Thinking of buying a grain mill--what do you have? Do you like it?

[Peek-a-boo]

I'm thinking of buying a grain mill so that I can make my own flour. Just wondering what people have, whether or not you like it, how much it cost, and is it versatile?

Hand operated or electric? (Hand operated seems like that's more for folks worried about survival in a crisis and the electric is more for people who want to conveniently make flour, yes?)

Any ideas or recommendations?

[snowbunny]

I have a nutrimill that I LOVE. I had thought about a handmill but read that they don't really grind flour fine enough, so I opted for electric. I would definitely recommend a nutrimill.

[taygirl]

I was just looking at grain mills online today too! I currently have a K-Tec grain mill. It works well-- I have been happy with it. It is VERY loud though-- haven't heard any other grain mills to compare it to, though. And, when I search out my next grain mill purchase, I would hopefully like to find a grain mill that can make a very fine pastry flour out of whole grains (if something like that even exists!)

[Rainbow2911]

I have the hawos easy which is great (look under mills up to £250). It is electric as I use flour regularly and don't really have time for hand grinding. It is very noisy but does make a fine flour that makes good breads and pastry. I love having a mill - fresh flour smells and tastes so much better than bought.
As you are overseas I expect you won't be buying the same brands of mill, but the choosing a mill page on the above site has some useful general information about choosing mills.
I paid £170 for mine (that would be about $350 I guess). It has a five year guarentee. I figured out how much we spend on bread a year and guessed how much wheat I would use to make that and then figured out how much roughly it would cost per year to make bread assuming the mill only lasted 5 years. It worked out to be cheaper to buy the mill and make bread than to buy bread or make my own from bought flour! So not only do we get the benefits of fresh grains but we save money too.

Hope that helps a bit.

[AJP]

I have a Family Grain Mill, love it. It can adjust from fine flour to coarse cracking and isn't too horribly loud (you can't have a conversation standing next to it, but it's not ear-splitting). I haven't been using it as much lately because I've been buying sprouted flour instead of making my own, but do still use it occasionally. We also have the meat/nut grinding and grain flaking attachments. Plus we have the hand-crank base, which I've never used (I think it came free when we bought the motorized base with grain grinding and flaking attachments), but I'm glad I have it.

We did burn the fuse out once trying to grind sesame seeds, which apparently form a very stiff paste and bogged it down too much. It was an easy fix, the fuse is just the standard type from the auto parts or hardware store, IIRC.

[Hibou]

K-tec blender here. Not the grain mill, the blender, which is IMO more versatile. It is great for grinding any kind of grain. I usually do 3 cups at a time (enough for a loaf of bread). Wheat takes 50-80 seconds- 50 for a stone-ground consistency, and you can go finer from there. It is LOUD (the kids run when I start it!), but super fast and easy to clean. We went to a place that sells them and they did a demo for us in the store, which was really helpful. I had wanted to buy a grain mill to begin with, but I'm glad we got the blender because it stands in as a food processor, blender, and grain mill.

[TwilightJoy]

Haven't used it, but I have this one on my amazon wish list:

http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Nutrimil...=1QYX2QNJQW9G9

[WuWei]

OMG! Hibou changed my mind! I want one of those!! Watch this video of making bread with the K-tec Blender. It is amazing. LOL :


http://www.blendtec.com/videoplayer....er+-+Dough.flv



Pat, (Santa are you listening?)