Grain Mills And Grain Questions

[truthsearcher]

Hi.

I'm still very new to all this, and I was wondering how many of you use your own grain mill?

I have a electric/manual Family Grain Mill that I don't like. Even when I have it cranked down to the finest setting the flour is not fine enough Uggg!

Which one do you all recommend?

Also how many of you purchase grains in large quantity? I belong to a food club where I can get 25 and 50lb bags of grain but not sure if it's safe to do this and exactly which grains to get.

For example can I get hulled millet? or Buckwheat Kasha, or buckwheat raw, hulled? Can I buy beans like fava, garbanzo or quinoa and just throw it in the mill and have it be nice for baking?

Do you all grind your own brown rice?

Sorry for all the questions, I couldn't find what I was looking for on the search.

Thanks a bunch.

TS

[bakingbarb]

Hi.

I'm still very new to all this, and I was wondering how many of you use your own grain mill?

I have a electric/manual Family Grain Mill that I don't like. Even when I have it cranked down to the finest setting the flour is not fine enough Uggg!

Which one do you all recommend?

TS

There is another food forum I have belonged to for years (pre-gluten-free) and the people on there prefer the Whisper Mill. Quite a few people on there were grinding their own grains. Although as someone pointed out you might want a seed mill for the tiny grains like teff or quinoa. If you want to read it all for yourself it is at the bakingcircle a la king arthur flour.

[pinktroll]

I have a Whisper Mill that I use. I grind brown rice, white rice, and millet. I bought some dried garbonzo beans to grind but I haven't done it yet. I can get a nice fine grind with the finest setting, not as powdery as asian rice flour but still very fine. I haven't been able to find asian brown rice flour so I am not sure how it compares to the grind I get. I like being able to store the whole grains and then either use them whole or grind them as I need flour. It's also a lot less expensive than buying the flours.

[bakingbarb]

I have a Whisper Mill that I use. I grind brown rice, white rice, and millet. I bought some dried garbonzo beans to grind but I haven't done it yet. I can get a nice fine grind with the finest setting, not as powdery as asian rice flour but still very fine. I haven't been able to find asian brown rice flour so I am not sure how it compares to the grind I get. I like being able to store the whole grains and then either use them whole or grind them as I need flour. It's also a lot less expensive than buying the flours.

I used my vitamix. I wish I knew if it is fine enough a grind though. It seems fine though but I sifted it afterwards and there were some grainer pieces. Does that happen when you use the mill?

[HiDee]

I have a Nutrimill. I really like it and their customer service is fantastic. It's as quiet as a whisper mill (which isn't all that quiet until you compare it to other grain mills that are MUCH louder). I've ground rice, popcorn and some small grains like teff and amaranth and they all worked really well (we're not big fans of bean flour around here so I haven't tried any of those yet but they should work just as well but take longer to grind because they are bigger). They made a nice fine flour without any grain chunks left in the flour. I have a friend who uses the K-Tec mill and she really likes it. It's louder than the Nutrimill and there isn't as wide a range to choose from of flour fineness/coarseness but it's cheaper than the Nutrimill. I have not yet tried quinoa but would like to, I am just not sure how to get around the issue of having to rinse it because of the saponin film on the grain - has anyone here milled quinoa and figured out what to do about the rinsing issue??

On another note, be aware that if you have a grain mill that you used for grinding wheat before going gluten-free, anything you grind in that same mill afterwards will most likely be cross contaminated.

[truthsearcher]

Thanks for all the tips.

I too would like to do quinoa, and wondered too about the coating on the quinoa.

And yes my Family Grain mill is contaminated with wheat, so that's why I'm looking. I had a few friends say they love their Vita Mix and you can do all sorts of stuff with it, so maybe thats what I should look into.

Happy baking

[MNBeth]

There is another food forum I have belonged to for years (pre-gluten-free) and the people on there prefer the Whisper Mill. ...

I'm one of those types. I finally cleaned up my WhisperMill to get it ready to give away - and got major sick after, which I rather expected. At least it's done now.

I did mill a little bit of cheap brown rice first, though, and saved it (clearly marked "Contaminated") to compare with flours that I can buy, so I can decide whether to get a new mill. I miss milling, and don't like baking with all these bare starches. Plus, whole grains store safely at room temp, so it's easier to stock up.

[hayley3]

Hi,

Don't get a Vita Mix to grind grain. Get a grain mill. I've heard people who were dissatisfied with the Vita Mix on grinding grain and said there was a big difference after they purchased a grain mill.

I have a Wolfgang grain mill and it's great. It costs about the same as the Vita Mix. A Vita Mix is great for smoothies with crushed ice.

Susie

Thanks for all the tips.

I too would like to do quinoa, and wondered too about the coating on the quinoa.

And yes my Family Grain mill is contaminated with wheat, so that's why I'm looking. I had a few friends say they love their Vita Mix and you can do all sorts of stuff with it, so maybe thats what I should look into.

Happy baking