I know there are a number of excellent mills for different applications, so I hope I get this detailed enough to really pinpoint which will work best for me. Thanks in advance for your advice!

I'm looking for a mill that can accomplish the following;

can mill coarse or very fine flours (dry grains) for baking, pasta, hot cereal, pastries, gravies, cakes, breads, etc.

does not heat the flour (over 120 farenheit)

can sift the milled flour to make white cake flours (meaning that it's capable of not crushing the outer layer into the flour making it too difficult to sift out to get a white flour)

can mill for a large family (meaning does not heat up or mess up with heavy use)

does not need to be cleaned

does not throw flour dust everywhere

has electrical and hand mill capability

lasts for 30 years+

does not need to be babysat (won't catch on fire or break with a distracted operator)

does not have quarks with getting odd sized or shaped grains stuck and cracks, or constantly needing to be taken apart to fix

low maintenance

less than $1000

can be purchased in or shipped to the U.S. without incredible waits, fees, or bribes, and with the knowledge that defective or damaged products will be fully replaced in a timely manner without uneccesary inconvenience

Any thoughts?

Received this book as a Christmas gift from a relative who really enjoys my bread :)  Yesterday I started the first recipe in the book: 100% whole wheat sandwich bread.  My last three attempts at the 100% whole wheat bread in The Bread Baker's Apprentice were failures, so I was hopeful he had tweaked the recipe and technique.

Baked it today and had it with dinner.  My wife claims it's the best sandwich bread I've ever made!

Yum :)  The overnight autolyse and combination of soaker and biga really seem to have made the difference.

-Joe

I've been grinding much of my own flour lately, but I have a question for the more experienced millers here.

Do you pick over the grain before you mill it? I've been carefully picking it over first to remove grains that still have the hull on them, small seeds of some unidentified type, stones, and the occasional piece of field corn. 14# of spelt produced a couple of tablespoons (at most) of this mixed detritus, so I'm wondering if I'd have even noticed if I'd just left it be.

I'm using a hand-crank mill made by Porkert. It produces a pretty coarse flour that works best when soaked overnight, but the price was right ($60.50). On the other hand, picking over adds a lot of time to a process that's already slow by nature; I have to run the flour through 3 times to get it to a fineness I can live with.

Thanks for any advice anyone cares to offer!

edh

Hi,

Just moved to the Boston area and am looking for good local sources for flour and grains.  I've searched the forum archives and haven't found any local sources other than the typical mail order sources.

In particular, I'm looking for good sources of stone-ground flour (wheat, rye), along with whole or cracked grains (again, wheat and rye particularly).  Strongly prefer organic products.  I expected there to be a "health food store" that offers these kinds of things, as it did in Cape Town where I've just moved from.  However, I've not been very successful at finding these.

At present, I use Arrowhead Mills from my local Whole Foods, but only the WW comes in a larger packet and they don't offer any rye flour or cracked/whole grains. 

Thanks in advance for any pointers you can offer. 

Cheers,

 MammaT

in response to harrygermany's post on November 11, 2007 which said in part

Maps of the US showing the major wheat growing regions. For those of us who must mail order, at least it can explain those shipping costs.

Every map has a link immediately below if you need to see it in a larger size.

As I am geographically challenged, I start with a basic US map that shows the states with their names.

Whilst cleaning out the coin container on my dresser in preparation for taking the coins to the supermarket to be counted, I found an unused gift card from Barnes & Noble.  Had it been there 8 months?  20 months?  Who can say; the question was - what to do with it?

Bakers and home millers might want to stock up on grain now, as weather problems have significantly reduced the projected wheat harvest. Eventually this will be reflected in consumer prices. Grain keeps well and does not require special storage conditions beyond a cool, dry place. IMHO, any non-white flour should be refrigerated or frozen to preserve flavor.

In spite of the crazy, rainy weather of the past week or two, farmers in Kansas and other Great Plains states are trying to get the wheat harvested whenever field conditions allow. On my way home from work this evening, I saw these guys making their way across a field:

I recently bought a grain mill and have tried to bake with fresh ground grain, but I'm baking up bricks instead.  So what's secret to freshly ground grain?