The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [147]
A few enthusiastic people have suggested to us that the cheapest place to buy grains is at the feed store. No one is denying it is cheaper! But animal feed may have quite a few things you wouldn’t want in your bread: rocks, sticks, mouse droppings, dust, weed seeds. Even when the flour ground from such grain is not actually harmful to eat, the bread may taste dirty and gray; professionals refer to it, in fact, as a “feedy” taste. One prominent brand of whole wheat flour that we tried has this flavor—it is unmistakable. In addition, feed wheat is likely to be so low in gluten that bread made from it won’t rise.
HOME MILLS
We do not have the expertise to discuss the merits of all the home mills on the market. A book on the subject or even a thoroughgoing study in the Consumer Reports style is much needed. Meantime, in their book Home Food Systems, the Rodale people have provided a helpful comparative guide.* Our own experience with a few representative mills we gladly share here.
The first and perhaps least obvious thing to take into account when you consider buying a mill is your own comfort. If the mill is electric, is it going to be so outrageously noisy that no one can stand to be in the same room? If it is a hand mill, are you really strong enough to run it regularly, or will it end up gathering dust in the attic? The best hand mills have a flywheel built in to make turning them easier; these are exquisite tools, versatile and well-made, but they are expensive, too. A lot of our friends have been enthusiastic about converting their hand mills to pedal power, (bicycle pedals, right?) but so far not one of them has been efficient to run. Be practical.
Home grinders, hand or electric, vary in size and shape from the smallest, about like a milk carton, on up. They generally sit on or clamp to the top of a table, and grind by rotating two grooved plates—usually steel—against each other.
CLEANING
As far as the grain is concerned, the most important factors are cleanliness and temperature. The mill has got to be cleanable, and this becomes most critical when it is the convertible kind that can grind seeds and nuts and beans as well as grains. These oily foods especially, if not cleaned out of the mill immediately after grinding, can turn rancid and even mold in the nooks and crannies, contaminating everything that comes after. The Corona-type mills, for example, are fabulous for the price, but they simply must be taken apart completely after use for cleaning. Until you see it you’ll never believe what can grow on a little crushed sunflower seed.
TEMPERATURE
Unless you have the strength of ten, (or your mill is dull) it is not too likely that you can overheat the flour, grinding by hand. The electric mills, particularly the high-speed ones, are much more likely to raise the temperature of the flour higher than you would like. Temperatures above 115°F will destroy vitamins; above 140°F, even the best wheat will suffer a loss of baking quality. Any such heat gives the flour’s oil a push toward rancidity; it is possible to grind flour and not have it even warm to the touch. Your small chef’s thermometer measures the flour’s temperature easily, by the way.
VERSATILITY
Last, consider what you want to be able to do: most mills have their limits. Stone-mills grind only grain—you’ll ruin them with beans or nuts or anything oily. But they will adjust to make fine or coarse flour or cornmeal, or will crack grain for breakfast cereal. Some of the high-powered electric mills will grind any dry grain or bean, even soybeans, into dust in just seconds, but they can’t make anything coarser than fine flour. Cornmeal is out for them, and so is breakfast cereal. Very few mills will grind sprouts or nuts, though hand mills with interchangeable plates can grind whatever you are strong enough to put through. Usually that excludes beans, especially soy. The only mill we know that accommodates every challenge is the Dimant, that expensive hand mill we mentioned that has a flywheel. It converts to motor