January 22, 2024 - 6:11pm
Grit in my milled flour
I've made 2 loaves with my new Mockmill 100 and both have tiny amounts of what I'll call grit in the finished bread. I notice it when eating a slice. I'll occasionally get what feels like a tiny piece of sand as I chew. There isn't much. I might notice it once per slice.
Is this normal?
I never noticed this with my much coarser flour I made with my Mulino.
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Gary, this doesn’t sound normal to me. I’ve been using my Mockmill almost 7 years and have not encountered anything like it.
Assuming that your source of berries hasn’t changed, I have to wonder if maybe the stones are set too closely and you are getting bits of them coming off and into the flour. When you set the spacing of the stones it should be backed off until there is only a very slight ticking as they rotate against each other (before any berries are added). If I recall correctly the Mockmill website (and maybe others, check YouTube) has videos demonstrating this.
-Brad
Hi Gary, no that's not normal. Either your grain is contaminated or something is going wrong with your mill. Does your grain look good? Clean, dust-free, and with very few if any broken kernels? I did once get a bit if grit in inferior grain purchased from a store bulk bin.
If your grain is good and your milling technique is correct, you may have a mill with a defective stone. Reach out to the friendly and helpful Mockmill USA folks and ask their advice.
My high frequency hearing is completely gone so what I think is slight ticking might be too much. I'll back off a bit and see what happens.
I know my grain is good. I never had this problem with the Mulino I've been using for many loaves.
I'm surprised that the adjustment lever has detents. On the videos it appears that people are moving it smoothly but mine has definite bumps along its range.
My Mock Mill has very subtle detents so it is very easy to just rotate the knob quickly.
As far as grit, over the years I have had wheat berries that had just1 or 2 small soft stones per 8 cup grain. I must have caught most of them but I'm sure I've milled a few over the years. They are usually almost the same color as the wheat so very hard to detect.
If you are concerned the grit may be coming from your MockMill (I was going to say stones but it sounded ...odd), run a batch of white rice through at the fine setting and see if anything is visible. Use or don't use the rice flour. I'm sure I've eaten my share of stones, sand or dirt over the years. Living in FLorida exposes me to a lot of grit. Dang sand gets into everything! I don't believe the grit in your flour is harmful but it is disconcerting, esp. if it continues.
I'm confident it is not harmful and it is hardly noticeable. I'll run some rice through it and see what I get.
My grandmother would say "You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die". I'm working on it.
I'm laughing out loud at this because I was just about to reply to clazar123 that my grandmother used to say, "You have to eat a bushel of dirt before you die." I have never heard anyone else say that until I read your comment. I never knew my grandma to be wrong about anything (at least nothing as important as this), so I'm trying to pace my dirt consumption. A couple specks per loaf is too many.
–AG
I milled some white rice, then disassembled and brushed out all the residue and milled some more. I got tiny black specks both times.
John of Mockmill US technical support says:
I'll give it a while and see if it subsides.Hi John,
In my opinion, if it's just a bit of manufacturing residue it should already be gone.
I'd encourage you to do the white-rice mill-cleaning process, as laid out in the instruction booklet, 3 or 4 times. If it still shows grit, ask them to replace the stones.
I personally do not think it is reasonable or necessary to continue baking with gritty flour to see if the problem 'subsides.' Just my 2 cents.
It should be gone. I'm going to do as you suggest.
I wonder if they can ship just the stones or if I have to return the unit?
Thanks
After 3 passes with 1/2 cup of rice, as they suggest, the specks appear to be gone. Afterward I ground 1/4 cup finely and saw no specs. Then I did another 3 passes with 1/2 cup. Again, no specs.
I'm going to campus tomorrow so I can't bake but I plan to bake on Thursday so I can give it the true test.
Gary
That's great, Gary! Fingers crossed you can go forward with trouble-free milling. I love my Mockmill 100 and use it all the time.
Over the years I have head a little trouble with the plastic (I lifted it by the spout and broke it. I placed it too close to a hot halogen under-counter light and melted the hopper lid. I pressed too hard on the tabs that release the hopper and broke one.) But everything I damaged through my own carelessness was replaced by Mockmill, either at no charge during the warranty period or very inexpensively afterward.
The motor and millstones have held up just fine to many years of heavy use. The flour it makes today is just as nice as the day I got it. And I continue to try out new milling techniques and new grains.