Grain mills

[Nishu]

Can we talk about them a little?


I can get a bag of brown rice flour for 5 bucks, I think it might be a pound, or I can get a bag of brown rice from the commissary for 1.79. If I wanted to make my own flour would it be as simple as running it through a grain mill?

Most of the ones I've seen for at home use are 300-400. They also sell an attachment for a kitchenaid mixer for about 120 that will do it. Has anyone used one? I don't have a kitchenaid mixer but it might be a reasonable investment.

Has anyone made their own gluten free flours?

[Debbie-cat]

I don't know anything about it but the person to ask would be GrainLady. She knows ALOT! Good luck!

[jas]

I second Grainlady!! I have a Wondermill it was kinda pricey but way easier than hand grinding. I tried to get the attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer but they were on back order for months. That was about 3 months ago you may have better luck now though.

[savvy_sniper]

Grainlady will come along shortly and give you her expert opinion. I went to Amazon and read the reviews for the KA grain mill attachment and wasn't impressed. Grainlady will tell you which brands and models are best.

[MaryCarney]

Definitely get a grainmill if you can. The quality and TASTE of fresh flour is unbelievable. Mine just bit the dust after 15+ years, and I'm getting a new one. You won't be sorry!

[Grainlady]

Can we talk about them a little?


I can get a bag of brown rice flour for 5 bucks, I think it might be a pound, or I can get a bag of brown rice from the commissary for 1.79. If I wanted to make my own flour would it be as simple as running it through a grain mill?

Most of the ones I've seen for at home use are 300-400. They also sell an attachment for a kitchenaid mixer for about 120 that will do it. Has anyone used one? I don't have a kitchenaid mixer but it might be a reasonable investment.

Has anyone made their own gluten free flours?

Mill your own for less.... You can actually mill rice in a good-quality spice/coffee mill, but I always suggest anyone who needs to use a large variety of gluten-free flours to invest in a QUALITY mill and mill their own. When it comes to flour of ANY kind, fresh is BEST!!! I'd suggest a Nutrimill (http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/index.aspx#Nutrimill). Pleasant Hill Grain are wonderful folks to purchase from.

I keep one mill just for gluten-free use, so I don't cross-contaminate it with grains containing gluten.

FYI about using rice flour. If you are baking with it, you should use medium- or short-grain rice for rice flour (brown or white rice - your choice), rather than long-grain rice. Long-grain rice is fine for breading, sauces, and use as a thickener, but not for baked goods.

For 1-cup rice flour, grind a scant 3/4 c. (3/4-cup minus 1 T.) short-grain rice OR 3/4 c. long-grain rice.

I develop gluten-free recipes for a sorghum mill just outside of town, so I use a LOT of sorghum flour.

If you decide to purchase a mill, I'd suggest a Nutrimill. Not only does it mill flour, but you can also make a fine-grind cornmeal from whole dent corn. The Nutrimill will do a large variety of beans/grains/seeds. I also use a lot of bean flour in baking to add protein or for making quick soups and 7-minute refried beans (from pinto bean or black bean flour).

I use a Porkert Seed Mill for tiny seeds like amaranth and teff, and for oil seeds like poppy and sesame. They can't be milled in a Nutrimill because they are too small. One mill won't do everything, which is why I have a variety of them. I also have a Marga Roller Mill for making flakes and coarsly-ground cereals. I make my own Cream of Rice-type cereal.

[Nishu]

Thanks Grainlady I'll definitely take a close look at that mill. How long do you think it will last? My youngest (who's 1 year) has a pretty dramatic reaction to wheat so I suspect that we're going to just be a gluten free house from now on. If I'm going to be baking gluten free for the next 17 or so years, I figure it might be a good investment.

I don't think I have 270 just lying around though... Could you suggest a cheaper "in a pinch" solution? I'd kind of like to try milling my own once or twice before I invest in something that expensive.

Thanks everyone!

[savvy_sniper]

Nishu,

It a long shot, but you might post a wanted listing on your local freecycle group, search on craigslist for a used one, check eBay for a new/used one at a good price.

Good Luck!

Thanks Grainlady I'll definitely take a close look at that mill. How long do you think it will last? My youngest (who's 1 year) has a pretty dramatic reaction to wheat so I suspect that we're going to just be a gluten free house from now on. If I'm going to be baking gluten free for the next 17 or so years, I figure it might be a good investment.

I don't think I have 270 just lying around though... Could you suggest a cheaper "in a pinch" solution? I'd kind of like to try milling my own once or twice before I invest in something that expensive.

Thanks everyone!

[Nishu]

The problem with getting one used would be a used grain mill would most likely have been used for wheat, wouldn't you think? I probably shouldn't risk getting the baby sick all over again.

[old_lady_in_the_shoe]

[QUOTE=Nishu;1212839]How long do you think it will last? QUOTE]

I do not have one, but according to the website:


Lifetime Manufacturer's Warranty: This great warranty includes the Nutrimill's stainless steel milling heads!
The Nutrimill is made in Korea by Kitchen Resource of Salt Lake City, Utah.

look at the bottom of the page, here

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/index.aspx#Nutrimill

[Grainlady]

Thanks Grainlady I'll definitely take a close look at that mill. How long do you think it will last? My youngest (who's 1 year) has a pretty dramatic reaction to wheat so I suspect that we're going to just be a gluten free house from now on. If I'm going to be baking gluten free for the next 17 or so years, I figure it might be a good investment.

I don't think I have 270 just lying around though... Could you suggest a cheaper "in a pinch" solution? I'd kind of like to try milling my own once or twice before I invest in something that expensive.

Thanks everyone!

I purchased 2 cheap (practically worthless for anything other than making chicken feed) mills before I got a WhisperMill (17-years ago - I think it was $199 at the time, which was the only thing I requested, and the only thing I got for Christmas that year). The first two mills were money wasted because they did such a poor job. The WhisperMill (now goes by the name Wonder Mill) was one of the best mills available back then. It met with a tragic "home accident" this spring after all those years of use (I make all our baked goods and breads, so I mill 1-3-times a week). For $10 more than a Wonder Mill, I got the Nutrimill because I could do cornmeal in it. Lots easier than dragging out my Corona Corn Mill for milling corn (by hand), that I used to use for coarsely-ground grains and cornmeal.

Many of the non-gluten grains are much softer than wheat and can be milled in small batches in a spice/coffee mill. I'd suggest Bob's Red Mill for purchasing gluten-free grains. They are very careful about avoiding cross-contamination with grains containing gluten.

You can make your own oat flour by running oatmeal through a blender or a food processor: 1-1/2 c. quick or old-fashioned oats = 1 c. ground oat flour.

I'd suggest getting a good spice/coffee mill and saving your dollar bills for the next 12-months and see if you have enough for a quality mill. I save my $1 bills and have always saved between $800-$1,000 each year, but I also use cash for nearly all purchases.

Another mill I'd suggest is a Family Grain Mill. I use this mill as my back-up mill - should we be without electricity. It will do a fairly good job on hard grains (NO popcorn can be milled in it), and it does an excellent job on soft grains. You have to mill the hard grains into flour, then run the flour through again, to get the flour reletively fine, but that's not uncommon for hand-mills. If you have a Kitchen-Aid Mixer, you can get a mill attachment for it. The mill attachment can't be used on the smaller KA mixers, and tend to have problems if you do more than a small amount of flour at a time.

AVOID the inexpensive Back-to-Basics Hand Grain Mill. All hand mills seem like a romantic olden-days experience, while in reality they take 40-60 minutes to get enough flour to bake with and are a LOT of work. The Back-to-Basics Mill was my first mill. It only does a coarse flour, which means you have coarse bread.

Good luck and good wheat-free baking!

[jas]

as a back up I do have the back-to-basics hand grain mill! wow what a workout and very little flour! between my dh, dd, and I for about an hours work we got enough for one loaf and it was a kinda tough loaf at that!! I hope if shtf we still have electric so I can use my electric mill.
Or I will drag my wheat, the mill and my butt to someplace that does!!

[Learningtobefrugal]

Does anyone have any experience using one made specifically for a KitchenAid mixer..I picked up the mixer at Kohls for 80 dollars out the door and if a grain mill works well on this machine would love to get it..

Any help would be appreciated.

[zakity]

Many of the non-gluten grains are much softer than wheat and can be milled in small batches in a spice/coffee mill. I'd suggest Bob's Red Mill for purchasing gluten-free grains. They are very careful about avoiding cross-contamination with grains containing gluten

Yep, they do. We toured it when they opened up their new facility. You were only allowed to tour the "wheat" part of it because they didn't allow you to tour the gluten free part so there was no cross contamination. It is in a seperate building and with different grinding stones and you aren't allowed to go between the two. I have a friend who is gluten free (celiac's?) and I was glad to hear that they were so careful.

[Grainlady]

Does anyone have any experience using one made specifically for a KitchenAid mixer..I picked up the mixer at Kohls for 80 dollars out the door and if a grain mill works well on this machine would love to get it..

Any help would be appreciated.

Not from experience, but from research on mills in general I've accumulated in my files....

-How big is your KA mixer? You MUST have the large (Professional?) mixer for it to work properly.

-There are design flaws with the mills that put an awful lot of stress on the mixer and will cause them to burn out if you mill very much grain. There is a history of them breaking transmissions and stripping the plastic gears. Complaints that the KA would smoke when using it to mill flour.

-I've also read where you have to mill the grain on a coarse setting and then in order to get a fairly fine flour, you must run the flour through the mill one or two more times.

-It's also suggested that you give the KA a "rest" (so it doesn't burn the mixer motor) after you mill 2-cups of grain. This is laughable, paltry, amount of grain - not even a pound. A quality impact mill (Nutrimill or a Wonder Mill) can mill large amounts of grain, and do it quickly - in just a few minutes. It's not uncommon for me to mill 5-pounds of wheat (1-pound of grain = approx. 3 cups of grain) at one time. The Nutrimill will mill 20-cups of flour at a time (3-cups of wheat berries will yield approx. 4-cups flour).

-One other reference states, "it's a nightmare, don't buy it", then they tell how much better the Nutrimill is.

-Fineness of the grind of the flour is VERY important for performance in baked goods. Only fine flour will make fine breads. You MUST have a fine flour for cakes and other baked goods. Coarse flour will only be "coarse" in the baked goods.