so its never dead. you can test that by taking a cup of what you have and feeding it 1 1/2 cups bread flour and enough water to make very thick. should see great rise in 24 hours if warm.
so been thinking on this: freshly milled flour may not have enough gluten to give good rise you may have to add store bought gluten to add to it, gluten is the rubber bands that hold the gas.
if the milled flour is a hard grain like winter wheat, that may be the problem.
so its never dead. you can test that by taking a cup of what you have and feeding it 1 1/2 cups bread flour and enough water to make very thick. should see great rise in 24 hours if warm.
so been thinking on this: freshly milled flour may not have enough gluten to give good rise you may have to add store bought gluten to add to it, gluten is the rubber bands that hold the gas.
if the milled flour is a hard grain like winter wheat, that may be the problem.
just my thoughts
chris