Yes in-deedy-do, it's all possible. I have a bevy of mills (six) to do what I need done, and I've purchased them over a number of years as I branched out from milling flour only. I currently store around 30 varieties of grains/seeds/beans, and many are milled and/or incorporated in baked goods. I use split pea flour for "instant" split pea soup, black beans and pinto beans milled into flour for "instant" refried beans, small white beans are milled into flour and used to add protein and fiber into breads and baked goods. I use amaranth flour (I grow my own amaranth) with Vital Wheat Gluten to make "wheat meat" (aka seitan or gluten). The addition of amaranth makes it a complete protein.

I've been milling for over 20-years and am a Rita Bingham and Sue Gregg fan, and have learned so much from their books on the subject. I've also really enjoyed Cindi Van Bibber's "No Wheat Grinder Wheat Recipes" (cindislifestyletreasures.blogspot.com - check out her YouTube videos) - which uses cooked whole wheat berries mixed in a blender as an alternative to milled flour.

Now for mills...

-Nutrimill and WonderMill (formerly the Whisper Mill) - are electric impact mills that will do a great job for milling fine flour, which is essential for fine breads, pastry and especially cakes. I used a Whisper Mill for close to 2 decades (until it met with an untimely kitchen accident and went to appliance "heaven") and I replaced it with a Nutrimill. Both are excellent choices. I would give the edge to the Nutrimill because it has a coarse setting, and you can load the hopper without having the mill running. I use it for a fine-grind of cornmeal or for durum wheat, which is a similar grind to semolina, and I use it for making wholegrain pasta. But back to the grind of the flour - coarse flour from inferior mills makes coarse bread and poor quality baked goods. You can also mill a large variety of grains/beans/seeds in these mills, other than the tiny and oily varieties (teff, amaranth, flax, poppy, sesame, nuts, etc.). I use a Porkert Seed Mill or my Wonder Mill Jr. Deluxe (both hand-mills) for small seeds and nuts.

Cracked grains - I use my blender or Marga Mulino Flaker Mill. I also have a Corona Corn Mill that works only for coarse grinding. I also make my own bulgur and farina (for cooked cereal), as well as multi-grain mixtures (similar to Bob's Red Mill's - 5-grain, 7-grain, etc. types), which I like to add to bread to give it more fiber, nutrition and "tooth" (grainy texture), or use these mixtures for cooked cereal. I also use my Flaker Mill to make flakes.

A coffee/spice mill actually is a handy mill, but it's just not appropriate when you need 6 cups of whole wheat flour for a recipe. I use my coffee/spice mill for flax and small amounts of gluten-free flour when I develop gluten-free recipes.

If I could only have ONE mill (parish the thought), I would choose my newest mill, the hand-powered Wonder Mill Jr. Deluxe, but I would sorely miss my Nutrimill :-(.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Wonder Mill Jr. Deluxe

I’ve been looking into grinding my own also and in the process of converting a closet in my pantry, mud room for this. The closet is cedar lined will that be ok for storing grains? I have been looking all over the internet but so far I can’t find anything that says if it safe or not.

Claudia

Claudia, I'm sure Grainlady will steer you right but be careful of what you store it in if in your cedar closet. I stored 50 pounds of flour in Ziploc freezer bags in an old cedar chest and the smell permeated through the plastic and into the flour in no time. I had to throw it all out. I imagine the cedar in the air was more concentrated in the chest than it would be in a closet, but still...

Grain lady,

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed reply. I read it several times and also looked at the various videos on the site. I love the handmll wondermill jr. Deluxe. It is very similar to the mill I remember being used in India. A couple of questions. Not sure if I can actually manage to do it all by hand.

Which mill had better ability to manage the fineness/coarseness. This is important to me as I want to be ale to mill for bread but also other grain based recipes calling for coarser textured flour. I would like to be ale to make "fine cream of wheat" textured flour as well as coarser cracked oats and wheat. Can I do it all with - single machine or do I need a fine mill and a coarse mill.

How do you make rolled oats.. Sounds yummy.

Lalitha

partst-

As foodonastump shared, the off-gassing chemicals from ceder could potentially penetrate the food, so I personally would avoid using a ceder-lined closet for food storage. You might be able to seal the wood with KILZ if you don't want to remove it (which could be reversed by sanding it). Ceder is food-safe (such as using a ceder plank on the grill), but that flavor isn't what you want your dry goods to taste like. You also want to store your wheat where it stays cool and dry (see the link below for more information).

Oxygen-free storage (mylar bags and oxygen absorbers or vacuum-sealing using FoodSaver bags/jars) is the best way to assure your grains/seeds/beans remain pest free. I store all mine using a FoodSaver, and have used this method on hundreds of pounds in storage since I first started home food storage in 1986; and I have never had an infestation of "pantry pests" (knock on wood ;-).

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Storage of Wheat - Utah State University Extension

Thank you both foodonastump, grainlady,

That’s what I was afraid of it a small raised closet, cabinet really, with cedar only on three sides I will have DH remove it. Here in California I can do dry but with our summers it's hard to do cool we can keep the house just below 80. I have 45lb buckets I bought sealed for emergency use but buy the wheat I use for everyday about once a month. My wonder mill arrived yesterday and I haven’t even opened the box yet I want to have time to really play with it and that won’t be today.

Thanks again,
Claudia

Laitha -

I prefer an electric mill because they are so much faster and also mill the flour much finer. The Nutrimill has the ability to mill flour fine and a little more coarse, but even "coarse" is too fine for me for some things like cornmeal.

With my first hand-mill, it took hubby and me nearly as much time to mill the flour as it did to make the bread.... Milling with a hand-mill is only a romantic, back-to-nature, notion one really wouldn't want to do on a regular basis for all their flour (LOL)! But as I pointed out, I have 6 different mills and use them all because there is no one mill that does it all.

I have a Family Grain Mill (see link below) which has an electric motor option you can purchase for it, and it may be a better fit for you. You can also get a number of other handy-dandy kitchen gadgets for it, such as a flaker, food processor, etc., which make it a workhorse in the kitchen.

With the Family Grain Mill, it works best if you pass the grain through on a coarse setting, then pass the coarse flour through again to get a fine-grind. But it's a good little mill, especially if you add the other attachments. It's the mill I use mainly for gluten-free baking so I don't cross contaminate it from wheat flour remaining in the chamber of the Nutrimill. You can't mill popcorn (or flint corn - aka "Indian Corn" - which has the same shape as popping corn) in the Family Grain Mill, but otherwise it does a wide variety of grains/seeds/beans.

When you mill farina (aka Cream of Wheat cereal), cracked grain, flakes and bulgur, you need to sift any flour out of the mixture before using it. The flour particles will turn to "paste" in the cooked cereal, or if making tabouli (and all it's variations of spelling) with the bulgur (as an example).

I generally sprout grain and dry it in the dehydrator and then use it cracked, and cooked and dried for bulgur. Sprouting makes it easier to digest. Using cooked and dried wheat for bulgur will help it keep longer after it's milled.

I use my Marga Mulino Flaker Mill for making "rolled oats" (or other grains). It has 3 size settings to choose from:
regular flake, quick-cook, or cracked grain (which is more-or-less a coarse flour). What a flaker does is simply to flatten the grain, which allows it cook faster than the whole grain. Commercial oatmeal has been steamed (or tempered with steam) before flattening the grain. This helps the oatmeal have a longer shelf-life. I generally sprout and dehydrate most grains before flaking them.

A great DVD to get for using whole grains, beans and milk powder is "Quick Wholesome Foods" by Rita Bingham and LeArta Moulton (check on-line for copies). And along with that DVD I would also suggest a copy of LeArta Moulton's book "The Amazing Wheat Book" (you may find it at your library or through inter-library loan).

Keep studying everything you can get your hands on and pick the brains of people who do their own milling. There's always something to learn on the subject, even after all these years :-).

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Family Grain Mill

Family grain mill definitely seems flexible but maybe I am better off picking something that can at least handle flour easily.

Does the nutrimill grind beans and rice as well? I do use rice flour and chick pea flour and lentil flour. I think I would give up on cracked wheat for now do want to be able to get something that can handle things other than wheat. I don't really care to do nut butter or other oily seeds. How about durum wheat for pasta flour? Also is the flour fine enough for pastry?

According to the user's manual, the Nutrimill can mill:
Wheat (hard and soft)
Buckwheat
Split Peas
Popcorn
Sorghum (milo)
Triticale
Rye
Rice
Millet

Use caution when milling the following....Fill the hopper no more than 2/3 to 3/4 with grain as they produce more flour volume.

Dried Lentils
Dried Sweet Corn
Dried Green Beans (the bean only, not the pod)
Dried Mung Beans
Legumes (generally)
Dried Garbanzo Beans (I also mill dried Chana dal - which are immature garbanzo beans and look a lot like pale split peas)
Quinoa
Oat Groats
Spelt
Barley
Soybeans
Chick Peas
Kamut
(I've also milled Einkorn - another of the ancient forms of wheat.)

Do NOT mill any of the following....
Oatmeal
Flax Seed
Sunflower Seeds
Nuts of Any Kind
Coffee Beans
Sugar
Dried Fruits
Dates or Raisins
Sesame Seeds
Spices

Avoid grains, beans and seeds that have high oil or moisture content. Non-commercially dried products may cause plugging.

Grain lady,

Do you know about the Fidibus mill. My German colleague suggested it. This is apparently what her mom uses n Germany for cracked grains as well as flour. I researched it and it seems to be same as the Wolfgang mill sold by Tribest. There is a smaller version called Komo Fidibus 21 that has same features in a smaller footprint and a smaller grinding stone/ corundum. This is cheaper than the Wolfgang as well.

I would love some advice on this. The one request from my husband is to make sure that the sandwich bread is light and fluffy and not healthy bricks. I know a lot more than flour goes into that but I want to make sure that the flour I make helps with a light bread. Are impact mills like Nutrimill better than st,one mills for this?

P.S: I am Indian so I do use a ton of Chana dal and mung bean flour.. Looking forward to milling those too. I use chia gel in smoothies but look forward to using them in bread.
LAlitha

Lalitha-

Sorry, I don't have any experience with, or information about, the mills you are inquiring about.

One rule-of-thumb I can share: stones grind finer than steel burrs, and an impact mill the finest flour of all, and that's about all I can help you with; other than a great respect for German workmanship and they are indeed very handsome mills. The price would be my biggest deterrent.

Even though I have a couple stone mills, I also keep extra stones for the mills because they can chip, flake and break (check for stones and grit in your grains/seeds/beans before adding them to the mill hopper), or glaze over from too much moisture in your grains/seeds/beans. The stones are also made from a variety of things, including man-made "stone". When using a stone mill, you may need to mill the grain on a coarse setting, and then run the flour through again on a finer setting in order to get the fine flour (especially necessary for making cakes and a fine-crumb for yeast/naturally-leavened breads.

How an impact mill works: "Impact grinders use rows of 'blades' placed in circular rows on metal wheels. One wheel turns and the other wheel is stationary, like the stone grinder. But this is where the similarity ends. The two wheels are aligned so that the rows of blades intermesh, running extremely close, yet never touching the blades on the opposite wheel. The rotating wheel turns at several thousand RPM. As grain is fed into the center of the fixed wheel, the interaction between the two wheels `impacts' the grain and pulverizes it [Grainlady note: the grain "explodes" rather than being crushed] into fine flour as the grain works its way to the outside of the wheels."

For REAL sandwich bread--- I would suggest purchasing a Pullman (Pain de Mie) Pan (a square pan with a lid). This pan will allow you to make that crustless, close-grained bread that will help you transition from commercial sandwich bread to homemade. A close-grain crumb is what you want in order to be able to cut thin slices, hold moist spreads (without dripping through a hole), and still be able to hold together to eat out-of-hand. That's the more-or-less "technical" characteristics for sandwich bread. A more open crumb is best used for toast. All those lovely places to hold melted butter and jam. I have a 1-pound Pullman Pan (perfect for hubby and me), and a 2-pound for when the house is full of family visiting.

Another tip for making a fine-crumb bread is to add the fat early during mixing. The fat coats the gluten, similar to making short-crust pastry. If you want a more open crumb (as well as more loft), add the fat late in mixing, after the gluten has developed.

For making 100% whole wheat bread (or multi-grain where one of the grains is wheat), I suggest using hard (spring or winter) white wheat over red wheat. White wheat flour has a mild flavor and lighter color and is less acidic-tasting than the flavor associated with "whole wheat bread" made with red wheat varieties. White wheat has the same plant traits and nutrition as red wheat varieties, it's just missing the genes for the bran color. There are three genes that make up the bran color. Early varieties of red wheat (such as Turkey Red) had all three genes and are very dark in color (bran, flour and finished product) and a strong "whole wheat" taste. Most of today's varieties of red wheat have one or two of those genes, while white wheat has none. I use and store both red and white varieties of wheat.

Step back a generation or two and use a sponge method over the quicker straight (or direct) dough method. You'll find you get a finer texture. The "wait" gives the bran in the wholegrain flour time to soften (the hard sharp shreds of bran can actually cut the gluten strands), and you'll get a high-rising loaf of bread. According to "CookWise": "Researchers suggest that an ideal standing period is 2-1/2 hours." I typically use an overnight sponge with 100% wholegrain flour works well to lighten the bread. If I'm in a hurry, I use a 2-1/2 hour sponge with good results.

I also add 1/4 t. ascorbic acid per loaf to counteract the negative effects from Glutathione (found in wheat germ) on gluten-development. This will help prevent baking those squatty loaves of 100% whole wheat bread.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: King Arthur Flour - Pullman Pan

This is a very timely post for me, as I just found out my WhisperMill has breathed its last, so came here to see what my next move should be.

It seems my options are to get the motor replaced for $160, or spend $260 for WonderMill or a NutriMill. The improvements on the WonderMill sound great, but the larger capacity, more adjustments, etc sound better on the NutriMill... Hmmm. The Wondermill also allows adjustments via knob, but they're not as good, do you think?

I found it difficult to mill beans in my Whispermill, because they were too big to feed through the bottom opening of the hopper into the milling portion. Is the Nutrimill better about that?

To possibly contribute to this conversation, based on your wonderful and helpful suggestions in previous discussions, Grainlady, I ordered a Corona mill for cracking grains and making cornmeal... I love it. More consistent than using a blender, and not at all difficult to operate. It stays clamped to a shelf in my pantry for very convenient use.

I also ordered a Marga Mulino for flaking/rolling oats. I had to be careful, because a lot of the reviews on Amazon reported they'd changed from steel to aluminum rollers, so ordered from a site that said they only sold the ones with steel rollers. When I got it, it was a Shule flaker. I contacted them about the switch, and they explained they could no longer get MMs with steel rollers, so they tested this one and were convinced it was the best. I questioned it being a NorPro, which is made in China...and they said it wasn't. All over the internet I see these referred to as Norpro-Shule, so I'm still not convinced about that, especially since after too short a time, the rollers seemed to bind up and it started sending metal shavings through with the oats!

I moved from that to the Family Grain Mill flaker. I ordered the manual crank first, then got the attachment for my Bosch mixer, because flaking 15 cups of oats for granola was more than I wanted to do by hand. For single servings, the manual set up is great, and we get great use out of the mixer attachment for a few large batches for cookies, granola, etc. every week.

Hi Rhome,

I read the same about the Marga Mulino as well and decided not buy. If you already have the Family Grain Mill flaker and the motor attachment, then perhaps the grainmill mill head which seems like an economical choice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Family grain mill

YAY... Was reading through reviews of the WonderMill on Amazon, ready to buy a replacement, when I happened across a comment to one of the reviews that mentioned a reset button on the underside. It made sense that the machine had a safety to keep it from burning up if a clog got too bad... Sure enough! I flicked it back into place. Then I plugged it into the nearest outlet, not noticing that the switch was on and shot the flour remaining in the machine from the clog all over my dining room wall. LOL. But I'm just happy that the little switch saved me $260.