Newbie milling -> bread recipe conversion necessary?

Wholemeal, wholegrain, etc. all the same thing (where I am; UK).

I an not a huge fan of wholemeal breads but I make one loaf with it regularly. For a lot of my other breads, I dilute it with white flour.

It might not rise as much due to the included bran and wheat germ but they will impart their own flavour (and fibre!)

My usual recipe calls for 960g of wholemeal, 670g of water, 12g salt and just 3g of dried yeast. Mix that up, machine knead for a bit then leave it overnight in a coolish place. In the morning I divide it into 2 (medium) or 3 (small), shape, cover in malted wheat flakes, put into a tin, let it prove for a couple of hours (keep an eye on it!) then bake it.

I don't know about using it in other recipes - it should work, might take a little more water but won't rise as much and won't be as "boingy"/elastic at the shaping stage.

And you can always sift it to remove most of the bran if you want a lighter loaf.

-Gordon

Each flour has its own characteristics so you can't just sub whole wheat for AP flour. Both are "wheat flour" since they both derive from wheat but each has different parts of the wheat and totally different behaviors in recipes.

AP flour has most of the branny bits sieved out and it is a blend of different wheat varieties to achieve the standard set by the mill in terms of protein,carbohydrate,etc. It easily absorbs water and easily releases a gel/starch. Gluten proteins are easily assembled with the addition of water.

Whole wheat flour is just that-every bit of the grain. The starchy part easily absorbs water but the branny bits can require more water and more time to absorb that water before baking. Think of how long wooden sticks have to absorb water before becoming fully saturated-a LONG time. If you don't get those branny bits fully saturated before the bake (with a long autolyse or by using a preferment),, they will just continue to absorb after the bake and dry out the crumb. The gluten takes a while to develop and can get cut by the sharp bran.

People mix the 2 flours to get the benefit of both. A "fluffy" loaf can be achieved with WW but it takes a little more work.

Another option if you want to use the whole ground berries is to sift the biggest bits out (I use a cheap sieve from Amazon),  cook them with some of the hydrating liquid and cool before adding them back to to the rest. This softens the bran very effectively. You  will be amazed at how much liquid is absorbed. 

There aren't very many of us that make bread using 100% whole wheat, and even fewer that use 100% home milled whole wheat, so there are not that many recipes out that tailored exactly for that.  One approach is to find recipes calling for 100% whole wheat, and start with those to see how your bread comes out.  One such book is

 Another approach, which I use fairly regularly, is to start with a recipe that calls for AP flour or bread flour mixed with WW and make it once exactly as written.  Then the next time, substitute more of the WW for the AP or bread flour, and add some additional water until you get the same consistency as you found the first time, and bake it.  Then next time, try 100% WW, adding even more water until you get the same feel to the dough as the first time.  Keeping notes is very helpful in terms of learning how to adapt the recipes. I have also used this approach with recipes that are 100% AP or bread flour, again it is a process of feeling what the dough should feel like, and then making substitutions to get a similar result with WW.  Your results are never exactly the same as 100% AP or Bread flour,  but once you convert to 100% home milled, anything else will never taste as good. 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Homemade-Flour-Cookbook-Nutritious/dp/1592336000/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1V8DGCG2T64HHFSG3WYB#reader_1592336000

I found this checking the link provided by barryvabeach. Thank you,barryvabeach! I might have to buy this for myself.

There are many posts on milling and baking with your home-milled flour. Take a look around but the best thing to do is experiment. Find a recipe that is written in grams (weighed) and scale it down to a single small loaf and then start taking notes. Mill, bake, notes, critique and do it again using the same recipe and ingredients. Post here with pictures and notes and you will find before long that you will be making the bread you want.

So be brave and jump in. Get a little flour on your hands and have delicious fun! This is where all of us started at one time or another in our baking lives. You will get plenty of help. It just doesn't happen all at once.

I have Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads  ( I purchased No More Bricks and read through it once or twice but ended up giving it to a friend)  While I use several of the recipes from Whole Grain breads regularly, that book is based on commercial whole wheat, not home ground, so it may not be exactly what you were asking about. 

I could be mistaken, but I think he mentions somewhere in the book that the flour he used is commercial whole wheat, which is not the same as home ground. 

I mill my flour and simply use it where whole meal flour is called for in a formula. I have made 100% whole meal bread from my milled flour, but usually it is just part of the formula along with other flours. Depending on whether you temper your grain before you mill it, you may find that you need to add more water to get the same hydration that you get with commercial flours (use the search engine to learn more about tempering, if you are interested.) Other than perhaps needing to adjust the hydration a bit, I haven't noticed any differences, functionally, except of course for flavor. 

In general what I do to convert recipes for home milled flour is add 25% more water to the recipe and do an autolyse step of mixing the flour and water and leaving it set for about 30 minutes before proceeding with the recipe. I have converted white flour recipes to 100% home milled wheat with success but I've found it works easiest and with the best results with enriched doughs that have butter, eggs or potato in them. I only use freshly milled flour by the way. 

Good luck, and post your results.  I have that book, and loved it.  FWIW,  I always mill on the finest setting.