Diamant Grain Mill How-to?
Hello everyone!
So, several years ago I decided we needed to get a grain mill and have been working ourselves up to the purchase for a long time. I figured it would be best to wait and put the extra money into a top-of-the-line mill, hence our purchase of a Diamant 525 (ooooooh aaaaaaaah). Well, when you buy something this high end, it's apparent that they expect you to know what you are doing and wouldn't you know it, the information on how to use it was pretty slim. Most of the stuff I've found on the internet are more demonstrations on the unit than anything, with no real "how-tos".
Any major does and don'ts besides adjusting it too fine and messing up the burs? To make matters worse, we are also a little new to baking bread with freshly ground whole grains...so double whammy on the learning curve for us. We did get hard red wheat berries because they were half the price. Any links, videos, suggestions on where to start?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Nick
Pat Roth (proth5 here on Fresh Loaf) is an expert on milling and a passionate Diamant owner. She doesn’t post much anymore but might respond to a PM with specific questions.
Tom
Nick i don't have that mill, so can't provide many specifics. As to where to start, this is the most thorough description i have seenhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/33735/home-bread-fighting-gravity&ved=2ahUKEwjCpsHRuv_wAhVPaM0KHShUBbUQFjAAegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw33iSg2FJA1hxvdVGFXtrbz&cshid=1622860606330. Any questions, just post them, i have owned a half dozen or so mills over the years, and have been baking exclusively 100 % home milled wheat for years
Welcome to TFL, where some of us are half-baked, but no one is real crummy.
So you're new to home-milled flour..., but the real question is...
--- what breads and flours have you worked with so far? Have you baked just white flour breads, less than 50% whole-wheat breads, or greater than 50% whole wheat breads? Knowing your experience level will help in offering suggestions as to what kinds of recipes to start with.
And if you have time to answer...
--- What kind of bread is your family used to eating? White, partial whole wheat loaves, majority whole wheat loave, 100% whole wheat? If you have kids at home, how old are they? I ask this to see if you need to play "hide/disguise the whole wheat in the bread" games. It can be hard to transition youngsters to whole grains, but there are tricks to make it easier.
--- What country are you in? That makes a difference as to what equipment and ingredients are available. If US, what state/city? Certain areas have local suppliers that make getting whole berries and other ingredients convenient and cheap.
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The most common misconception of people new to home-milling is thinking that you can make white flour (like store-bought white AP or white bread flour) by sifting home-milled flour. Sure, you can sift and get _some_ of the bran and germ out, along with big chunks of endosperm. But you can never get it as white/refined/smooth as commercial roller-milled AP or bread flour.
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I wrote a short treatise about fresh-milled flour here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/64863/7-things-about-freshmilled-flour
Be sure to read the comments as others made some good contributions.