages to stone-ground wheat flour. The endosperm, bran, and germ remain in their natural, original proportions. Because the stones grind slowly, the wheat germ is not exposed to excessive temperatures. Heat causes the fat from the germ portion to oxidize and become rancid and much of the vitamins to be destroyed (Aubert, 1989). Since only a small amount of grain is ground at once, the fat from the germ is well distributed which also minimizes spoilage (Mount, 1975). Nutritive losses due to oxygen exposure are also limited by the fact that stone-ground flour is usually coarser (Thomas, 1976). As expressed in The Bread Book (Leonard, 1990), stone-ground flour is preferred by many bakers and natural food advocates because of its texture, its sweet and nutty flavour, and the beliefs that it is nutritionally superior and has a better baking quality than steel-roller-milled flour. Moritz and Jones (1950) and Schultz et al. (1942) showed that stone-milled flour was relatively high in thiamin, compared to roller-milled flour, ..."
******
* In the Old Testament blind Samson had to push the milling wheel as punishment, and he very strong. That flour was not overheated, of course.

My husband got me a hand mill with grindstones that took forever and I basically gave up making bread because of it and not having enough time with the little boys.

A year or two ago we got a "kitchen mill" grinder.  It is electric but is supposed to use rotor stator motion to grind the flour and keep nutrients intact than many others.  Heating is still an issue though but we tend to only grind what we will use each day (maybe a little more but then we use that up first before grinding more then next day or so).  My mother had the same mill when I was growing up.  If we weren't using the flour right away we would freeze it.  My mother used to say that after a day or two flour would start losing nutrients.  I read the article you shared.   I noticed that even stone ground flour goes stale rather quickly as well.  Hence, the importance of always freshly grinding flour before using...

I recommend Sue Becker.  She is a food science professional and has been researching and talking about fresh milled flour and it's benefits sincev1991.

Thank you so much for the book suggestion!  I saw that you linked a video of hers earlier and tried to watch it but it is hard for me to watch videos with the little boys around. 😅