Mainly known as a flour mill, a flour grinder is a machine specially made to break down grains like wheat, barley and rye into smaller parts and separate them. These machines can range in sizes since they are designed for both domestic and commercial use. Consequently, the smaller versions are designed to be used home, while the larger and professional ones are perfect to be used in bakeries and restaurants. Although different in size, both of these flour grinder machines do the same thing with only one difference, the volume.
Using a flour grinder machine for home isn’t any different nor more challenging than using a blender or a toaster. All you need to do is to pour the desired grains in the machine container, choose a setting and press the button. That’s it! No grain peeling or any other special requirement is needed to have your very own freshly milled flour.
The simplest and most honest answer why so many residential users have decided to grind their own flour at home is because of the flavour and nutrition. There is no comparison between making bread with commercially produced and homemade flour. The flavour, the taste and the flour feel on touch are not the same. By buying ready-made flours, you won’t be able to feel the spicy and earthy characteristics of a freshly milled rye flour, nor the nutty and grassy wheat characteristics.
When commercially produced, the germ from wheat flour and wheat products, in general, is usually removed. This is one of the main reasons why so many people decide to invest in a home grinder, aside from the taste and flavour. By investing in quality and sturdy flour grinder machine for home use, your flour will retain the germ, which is healthy fat from which people can benefit a lot.
Now, since this germ can make the flour go rancid, the industrial food complex needs to remove every nutritional ingredient from it, making it a white generic starch powder. Besides being affordable, a domestic flour mill can give you the opportunity to create nutritionally superior whole grain fresh flour whenever you want.
Obviously, to make flour at home, you will need a countertop domestic mill. Although you can invest in a hand-crank flour mill, the electric versions work faster. They are also much easier to use which can reduce your overall cooking time. In order to make all-purpose flour, you will need two additional pieces of equipment, a bottom pan for catching the flour and a sieve for sifting out the bran. Depending on the model and brand you choose, these two pieces can come as a part of the mill.
Although milling is quite simple, an important thing to know is that you should prevent overheating the mill. Otherwise, the heat can burn off some important nutrients and can definitely mute the flavour. The easiest way to find out if the machine is hot is by checking on the flour. Once milling, check the flour every now and then to see if it’s hot. Keep in in mind that it is completely normal for the flour to be warm, however, if it starts feeling hot, just turn off the mill, open it and let it cool down a little.
Since home-milled flour starts with putting whole grains into the machine, all-grain options are allowed to be used. This, in fact, is the thing that makes home flour mills so great. They allow you to experiment with different types of grains, giving you the opportunity to create your very own special flour.
Although there are different types of wheat, it is the red wheat that is appropriate for making tasty bread. The softer wheat berries are usually lower on gluten and protein, and their flour is mainly used for making cookies, pies, crackers, pancakes and biscuits. When in the mood for pasta, you can choose the harder types of wheat also known as durum and emmer. The type of wheat is mainly used by world-known pasta makers like Barilla is durum, which is another proof of its quality and tastiness. For making the perfect porridge you can use oat groats or corn and mill them in the flour grinder.