The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Any Opinions?

Raydee8's picture
Raydee8

Any Opinions?

I bought the KitchenAid grain mill attachment as I didn’t need another (!) small appliance....the price was great - significantly less than the “other” free standing mills.

Any reviews?  Opinions?  Suggestions?

Thanks much -

clazar123's picture
clazar123

I bought one several years ago and do love it. I mill flour for my loaf and it is FRESH!

Do a search-there have been several discussions the last few years.

Raydee8's picture
Raydee8

Ohh - thanks!  And I will search and read others....I appreciate your answer 

suave's picture
suave

It's a perfectly capable little grain mill if you want to mill flour for one loaf, but you can't run it for hours at a time and mill pounds of grain.  15-20 minutes and you will needs to stop to cool down the motor.  If you are milling grain it is probably easier to do it in 2-3 passes - first cracking and then remilling.  I would also say - avoid milling cold grain, and once you are done make sure you shake out as much residue as possible. 

Raydee8's picture
Raydee8

Thanks!   This seems to be a common answer.....mill, sift, and re-mill 

I appreciate your answering!

Our Crumb's picture
Our Crumb

 I have a KGM and used it for weekly milling for a year or two before moving on/up to a Komo. The good news is you can generate perfectly good flour from it. The less good news is it takes patience to do so. More patience if you’re more demanding. 

Flour output is slow and coarse. You can’t do anything about the former but you can overcome the latter by, (1) sifting the output (I used a 55# tami) and re-milling the retained fraction and repeating until you’re satisfied with the fineness (by the reduction in retained fraction). Don’t re-mill everything— just the retained fraction. (2) Hack the device by inserting a teflon spacer between the end of the shaft and its seat in the housing. This lets you bring the milling surfaces closer together — even touching each other if you’re not careful. 

Happy Milling. 

Tom

Raydee8's picture
Raydee8

Oh neat!  I love a good work around.....thanks for the other info too Tom 

BreadLee's picture
BreadLee

I use mine quite a bit and love it. I do need to sift certain flours because the flour will come out variable as the machine starts up.  But it's not a big deal imho. This happens with rye berries and red winter wheat.  Maybe others as well.  

I doubt you can beat this machine especially for the price.  Good luck.  

Raydee8's picture
Raydee8

Thank you!  Any specific type of sifter??

clazar123's picture
clazar123

The fineness indicator has a tendency to creep toward "coarser" as it runs. Just keep an eye on it and , also, as it runs it can be moved past the "finest" setting for finer flour.

I only sift out any really coarse bits to throw back in the hopper. I really soak my flour (either a biga or overnight retard) when I make bread, so some coarseness works for me.

It is definitely meant for the baker that bakes 1-3 loaves at a time. If you are a more prolific baker, a larger mill would be better.

Try it out and see what works best for you!

Raydee8's picture
Raydee8

Oh yes!  I’m just a “home baker” - and actually share everything I bake with others....I had asked the previous post if there’s a recommendation for a sifter?

Our Crumb's picture
Our Crumb

I used to use this one when I sifted and re-milled the KGM's output. 
Unfortunately currently out of stock there.

I would set the sieve in a stainless steel bowl of slightly larger upper edge diameter than the sieve, place the sieve+bowl under the KGM and mill right onto it.  Then cover the sieve with a dispo shower cap (freebies from hotel bathrooms) and shake the sieve and bowl together.  Shower cap keeps the kitchen from collecting a layer of flour dust on every surface.

Tom