April 7, 2012 - 8:02am
Can I mill grain in a coffee grinder?
I purchased one of these conical burr coffee grinders recently.
It works well for coffee beans, which it can grind down to a near-powder.
Question: Can it mill grain?
If not, why not?
Is it because the finest grind setting "espresso grain" would still be too coarse for flour?
Is it because the friction of a conical burr would expose the wheat to too much heat/friction? (And what would that heat do to the flour that, say, a stone (or other type of grain) mill wouldn't?)
I suppose I could just buy some wheat berries and try it out, but I'm curious.
What opinions ye?
(I recognize that it's not built for high-volume grinding. If it could work, I'd only use it for small quantities of grain for a levain (or single loaf quantities)).
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mine in a cheapo Krups grinder that cost 1$4.99 and it does a great job. Yours should too.
I can't say I've found the new grinder to be much better than the $5 Krups I now use for spices.
Maybe if I use it for wheat and coffee, it'll justify the expense. ;D
I have a Capresso coffee mill burr grinder. I can't find rye chops and rye meal locally, so I recently started grinding rye berries on coarse and medium settings. My grinder has 16 settings across coarse, medimum and fine. I ran small amounts through at a sampling of settings to see what would come out. I do get some fines at the coarse setting, but a strainer works well if I want to be picky (I saw someone else post with that solution).
Clean your mill and burrs carefully before and after grinding. I was surprised to see how much coffee grounds were under the burrs.
I found, like others, that grinding at the fine settings took longer and things got warmer. I will not use it for making flour. You could, in smaller quantities. I don't need to. I encourage you to experiment to find the limits you feel are safe or smart with your burr grinder.
Now if only I could blame my pumpernickle failures on the homeground chops or meal!
Once on the most coarse setting and then again on the lower setting?
I didn't give much thought to the coffee grounds, but now that you mention it, that settles it for me. I'd have to clean to the coffee grinder really well each time–and it's a real pain to clean. I just figured it might be a less costly alternative to one of these machines: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/index.aspx#Nutrimill
I have not tried that. I would choose a finer setting and accept milling small batches to make flour. There is mention of that in the milling section of TFL. I read many posts there before trying milling in my Capresso.
I have not leanred how to post photos or I could show you the results of my milling at different settings.
Sounds like my grinder might be a little easier to clean. Still takes time switching from rye to coffee or viceversa. It is worth it for my circumstances, until I find a local source. If i were going to take on home milling, I would get one such as you are looking at. A proofing box is higher on my list!
Hi, thomaschacon
I've purchased a similar coffee mill , smaller and cheaper version though, thinking that the metal burrs would mill my wheat fine enough for bread. No, actually it mills coarser than you'd want for bread, and my tiny mill sits now happily on the top of my cupboard, useless.
I'll try it out just to see what happens.
It turns coffee beans to powder, so I'd like to see how fine it can grind flour. I just hope I don't break it.
You don't use yours for coffee or spices?
No i don't. I don't drink coffee, nor mill spices, as packaged spice powders of all sorts are freshly available here in Dubai (it is the orient afterall). My 55$ mill is by krups. No use for it up to now! what a waste of $.
If one wants the job done, the proper machine inteded for the job must be chosen. I learned the hard way, starting from a cheapo spice grinder, food processors, all the way up to the coffee grinder!
Now, i settled for a Hawos- easy - grain mill, with stones. It does the job very nicely, does not overheat the flour, and mills coarse to fine. I paid 400$ for it. It is an investment worth considering, seriously. This hardy german mill, comes with 5 years warranty. Solid as a fort.
Another machine to consider. Thank you.
http://www.hawosmill.com/index.asp
There are also several on the Pleasant Hill Grain website (a vendor I highly recommend) that I'm considering, including the Komo, which looks a lot like the Wolfgang on the HawosMill site:
This is the Wolfgang: http://www.tribestlife.com/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=56
This is the Komo: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/KoMo_grain_mill_wolfgang_flour_mill_grinder_mills.aspx
My heart is still set on the Retsel mill loydb recommended back in October. I looks like it hasn't changed since the 1960s, which speaks to its quality. And it has a motor! :)
http://www.retsel.com/mill-rite.html
I'll buy one eventually.