August 3, 2020 - 5:10am
ADVICE? What grain mill for me?
Hi there!
I had a question I was wondering if you could help me with. I’m a long time baker, and I’m interested in grinding my own flour. I make 100% whole grain sourdough hearth loaves (mostly). Different styles of mills cut/crush the grain differently, and I wondered if you knew which style would be best for this type of bread. (High rise and open crumb are always the goal.)
I know I need a mill that produces very fine flour. I’d like one that isn’t ear splitting. (Years ago I had the kitchen aid attachment. It was LOUD.) Based on that, and my whole wheat/open crumb desires, do you have any recommendations? I’m not terribly price sensitive, so long as it’s worth it.
Thanks so much for your time!
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I have a Whispermill-about 10 yrs old. Very noisy and heats the flour. I freeze the wheat berries in 8 cup ziplocs prior to milling.
PROS: Can mill pretty finely, mills 8 cups at a time (capacity of the flour bin).
CONS: Very noisy, heats flour to about 125-140 depending on room temp. unless wheat berries frozen/chilled first.
I also have a MockMill that mounts on my Kitchen Aid mixer. Love it!
PROS: Ease of use, does not heat flour, small and easy to store, great job on all sized milling.
CONS: Meant to do a small batch at a time (up to 3-4 cups), fineness setting needs to be monitored as it tends to creep larger, slightly less fine than the Whispermill overall.
Komo is highly regarded here on TFL but it does have a high price point. Just enter "grain mill" or "Flour mill" in the search box. Lots of hits!
I have a Komo Fidibus 21 and I'm very happy with it. It's loud but not "can't talk while it's running"-loud. It makes very fine flour, I let it run on medium-low and that's already fine...I can run that flour again on the lowest setting and have basically powder. Plus you always have the option of using a super fine sieve.
Holds up to 850 g at once, so more than enough for a large loaf.
The flour is warm after milling, but not hot, and you can always counteract with cold water.
And it's small, so fits everywhere very well.
You can usually get it for under 300$ if you search a little.
I think high rise and open crumb is possible with whole wheat, but you certainly need to handle the dough more carefully during mixing (sift out bran and add it after developing gluten) and shaping (whole wheat is more prone to tearing). Maybe a mix of freshly milled whole wheat and high-gluten bread flour is a good balance.
And concur with Bani’s points. Putting the cover on it really helps with the noise. And it is speedy compared to the KitchenAid milling attachment.
One thing to be wary is that it will shut off if you overheat it. I milled a bunch of flour and then used the sifting attachment and it shut off on me.
By the way, putting on the sifting attachment is a pain. You have to remove the hopper and the top milling stone, then screw on the sifter. The acrylic tube is precariously attached to the bottom. It hasn’t disconnected on me but has in others. Then I found that I can’t screw the hopper back on properly because the heat has expanded everything. It takes a day or so to put the hopper back on all the way. So skip the aggravation and get yourself a hand sieve if you are sifting. I just use an ordinary metal kitchen sieve when I need to. I don’t sift flour much anymore
I used to have a Nutrimill for milling flour and a hand-cranked Junior for coarser grinds. After Paul LeBeau showed me the Mockmill at the Kneading Conference in Skowhegan/ME, 2 years ago, I sold the others, purchased a Mockmill, and never looked back.
A Mockmill 100 is big enough for most home baking uses (they offer a 200 model, too). I love the ease of using it, it mills the flour directly into your bowl, you don't have to empty a separate bin (as with the Nutrimill). Just turn on the engine, and pour in your grains (with the motor running!). There is not much loss, the output equals the input.
To clean it (after grinding some oily stuff, for example), pour in a handful of (uncooked) rice, run it through and your mill is clean.
For very coarse grinds, you have to adjust the lever that regulates fineness - it's described in the manual.
The only thing to keep in mind with a Mockmill: don't add your grains first, and THEN turn on the mill. First switch on the engine and then add the grains. Otherwise it stalls and you have to do some disassembling to clean the stuck grains out. (I learned this the hard way).
Happy baking,
Karin
There are several Youtube videos of reviews - here is an older one, he has reviewed other machines as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASGQWtWXBIo and I believe he uses a sound meter, if not in this video, in one of the other ones he has done, like this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnXkHH3jAQ here is another video from another reviewer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sJNijrNrf8
In terms of noise, impact is the loudest, most of the stone and steel burr machines are similar in noise - since they are grinding the berries, and that is what causes the noise. Retsel is a bit quieter than most, because it uses a gear reduction to slow the grinding down, but many complain it takes forever to get one, and there have been quite a few customer service complaints, especially when you consider how expensive it is.
I don't think you can go wrong with a Komo or a Mock Mill for general purpose milling. If you want the finest flour, IMO , you need to get the Royal Lee or if you are willing to buy used, which is what I have, the Lee Household Flour mill. It is not much quieter than my Komo, and definitely louder than the Retsel I have, but it does produce the finest flour . I have not tried the Royal Lee https://www.organicsbylee.com/product/lee-household-flour-mill/ which they claim is redesigned from the Lee Household, but assuming they held to the same tolerances in machining, it will produce the finest flour. The one risk with buying a used Lee Household is that it uses a universal electric motor, and if it was abused before it got to you, it may not last long, and as far as I know , the motor can not be replaced economically - it has a very unique shaft. I know you said you are not very price sensitive, though the pricing of the Royal Lee and Retsel can be twice as much as a Komo or MockMill.
As a baker, you might want to consider how much flour you need to grind in a week. If it is a lot, I would definitely want a machine with an induction motor ( like the Retsel or the All Grain - which is similar in price, though I am not a fan of the hopper, I don't think it is as well engineered and thought out as the mill. If you want to try a used Retsel, make sure you get one that is at least 1/4 hp. The other issue with getting a new one is that it can be a long wait, or so I have read.
Another popular mill is the GrainMaket, made by Bitterroot Tool &Machine Co. The GM uses removable (for cleaning) steel burrs, and so can grind anything (including nut butters) except for "wet grains" (such as nixtamalia for Masa). Bitterroot discourages wet grains because the burrs are not stainless and thus could promote rust. That notwithstanding, if you search the web you'll find people who use the GrainMaker for grinding wet grains with excellent results. The key, I'm guessing, is to disassemble the mill IMMEDIATELT after such milling to wash and blow-dry the burrs, then apply a very thin coat of olive oil.
The GrainMaker comes with an "Heirloom lifetime warranty," which means Bitterroot warrants the GM (excluding the powder coat finish) for perpetuity. This includes the burrs.
The only downside is that Bitterroot is a small family business that manufacture the GM on demand,resulting that it can take two to four weeks for your mill to ship. But this year, thanks to the Panic Buying with the$1200 stimulus checks (in the USA), Bitterroot was innundated with orders. In a private email, they told waiting customers that in April and May they received more orders than in the entire previous year.
On July 21, I received an email saying they were working through the last week of April's orders, and we're "hoping" to ship my mill in the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow, 08/04, will mark those two weeks. It will also mark three months since I placed my order on May 4th.
I like the GrainMaker. I think it and the European Diamant are the best mills on TFL, but that's only my opinion. I very much like the Heirloom warranty. And I think its design is elegantly brilliant. But understand that Bitterroot is slogging its way through all it's back orders. If they do ship my order this week as anticipated, I will have been waiting THREE MONTHS for it -- and they're only up to the first week of May. So, if you order a GM, understand you'll likely be waiting a long, LONG time to receive it.
This is not a dig at Bitterroot, but a reflection of the unprecedented times we are living. And as a devotee of Self-Sufficiency, and where IMO I see the world headed, I'm glad I ordered when I did. My GrainMaker will be a welcomed addition to my home, along with my canning supplies to preserve my own food at home.