Best grain mill??

[WCM]

In thinking about avoiding grains entirely, another possibility is to switch to milling our own, it seems like a far healthier choice than buying pre-milled flour.

but which grinder to buy? I use flour right now for baking, pies, cookies, pizza, pasta etc . . so would need to grind fine. I could use whole wheat though for all of these and just grind it finely enogh, right??? I'm not exp at using other flours, but hope I could learn, so if that impacts what grinder to buy, tell me.


(now I'm off to try to understand fermenting grains, I'm told it's even better?)

thanks!

[koru]

I did a ton of research on this before buying my Family Grain Mill....and I love it! It grinds nice, fine flour perfect for making bread. Apparently the Nutrimill is the holy grail but my friend has one & she says it makes a terrible mess in the kitchen, spewing flour everywhere. Yuck.

I thought about buying an attachment for my Champion juicer or even using my Blendtec blender but everything I read said these options heat the grain too much & defeats the purpose of self-milling. So...another high end appliance lives in my kitchen. I use it 2-3 times a week, though, and am still in love.

I bought mine from Pleasant Hill Grain....
http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/fam...ain_mills.aspx

Have fun!

[WCM]

The Family Grain mill is the one i'm looking at too!

Does it grind flour fine enough for baking?

[koru]

I don't do a whole lot of baking besides bread but I think the flour is perfectly fine. (Pun intended ). I regularly make pancakes & an occasional banana or zucchini bread, too. Once I ran the berries through & for some reason it didn't seem fine enough so I just put the flour through again & it came out silky smooth. I've only had to do that once, though.

Have so much! I love this silly machine.

[mamadelbosque]

Honestly... just buy flour. We have a diamont grain mill and probably close to 100#s pound of grains in the basement... and I buy flour. When I was grinding my own flour I actually baked *less* because it was such a hassle. Now I only grind flour when I'm otherwise out. On an everyday basis its simply not worth the effort.

[koru]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Honestly... just buy flour. We have a diamont grain mill and probably close to 100#s pound of grains in the basement... and I buy flour. When I was grinding my own flour I actually baked *less* because it was such a hassle. Now I only grind flour when I'm otherwise out. On an everyday basis its simply not worth the effort.

Oh, that's so sad! I LOVE to get out my grain mill & hear it grinding away while I'm gathering other ingredients. (My kids love it, too!)

I should add that I didn't start doing this for fun. Fresh milled flour is just healthier. Once wheat is ground, it starts losing it's vitamin & mineral content....like 90% in a matter of days. Plus, the wheat germ has to be removed from flour so it can be shelved longer (wheat germ is oily).

I vote to keep looking at grain mills & have fun with it!

[WCM]

I hear you mamadelbosque! that is what I'm afraid I'll do too, so I'm taking it slow. I buy organic flour milled a province away, but yes, it has lost it's nutrients by the time buy it so . . .

other mill reccomendations? or just more Yes's for the Family Mill? this is a HUGE purchase for us and lifestyle change, so I really need to check stuff out and learn all I can before/if we decide to go ahead.

thanks!

[JoyMC]

Originally Posted by koru

everything I read said these options heat the grain too much & defeats the purpose of self-milling. So...another high end appliance lives in my kitchen. I use it 2-3 times a week, though, and am still in love.

i'm researching grain mills, too. i've heard this argument about some mills heating the grain too much, but this is my question - does that matter if you're eventually going to bake the flour? i mean, i don't eat flour raw, so ... does it really matter?