Help Choosing A Grain Mill

[subfuscpersona]

Thanks, BettyR, for responding.

I had my doubts about the Mercato grain mill/crusher - it didn't seem sufficiently well designed or sturdy enough to do what it advertised it could do. I think you were wise not to buy it.

As I said in one of my first posts in this thread, if you have a blender with a sturdy motor, you might try using it for small amounts of cut grain or very coarse flour. Generally, coarse flour or cracked grain is only a small percentage of the flour used in a bread recipe (even one with all whole grain flours) since it can make for a very heavy bread.

I use an older model of the Kitchen Aid grain mill for cracked grain and coarse meal. I've had mine for over 25 years. They are well made and work well for this purpose. However, I don't like the current design of the KA grain mill, because of the changes they made in the design of the grain hopper.

I get steady use from my Nutrimill and find it works very well for fine flour. I hope you enjoy using it.

Best of luck in your bread baking. - SF

[BettyR]

There is definitely a learning curve to using freshly milled flour but I feel like I’m getting the hang of it.

[subfuscpersona]

The only reason I am posting this link is because (in the past) members of DC have expressed interest in milling field corn (aka "dent corn") into flour for cornbread. Serious cornbread bakers (I include myself among this group) often prefer a slightly gritty (coarse) flour for cornbread. Many of the electric grain mills on the market explicitly state they *cannot* mill corn meal or corn flour from field corn.

If you want to mill field corn into flour for corn bread this blurb from pleasanthillgrain.com on the Ultramill Grain Mill may be of interest

Quote:

Originally Posted by pleasanthillgrain.com site re Ultramill Grain Mill Great for Field Corn: Among high speed impact-style grain mills, the Ultramill is the outstanding choice for milling field corn to flour because its inlet handles corn kernels better than any other mill in this category.

The direct link to the site is Grain Mill Nutrimill Bosch Mixer Bosch Mixers Wheat Flour Grinder Mills Family Grain Mill Best Buy Ultramill Ultra Mill (scroll down in the page to reach the review)

====== disclaimers =======
I have *not* used this mill and have no idea if the claim is good.

I have no connection, commercial or otherwise, with pleasanthillgrain.com. However, as a member of another bread baking forum, Welcome to the Fresh Loaf | The Fresh Loaf, I have noted that other posters to thefreshloaf.com who have called pleasanthillgrain.com with questions have reported uniformly favorable experiences.

If you wish to contact pleasthillgrain.com by phone, their number (from their website) is 1-800-321-1073 (Allow 10 rings)
======================
SF [1550]

[BettyR]

I just wanted to pop in here and say that the Nutrimill will grind popcorn into a very nice cornmeal. The owner’s manual has a recipe for cornbread made with the milled popcorn but I just use the same recipe that I’ve used for years and it comes out great.

Cornbread made with the freshly milled popcorn is really; in my opinion; much better than dent corn. It has a wonderful taste and texture.

I’ve had my Nutrimill since the middle of February and there is a bit of a learning curve to using home milled grain but it doesn’t take very long to work out a good recipe and it is sooooo good. I originally switched to home-milled grains for the health benefits but last week I ran out of my home-milled wheat and I needed to make some bread and because of a project I’m working on right now I didn’t have the time to stop and mill some grain.

I remembered that I had some store bought flour in the freezer that I had stuck in there to keep it fresh while I was learning how to use my mill so I drug it out and used it to make my bread. My whole family was asking “what’s the matter with this bread it tastes old”. I was really surprised at the difference in the taste between the freshly milled flour and the store bought flour.

After eating the bread made from freshly milled flour for several months then eating bread made with store bought flour you can really tell a difference in the taste. The bread I made with the store bought flour didn’t rise as well, it didn’t have as much gluten and there was no spring to the bread and the bread had an old almost rancid taste to it.

In any case I’m very happy with my Nutrimill.

[subfuscpersona]

Having mastered her Nutrimill grain mill, BettyR, the original poster in this thread, is turning out fantastic breads.

Several months back, BettyR shared her secrets on the forum Welcome to the Fresh Loaf | The Fresh Loaf. Her post, My recipe for sandwich bread and more... is definitely worth the read.

BettyR's post - My recipe for sandwich bread and more... - has an excellent recipe for light wheat bread plus several photos of the wonderful breads she bakes.

Here are 2 photos of her breads that she posted -

sandwich bread and hamburger buns ...


...and her focaccia...


BettyR - if you happen to read this post, I just want to say "thank-you". You are a versatile baker.

[BettyR]