Milling Flour

Milling fresh flour has been an undertaking that peaked my interest quite a while ago. There are relatively few options for different flours in supermarkets and raw grains tend to have a longer shelf life than commercial flour.

The main factors in choosing the best mill for me were ease of use, type of burrs, and size.

When I think of ease of use in the kitchen I want something that will be easy to put together, use, and take apart to clean.

The burrs are important for trying out different grains and seeds. The stone burrs are good to use for a lot of harder grains. Metal burrs are best for nuts and grains that may contain natural oils.

Size is a substantial factor for me since I like to utilize my kitchen space as efficiently as possible.

My search started with an ever fun search at local antique/flea shops. There was a plethora of meat grinders, but no luck finding a flour mill.

After a few months of waiting lists, I found a previously loved manual mill through an online resale site. A manual mill is best for me because it doesn’t use electricity. It also came with both stone and steel burrs with the option to purchase a nut auger for butters! 🙂

The mill I am currently using is the WonderMill Junior Hand Grain Mill. It has been a bit of a learning curve and there are still a few challenges to work out. The manual mill does require a very sturdy base to attach to. My partner and I are brainstorming the best set-up, which will hopefully be built this summer or autumn.

So far I’ve experimented with hard red and soft white wheat. Both have brought great flavor to my baking. Hard wheat takes quite a bit of muscle to mill, but I’m building some impressive muscles. Stay tuned for future ventures in milling!