This is not a trend, it's a correction.

For a long time, flour has been treated as background food. Something cheap, shelf stable, and interchangeable. Grab a bag, bake with it, and don’t think too hard about where it came from or what happened to it.

But families are thinking about it now.

I hear it every day. Baking feels harder than it used to. Bread tastes flat unless you add a bunch of extras. And a lot of people feel uncomfortable after eating baked goods and start wondering if gluten is the problem.

This post isn’t about fear or blame. It’s about understanding what actually changed in flour, and why fresh stone milled flour feels so different to bake with and eat, coming from a girl who was gluten free for 7 years.

How Flour Used to Be Made

Traditionally, flour was simple.

The whole wheat kernel was milled together, bran, germ, and endosperm all stayed intact (whole grain). The grain was ground slowly, often with stone, and used relatively fresh. Nothing was stripped out. Nothing was added back in.

That flour had natural oils, minerals, enzymes, fibre, and real flavour. It behaved like food because it was still complete food. Hard to imagine in this day and age where every item in the grocery store has 20+ ingredient lists.

What Happened to Flour in North America

Most modern flour in North America is made using high speed roller milling.

This process separates the grain into parts. The bran and germ are removed, largely to improve shelf life and consistency. What remains is mostly the starchy endosperm.

Once those parts are removed, the flour is no longer nutritionally complete. That is why enrichment and fortification became standard. A select few vitamins and minerals (not nearly all of them) are added back in a synthetic powder form to meet regulations, and in many cases flour is also bleached to create a uniform white colour and predictable performance.

This system works very well for storage, scale, and industrial baking. But it also explains why so many people describe modern flour as flavourless, flat, and harder on their digestion. Your body is wondering what in the white dust are you feeding me? Non of this adds up!

Why Stone Milled Flour Feels Different

Stone milling does the opposite.

The grain stays intact. The bran, germ, and endosperm remain together, which means the natural oils, fibre, micronutrients, and flavour stay in the flour.

Because nothing is removed, nothing needs to be added back. Stone milled flour does not need enrichment or fortification.

That difference shows up immediately. The aroma is deeper. The flavour is fuller. Dough behaves differently. And for many people, their body responds differently too. Insert me making this revelation nearly 10 years ago after depriving myself of any wheat!

I always say this, people notice it before they understand it.

Gluten Sensitivities and the Flour Question

Gluten sensitivities are rising, and for some people, gluten truly is an issue. That matters and it deserves to be acknowledged.

But for many others, the problem is not wheat itself. It is what has been done to wheat before it ever reaches the kitchen.

Highly refined flour is milled in a way that removes many of the natural components that help the body digest it properly. When the grain is stripped down, rebuilt, and standardized, eating baked goods can feel heavy, irritating, or uncomfortable.

There are a few factors that tend to show up again and again when families start asking deeper questions.

How the flour is milled matters.
When the bran and germ are removed, the flour loses natural fibre, oils, enzymes, and micronutrients that support digestion.

Whether the grain is organic matters.
Conventional grain is often grown with synthetic herbicides and desiccants. Studies are showing the side effects of these chemicals to our gut microbiome and our soil are devastating, removing that variable alone can make a noticeable difference.

Awareness around enrichment and folic acid is growing.
Many people are learning that synthetic folic acid, which is commonly added back into flour after processing, does not work well for everyone. Some bodies struggle to process it efficiently, which can contribute to discomfort or other symptoms. 

When families switch to less processed flour, especially fresh stone milled flour, we hear the same thing over and over. They feel better. Not because wheat disappeared, but because the flour finally makes sense to their body again.

This is not a medical claim.
It is a pattern we see consistently when people change the quality of their flour, not just remove it altogether.

Why Bread Often Feels Better in Europe

This is one of the biggest lightbulb moments for people.

They travel to Europe, eat bread and pasta daily, feel great, then come home and feel awful again. The assumption is that European wheat must be different.

Here’s the part most people don’t realize. A significant amount of the wheat used in Europe is actually Canadian wheat.

Canada is one of the largest wheat exporters in the world, and countries like Italy regularly import Canadian durum wheat. So it’s not that the wheat itself magically changes when it crosses the ocean.

The difference is what happens to it.

European flour standards tend to place more limits on bleaching and enrichment, and buyer expectations around residues and processing are often stricter. The grain is typically altered less before it reaches the baker.

Same wheat. Different handling. Different outcome.

Why Organic Matters in This Conversation

Organic grain removes another major variable.

Organic farming does not allow synthetic herbicides like glyphosate based desiccants. For families already questioning why flour feels so hard on their body, reducing chemical exposure matters.

Organic does not mean perfect. But it does mean fewer unknowns when you are trying to understand how food affects you.

What We Do Differently at Better Basics Milling

At Better Basics, this work starts long before milling.

We buy directly from organic farmers and intentionally partner only with growers who believe in this same cause. Farmers who care about soil health, responsible practices, and the long term integrity of the grain, not just yield or speed.

Because of these relationships, our flour is traceable. You can trace it right back to the ground it grew in. That transparency matters, especially when families are trying to reconnect food with how it makes them feel.

We stone mill our flour to keep the grain intact. We do not strip it down and rebuild it later. Because nothing is removed, nothing needs to be added back.

Our flour is never enriched.
It is never fortified.
It is never bleached.

We also go a step further by third party testing for glyphosate, on top of being certified organic. That extra step is about peace of mind. If you are already questioning flour, clarity matters.

Fresh Stone Milled Flour Is Not a Trend, It Is a Correction

Fresh stone milled flour isn’t about nostalgia or going backward.
It’s about correcting what was lost.

When grain is kept whole, flavour returns.
When flour isn’t stripped and rebuilt, digestion improves for many people.
When transparency replaces shortcuts, trust follows.

This is why fresh stone milled flour is shaping the future of baking.

And why 2026 is going to look very different from the years before it.

If you want to experience fresh stone-milled flour yourself, you can explore our freshly stone milled organic flours here.