Grain Mill

Yesterday I brought home a grain mill. I'm quite apprehensive as it plugs in and I'm, how shall I say it, a bit of a Luddite, and things that plug in, well, they just don't like me. For example, I make meringue with a rotary beater, whipped cream too.

Anyhow.... I brought it home and looked at it, yup, there it is...

Won't touch it till I've read the literature that came with it...

That was eye-opening.

Nowadays you buy like an iron and you have to read pages of warnings, simple things 'don't toss it in the tub with you while plugged in' for example. This mill is from the 70's, early 70's. The literature explains how easy it is, no warnings, they give you credit for having a brain. I can figure out that it doesn't belong in the tub with me and my fingers might come to harm if I try grinding them.

They give me the pertinent information, you pour in grain, you plug it in, it grinds, you unplug it. And they reassure you that it will shut itself off if it overheats before bursting into flames; good to know. Thus reassured I send children for grain....

First batch:
5 cups of Kamut/Khorasan/Polish wheat set on fine.... takes 20 minutes ... is very loud. Flour looks lovely. I'm told this is THE type of wheat for sweet baking so this will be used for cookies tomorrow.



Second batch:
5 cups Red Fife wheat set on coarse for cracked wheat ... took 3 minutes ... very loud. It had a fair bit of flour textured bits so I sifted the grains. It gave me some flour to add to the bin and a good bowl of cracked wheat for hot cereal.





You cannot crack the wheat and then run it through again set on fine. NOPE. Not at all, bad idea. That is one thing I could have used a warning about ... as in DON'T.

The interesting thing about this mill is its construction, mainly cast iron, barely any plastic, just the hopper. No wonder they last so long!