From studying the subject of home mills and milling grain for over 2 decades using a variety of mills, this is what I have in my file on the subject...

1. Kitchen Aid Grain Mills can cause the motor to burn out. This is especially true if you have a small (300 watt?) KA mixer.

2. They are VERY loud. (Which is normal with most mills - and is why I always wear ear plugs when I mill.)

3. You'll chance burning your mixer motor if you need to mill large amounts of flour - that's according to Kitchen Aid information.

It's not unusual for me to mill 6-10 cups of wheat flour, 4-cups of spelt, and possibly 2-3 cups rye on baking day. That is more than the KA mill is capable of milling at any one time. I can do that amount of milling in a few minutes.

4. The flour milled in a KA is not very fine and you may need to run it through the mill twice - once as grain, then run the flour through. This isn't unusual for less efficient mills. I have to do this with my back-up mill a Family Grain Mill.

If you don't have a mill that mills a fine flour you'll find it's not the best grind of flour for things like quick breads, pastry, and cakes, which require fine flour. I use wholegrain flour for all those baked goods. You'll only get fine bread if you use finely-milled flour. Coarse flour = coarse bread and baked goods. The finer the flour, the more useable gluten and the finer the gluten-cutting bran in the flour. I get high-rising loaves of 100% whole wheat bread without the addition of gluten, and it's due to the fine flour and the sponge method used for making the bread.

Personally, for the money, I'd suggest saving another $100 (or so) and get an impact mill like a Wonder Mill or Nutrimill. The Nutrimill edges out the Wonder Mill in my books, but I've owned both. By getting a good mill to begin with, you will enjoy years of great service.

Heads-up - there may be Mother's Day Specials for the Nutrimill at places like Pleasant Hill Grain or Emergency Essentials. I got one last year to replace "old-faithful" - my ancient Whisper Mil (it now goes by the name Wonder Mill).

-Grainlady

Thanks Grainlady! I was hoping you'd jump in.
We are (finally) beginning our longer term food storage program and it seems to be common knowledge that whole grains store better/longer than milled flour. We don't use a lot, but might if we were more dependent upon this supply. Plus I like the idea of knowing exactly what is in my food.

Any opinions on a hand crank vs. electric?

Deanna

Bleached/unbleached commercial flour has a shelf-life of 6-12 months. Wheat will keep for DECADES, and other types of hard grains also have a longer storage time than flour. Soft grains I try to use within 2-3 years of purchase. In fact, you don't want to use new-crop wheat if possible. It mills better when it has a year or two on it's age.

You might enjoy the information in the link below.

I have all kinds of opinions on hand or electric....(LOL) Ask my hubby after we used to spend an hour taking turns grinding wheat by hand into enough flour for a couple loaves of bread! He was the first one to ask "do these things come electrified?" So we quickly got over the romatic notion that grinding by hand was so close-to-nature - it's not! It's just plain old work - especially when you consider how long it takes to make bread to begin with... You'll find all kinds of things used to power non-electric mills - including bicycle power.

It wasn't until I went through a poor-quality hand-crank mill and a poor-quality electric mill that hubby got me a Whisper Mill for a Christmas gift years and years ago. That was the only thing I wanted. That was when I started milling nearly all the flour used at our house, and making all breads and baked goods made at home using freshly-milled flour. Food storage rule #1 - store what you use and use what you store...

I used a Whisper Mill (now goes by the name Wonder Mill) for soooooooo many years - 1-3 times a week. Now I use a Nutrimill and LOVE it! Both of these are electric impact mills that produce superior flour. I have a Family Grain Mill as a non-electrical back-up mill, should we be without electricity, but I even have the electric motor for that. I use a non-electric seed mill for milling small "stuff", like tef and amarantha. You can't mill these tiny seeds in a Wonder Mill or a Nutrimill. I also use the seed mill for oily seeds (sesame, poppy, flax).

The best part of making your own flour is that you'll be getting ALL 25 vitamins, minerals, proteins, and all the fiber available - when you make it fresh! Some studies have shown that vitamin loss begins as quickly as 3-hours after milling.

I keep: hard red spring wheat, hard white spring wheat, hard white winter wheat, soft white wheat, and durum wheat in storage. I also mill a large number of other grains/seeds/beans.

Good luck with your home storage. Over several years, I managed to fill our storage room in the basement on a $50/week food budget. We say the food in storage is now earning more money than our savings account at the bank (LOL).

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Prudent Food Storage Q & A

I vote for the Nutrimill. We have a friend whose dad was one of the original partners in Oroweat bakeries and so he went to school to be a baker (he wound up ranching). He felt my flour and said, "Ooooo...silky."

We have an old hand crank mill and I'll keep it around, but I sure wouldn't use it unless I had to.

Bit the bullet and ordered the Nutrimill today!
And a few other things...............LOL.

Just as a follow up, does anyone have a favorite site to order whole grains from?

Deanna

Grain source.... Find one as close to home as possible. Grain will cost as much for shipping as for the grain itself. We're also paying record-high prices right now.

Food co-op, health food store, check your local (Mormon) Latter Day Saints Church for local sources, Seventh Day Adventists Church (who tend to be vegetarians and use a lot of grains), etc. Be sure you get food-grade, not animal-grade grain (triple cleaned). Although I've gotten it right out of the combine in the field, and had to winnow my own....(at least the price was right - FREE.)

My favorite is Wheat Montana - http://www.wheatmontana.com/ for bread making (Prairie Gold Spring White Wheat).

I also get wheat from Farmer Direct Foods, Inc. at a mill just outside of town - it's drop-shipped from Atchison, KS. Their hard winter white wheat (13.5% protein) is excellent for yeast breads. http://www.awwpa.com/

For small quantites of soft white wheat for pastry and quick breads (things where you don't want a lot of gluten development) - Bob's Red Mill - www.bobsredmill.com Spelt is also a good wholegrain flour for quick breads and pastry.

Durum wheat for wholegrain pasta. If you mill it on the coarse setting in your Nutrimill (the same setting for corn meal), it will be a coarse grind similar to semolina (which is milled durum with the bran and germ removed).

CAUTION: Each time you mill in your Nutrimill make sure the hopper is pushed into the machine. Notice an embossed NO or YES on the bottom of the machine. Make sure the hopper is past NO to the YES mark.

Happy Milling!

-Grainlady