Grain Mill Questions

[dmchr4]

Has anyone purchased a grain mill to reduce the cost of these specialty flours used in gluten-free baking? If so, is it worth it (if you do a lot of baking?) What do you like / not like about your brand of grain mill? The WhisperMill looks really nice.

If you also wanted to use one for wheat and other gluten flours for the rest of the family, would you need a whole separate grain mill to avoid contamination? Or is there one that you could clean thoroughly in between grinding grains?

[cdford]

I happened upon this post when searching for another item and realized that no one had answered the question. I hope this was not too discouraging for you.

I was milling my own grains before realizing that a couple of us in our family were celiac disease/DH. I had to pass the old mill and all the goodies on to a friend and start over. It took me a while to figure out what was best to do.

I purchased a new WhisperMill from www.breadbeckers.com and also purchased a 6 gal bucket of brown rice, a smaller 2 lb package of quinoa, amaranth, millet, and teff. I also got a smaller bucket of white rice, flax seed, corn, and some beans. I use sucanat instead of brown sugar and sucanat with honey instead of white sugar. Since I tend to use quite a bit of honey in cooking or marinating, I buy that by the gallon jug as well. Buying as much from one place as possible helps to save on s/h costs. Since tapioca is harder to come by, I purchased a large bucket of it from Bob's Red Mill. You can get the xanthan gum and potato starch from either place. If you plan to bake a lot, go ahead and get a large pkg of yeast.

Around here, a bag of flour that will make one large or two very small loaves of bread will cost around $4.99. My bucket of brown rice cost $28.00+/- and will last us for several months. Even with the mill costing $199.00, I calculated for someone else here that the machine would pay for itself in around 40 loaves.

I tend to mill my flours once a week and make up a large batch of mix to stick in the refrigerator. It usually takes around a half an hour. The mix works well in a bread machine or even as biscuits. (2 1/2 cups flour mix for a 1 lb loaf, 3 cups for a 1 1/2 lb loaf). The biscuits seem to work better if I use a little extra baking powder/soda and roll and cut them instead of hand rolling them like I always did with wheat flour. I even use this mix for cinnamon rolls. Be sure to use olive oil when you bake since it has a tendency to keep baked goods more fresh. You may prefer the lighter versions at first. Message back if you want more info or need specific recipes. I'd be happy to help. We much prefer the nutrition of milling fresh and it certainly does save us money.

Donna Ford

South Paulding County

Georgia

cdford@integrity.com

[Lesliean]

Wow, cdford, you are an inspiration to me!

[mushimushi2004]

Donna,

Your post was encourageing to me also. I too am thinking about purchasing a grain mill.

I have one small problem. That is I am allergic to the gums that are used in baking! Have you ever come across a substitute??

Del

[Deby]

There was a post about an all rice flour mix that didn't require x gum to have baking success. It was all rice flour mix, or something like that. I'm sure you could find it.

[mushimushi2004]

Yes, I saw that. I tried it and it was okay but I want to use other flours with more protein.

Thanks

Del

[cdford]

There are lots of flours you CAN use. We so often think in terms of what we can't do. I suggest starting out with those items you know you can have then add a new one to be sure you don't have a true allergy to it.

If you are looking for protein, use some flax in your flour. The packaging states the following:

Cholesterol: 0

Sodium: 0

Protein: 6g per 3TBL serving

It does have some fat, but only 1g is saturated so it is generally "good fat". It is also a good source of calcium (8%) and iron (10%).

Here is the mix I use. You may have to adjust according to your own needs.

6 2/3 cups brown rice flour

1 cup bean flour of your choice (great northern is mild, garfava is common)

3 1/3 cups potato starch

1 2/3 cups tapioca

1 2/3 cups ground flax

1 1/4 cup sugar (or sucanat with honey)

1/3 cup xanthan gum

5 tsp salt

It makes about 15 or 16 cups of mix that is ready to take out and use. It will easily keep for a couple of weeks or so in the fridge. Just take out what you need for today's baking and go for it. Remember that gluten-free flours generally work better if the eggs are room temp. If I am in a hurry, I just get small bowls out and put the flour in one bowl, pour the milk up into another and let it sit while I put the eggs in yet another bowl of warm water for a few minutes. Within a few minutes, everything is room temp and ready to go. You can use this mix with yeast for bread or with baking powder/soda for biscuits or other quick breads. It works great for cookies and cakes as well. Alternate flours can be used instead of about 30% (about 1/3) of the rice.

[mushimushi2004]

Thanks Donna,

I don't really have a problem finding a mix of flours I like using X gum or any of the additions to keep the product from crumbling. The problem is, I am allergic to the gums as I mentioned in my post.

I am looking for mixes that don't have to use gums. I would think they would have to be used for specific types of baking, like pancakes, muffins, some types of flat breads and tortilla. I am beginning to find a few but I always wonder if they just forgot to add the gums to the recipe! LOL. I made a great mango and pineapple cake the other day without gums and without sugar, only stevia. I would like to make some cookies without gums but I need the right flour mix.

Thanks,

Del

[cdford]

I noticed something else this morning when I was making cinnamon rolls. Almond flour has quite a bit of protein. It also adds texture and flavor, especially to sweet baked goods. I use it in the rolls and most of my cookie recipes. I haven't tried it in breads, but it might work there as well since it is not a strong flavor. It also works well as a coating for fish and chicken. Remember the "trout almondine" at some of those fancy restaurants?

If you want to leave out the gums entirely, there was another post on here a week or so ago by someone who did. They gave a bread recipe that used more milled flax and no gums. Apparently you have to experiment a little to get the right combination.

Another possibility is to use a little unflavored gelatin. Don't know if you can have that or not. What you give up without the gums is texture, not flavor, so unless you have a real texture issue when you eat you should be okay with just a little extra flax. Also the buttermilk gives the breads a softer texture than sweet milk, especially when it is at room temp.