Grinding Flour

[yamhill]

I'm looking for suggestions for grinding flour. I have a whisper mill which is very capable and has made fine wheat flour now for a number of months - (okay you can possibly see some questions coming). This afternoon my daughter was diagnosed with Celiac - or a very high rating on a blood test. I've been doing a bit of research since then. Ignoring the diagnosis and biopsy issues for a minute I have a two areas of questions.

1.) How much or little wheat gluten in the flour will trigger the body's reaction? I haven't seen this issue addressed anywhere. The implicit assumption is of course that any is bad. I want to use the answer from this question to help me understand if I can reasonably clean my mill and use it for wheat free flour from this point forward. The whisper uses a sealed grinding unit. I can blow it our using compressed air and run and throw away batches through it. Will that be good enough?

2.)What are some general flour mixtures that work well for baking cakes, cookies, or pizza; making pasta; or making rouge for white sauce?

Yamhill

[chrissy]

hi----i am not going to take any chances with my wheat grinder-----i am ordering a new one to use strictly for gluten free grinding. we have been using bette hagman's featherlight flour mix in most of our baking and have had some pretty good success. you can use plain corn starch for thickening a white sauce----i have been doing this for years, long before my girls were diagnosed with celiac. how old is your daughter?

christine

[yamhill]

hi----i am not going to take any chances with my wheat grinder-----i am ordering a new one to use strictly for gluten free grinding. we have been using bette hagman's featherlight flour mix in most of our baking and have had some pretty good success. you can use plain corn starch for thickening a white sauce----i have been doing this for years, long before my girls were diagnosed with celiac. how old is your daughter?

christine

My daughter is 12. Her symptoms crossed some invisible boundary into pain following a bout with the flu. Looking back, we can see some possible symptoms in the past, but generally this seems to be coming out of the blue.

I think I'll see if the manufacturer can help with cleaning the flour mill. I'd like to save as much of my investment there as possible.

Thanks for the corn starch suggestion. I use starch for some things, but I get a different effect with flour, and I'd like to find a way to retain that flour produced consistency where possible.

Yamhill

[pinktroll]

Has any one tried grinding garbonzo beans? I also have a whisper mill but so far I have only used it for rices. I also haven't seen any dried garbonzo beans-only canned, where would I get them? Nikkie

[WyoShiela]

Does it cost less to grind your own? I've just been using 'Bob's Red Mill' flours and mixes, but they are quite spendy.

[chrissy]

i think it should save quite a bit grinding your own flour. i just bought 5 lbs of white rice flour for 3.75. i can buy 25 lbs of rice for under 10 dollars. really like sorghum flour and can buy 25 lbs of sorghum to grind for just under 17 dollars. i've got to get my mill ordered!! i plan on keeping my old flour mill, i'll just make sure i don't ever use it in the house.

christine

[yamhill]

Has any one tried grinding garbonzo beans? I also have a whisper mill but so far I have only used it for rices. I also haven't seen any dried garbonzo beans-only canned, where would I get them? Nikkie

Here in the Northwest, Winco/Cub Foods carries gried garbonzo beans in their bulk foods section. I haven't run them through the mill, but the mill is supposed to handle them.

Yamhill

[yamhill]

i think it should save quite a bit grinding your own flour. i just bought 5 lbs of white rice flour for 3.75. i can buy 25 lbs of rice for under 10 dollars. really like sorghum flour and can buy 25 lbs of sorghum to grind for just under 17 dollars. i've got to get my mill ordered!! i plan on keeping my old flour mill, i'll just make sure i don't ever use it in the house.

christine

You can save money grinding your own flour, but consider the mill investment carefully. The WhisperMill runs about $200 - which is why I want to be able to still use it for gluten-free flour. I contacted the service group and got advice on cleaning it. Basically the grinder has a sealed grinding unit and an infeed and outdeed area. I can clean the infeed and outfeed fairly easily. Then at the repair preson's suggestion, running a few cups of rice through it will effectively sand blast (rice blast) the grinding chamber and to a lesser extent the outfeed. I can discard this flour and be confident of a wheat free machine when I'm done.

Yamhill

[VydorScope]

You can save money grinding your own flour, but consider the mill investment carefully. The WhisperMill runs about $200 - which is why I want to be able to still use it for gluten-free flour. I contacted the service group and got advice on cleaning it. Basically the grinder has a sealed grinding unit and an infeed and outdeed area. I can clean the infeed and outfeed fairly easily. Then at the repair preson's suggestion, running a few cups of rice through it will effectively sand blast (rice blast) the grinding chamber and to a lesser extent the outfeed. I can discard this flour and be confident of a wheat free machine when I'm done.

Yamhill

I have not seen your grinder, but that does not sound very effective to me. Can you dissemble it and clean that section? Considering the high risk that gluten carries, I would not becomfortable with that answer where my son is considered.