August 26, 2020 - 4:20am
newbie miller
I'm about to buy a mill here in the uk and I can only find one place with stock of a mock mill 100, I think that's right for me, but they're a lot of money from my frugal budget am I making the right decision of buying a mill at all or that particular model? Or should I try to find a 2nd hand one?
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I think after some price point most home mills are good, regardless of model. I've heard good things about the Mockmill 100, so if you can't afford a pricier one, it's a good choice :)
If you can find one second hand, it's just as good if it's not too old, they are sturdy and often have at least 10-12 years warranty.
If you are a frequent baker, an own mill is a great investment, since you can get the maximum out of the grain.
thanks for that old wooden spoon, I've spent the day looking all over the internet at mills and all sources seem to agree with you that the Mockmill 100 is a good choice so I'm going to go for it. Its really to get away from white flour that I'd like it, so I shan't want white flour. I will have a look around for a 2nd hand one but so far haven't come across one but I'll look more thoroughly before I buy new. I'll report back in a couple of weeks how its gone.
but you would want to be sure you can get whole grain berries at an acceptable price before you jump in. I don't know where you are, but it can be costly to ship if you cannot find them locally. Cost is comparable to shipping for equivalent weight in flour. I mention this because you noted your "frugal budget". Cost is (always) an object!
OldWoodenSpoon
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spabbygirl, there are many second hand mills available in the US, don't know about UK. Most of the ones offered in the US are fairly straightforward - a motor ( normally induction) paired to a stone , with another stone and an adjustment to change the distance between the stones so you can get coarser or finer flour. In general, unless the either of the stones are damaged, or the motor is burnt out, they usually have plenty of life left in them.
I have not seen the Mockmill in person, but in videos it looks good. IMO, once you start milling your own flour, you will not want to go back to white flour ( what we call All Purpose here in the states ). Home milled wheat is a bit more challenging to work with, and won't get as open a crumb as white flour, but the taste is so much better. I converted years ago and now use it for bread, pizza, pasta, and anything else that requires flour.
...Barry, I've ordered one just now, I couldn't find a 2nd hand one anywhere so I bought the smallest mockmill, I found lots of reviews by ordinary people saying how pleased they are with theirs which is reassuring, its good that you agreed.
Its lovely that you say freshly milled flour is so good, I can't wait to try it!
Thanks for mentioning home milled is more challenging to work with, I'm new enough to sourdough baking to worry I had done something wrong otherwise. Do I still need an autolyse? Are their any other differences I should know?
Autolyse with freshly ground flour is kinda necessary because you have all the bran and fiber to soak. About 45-60 min. is enough.
Also fresh flour is super thirsty (again, due to bran and fiber), so if you usually work with a 70% hydration, you can easily go up to 75% or even 80%. But depends on your wheat, every grain behaves a little differently and can soak up more or less. You will figure that out quit quickly.
Thanks Bani, I can't wait to try it now!! :)
Bani is right on the money. Autolyse is very helpful, and hydration really depends on the berries you get, some need higher, some need less. The main issue, IMO, is that the time frame between not ready to go into the oven, ready to go in the oven, and overproofed is very narrow, so it takes lots of experiments. If you can stick with his times and temps, this is a fairly detailed post on how he uses home milled flour. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/33735/home-bread-fighting-gravity
Thanks Barry & Bani, that was a really useful article, just what I needed. I can't wait to use my mill but I have to wait at least 7 days as it has to come from Germany. I'm quite good now at checking when its ready for the oven but I will keep a keen eye on it, I might try 50% white & wholemeal at first. I'll let you know how I get on!! Thanks so much, Lynne
Lynne, be sure to post back and let us know what you think. There are not that many home millers out there.
will do Floyd :)
I'm a newbie home Miller, having received my mill last week. How do you mix in the sugar/yeast after the autolyse? Do you reserve part of the hydration (say, 15%) to proof the yeast while using the rest for the autolyse? And then after autolyse incorporate the remaining yeast-infused hydration?
I am normally using a sourdough starter, but I always add the salt after autolyse, and just sprinkle it on the dough, then run it on mix at the lowest speed for a minute or two. You can also use the reserved water method.
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After a while of eating sourdough, I find I like white flour & sugar less and less though I will cook combinations of white flour for loaves I give away.
Thank you sooo much for helping me on my way, I really appreciate your help & it will be my turn to help when I've developed more skill.
Glad you like the taste. I generally bake a little hotter to get more color in the crust, you might want to try that next time. Let us know what you think of her book. I have her first one, but did not order this one. The reviews on Amazon paint two different pictures of the book.
Thanks for that Barry, I always put my oven as hot as it will go 220, so I guess I just have to leave it longer. I got the book and I really like it, one of the reviewers isn't so keen on the extreme edge of sourdough, you know, like milling your own grain, using unusual flours, accepting the deep, dark colour and dense grain of wholemeal biscuits, cakes, scones etc. but I really like that. I love the dense close texture of wholemeal sourdough, fruit cakes that barely rise but have no white sugar & flour so the book suits me well. In Totnes, Devon, a really alternative town, a group of hippies, for want of a better term, sold exactly these things in the market and they sold like hot cakes, I drove a long way to get some. But they wouldn't sell in a supermarket or Parisian bakery because they wouldn't appeal to people who are accustomed to refined sugar and white flour. I think that's the difference the first reviewer encountered. Lots of the book is about the health benefits of sourdough and links between mind and gut, I like that too. I've just mixed up my 2nd loaf of 500mg fresh milled flour, 200ml of 100% starter and 350g water and it looks really wet, I added another 70g flour and its still wet. It's just starting its long prove now, do you think that's ok? I have it in my bread diary, so I guess either way I'll learn from it!
Great to hear things are going well. Yes, I find my best improvement comes from taking detailed notes, and making slight variations, though I don't do it enough. As to hydration, I think every flour is different, so you just really need to play with different numbers to see what you get. I did not read each post thoroughly on the baguette community bake community-bake-baguettes-alfanso but from skimming through most posters seemed to agree that by making the same recipe over and over, and making slight changes, and keeping good notes ( of course , the posts they made were good notes themselves ) they all ended up making some pretty nice loaves.