Gluten-free bakers, do you grind your own grain?

[melissel]

We're going gluten-free here (starting with me), so I'm having to rethink all my baking. I'm going to Whole Foods today to pick up a few basic things (flours, xanthan gum, etc.), but I was wondering if it's better/more cost effective to grind my own flours from grains bought in bulk? Our Whole Foods has a good bulk section, and I'm imagining that the packaged flours are much more expensive. Then again, I'd also have to buy a grain mill--unless my Magic Bullet would do the trick? I tried millet this morning, and it's pretty coarse, like cornmeal. Is that as good as it gets?

What do you think? Can sufficiently good deals be had on millet/amaranth/GF oat flours, or should I just invest in the Nutrimill and the KitchenAid and get it over with?

TIA!

[changingseasons]

Yes- it's WAY cheaper than buying the flours. No comparison. I use primarily buckwheat, and I can get a 25# bag of organic groats from Azure for around $25-$30. Or I can buy a tiny 1# bag of flour for like $6.

I just use an old coffee grinder and it works pretty good for me. Of course I can only grind about 3/4 cup at a time, so if you're doing large quantities it might be worth it to have a grain mill. (But there's also an advantage nutritionally to grind small quantities each time you need some.)

The only thing you need to watch out for is gluten cross-contamination (I don't know how serious you are about removing all traces of gluten.) My groats are not processed on a gluten-free line , and I've found that it's pretty difficult to find grains that are, other than Bob's Red Mill (which can also get pretty spendy.) You are definitely going to have xcon issues if you're shopping from the bulk bins though, so be careful there!