flour mill recomendations

[Niss]

We have nearly a ton of wheat on the porch right now. We are feeding some to the birds, used some in lou of grass seed, and will plant some this fall. We would also like to use some ourselves. We made some flour in the food processor last night, but I want a flour mill. Please help me.

These are my requirements:
--Less than $120...is that posible?
--Hand crank prefered, solar is okay.
--Makes flour. I don't mind it needing mulitiple pass throughs, but I need to know with a little patcience I can get to a flour that can be used in most any recipe.
--Simple, sturdy design.
--If it takes a long time it needs to be quiet. Loud and quick is okay, but if I'm looking at more than 10 mins for the 7 cups I need for bread, I need to be able to carry on a conversation over the noise.


Also, I saw on another thread I need to soak it? The grain or the flour? How long? Do I subtract that liquid from the amount called for in the recipe?

 

[Nicole01]

Good luck in your search. I've read in the past they are roughly $250-300 for the cheaper ones that work well. I know people who mill their own wheat, but you don't hear of it too often. I use store boughten wheat flour from the store. I grind it up before using it for bread or pizza dough. I like 100% wheat bread. Although, sometimes the loaves come out a little dense if my kneading time was off. I always search amazon first to read others reviews before buying a product. Then I search around to see where I can find the cheapest including shipping.

 

[YooperK]

Quote:
We have the family grain mill (for example, http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/family_grain_mills.aspx). We bought it because you can buy different heads to go with the same crank (flour mill, flaker, veggie processor, meat grinder) We only have the flour mill, currently. Although we got the hand crank, we appreciated that you could buy a separate electric motor OR an adaptor to hook it up to a stand mixer.

To answer your questions:
You buy each component separately. For the flour mill head and an hand crank, it's about $140 at the above website (you may be able to find it cheaper - these are the folks we bought ours from)

We found that is does make reasonable flour (slightly grittier than store flour, but still works well) We have used it in pancakes and biscuits, mostly.

The design seems pretty straightforward to me. The body is made of plastic, but it seems very sturdy. I'm not concerned about breaking it.

It does take a long time, ostensibly because the crank is easier to turn than other mills. But, it's quiet, and easy enough to turn so that my 4 year old can take a turn. The Pleasant Hill website lists 2 min/cup; a review at Lehman's (http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitchen___Grain_and_Grain_Mills___German_Made_Food_Mill___33150?Args=) gives the same. I don't know if we've ever quite reached that pace.

For the price, I'd say it's a good option.

 

[BettyR]

I know you aren't looking for an electric but I just have to stick my 2¢ in here just in case you change your mind.

I purchased a Nutrimill also from Pleasant Hill Grains about 2 years ago and I'm very happy with it. It is very easy to use....the only thing that you will have to worry about is making sure that there are no rocks or any other hard foreign material in with the grain that you are grinding...these will tear your mill up.

The Nutrimill is easy to use and easy to clean, it takes only minutes to set it up and mill your grain...then only minutes to wipe it out with a damp cloth and put it away. It will also grind popcorn to make your own home ground cornmeal and the cornbread made from the popcorn has a really fresh wonderful flavor.

 

[Czech's_chicks]

Vita Mixer!!! Does a little at a time, but does it good and is so versatile! I use it to crush the game bird for the quail, too.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

Czech's_chicks :

Vita Mixer!!! Does a little at a time, but does it good and is so versatile! I use it to crush the game bird for the quail, too.

we use a VitaPrep at work, its about 500 bucks tho O.O​

 

[Czech's_chicks]

I got mine at Costco (that's my personal Disneyland). I absolutely love how finely is chops & mixes. I had a cheep blender at work and the quality is abysmal. You really can put cabbage and other things in smoothies and the children wont know the difference, unless they are MY children who know I put all sorts of good-for-you stuff in everything, lol

 

[jcatblum]

I have a nutrimil that I use. Love it. I also found a wispermil @ a yardsale for $15. The flour was more fine than the nutrimil, but is is way heavy. So I sold it on eBay for $100 profit! I would recommend either grain mill, but I do understand you wanting something manual.

 

[Niss]

Thanks for the recomendations!
I've looked them up and they are out of my price range (Christmas maybe?), I was worried with the money I can spend at this time I might not get anything better than corn meal concistancy.
I really am set on a manual mill. For me this is partly about preparedness and self sufficancy. Since we are 100% on grid I would still be dependent on others to get the flour...a few steps better than buying it at Walmart, but not where I am hoping to go.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
I have the same one. Doesn't meet the price requirements, but it rocks! I'm so happy I bought it! I love it, every time I use it I tell my husband how happy I am with it!