Recently, I was introduced to the idea of using a mill to grind my own flour. I got the idea from Maurizio Leo’s fine book, The Perfect Loaf. Leo touts the benefits, in terms of healthfulness, flavor, and cost over time, of milling your own flour rather than buying the little bags in the grocery. So, based on his recommendations, I decided to make the investment and begin milling my own flour.
After doing some research and mulling over the options, I chose the KoMo Fidibus Medium mill sold by the Pleasant Hill Grain Company. At $499, it was admittedly a pricy investment that, along with a 36lb. bag of hard red wheat berries, sealed my commitment to make the switch to milling my own flour henceforth. The mill is beautifully crafted of beechwood by an Austrian family business. It uses corundum-ceramic stones rather than steel burrs, giving the flour a stone-ground quality. The fineness of the grind is easily adjustable from fine to coarse or cracked grain. Solidly built, it carries a 12-year warranty.
Eager to put it to use, I also purchased two books on milling grain for home consumption. Sue Becker’s The Essential Home-Ground Flouris a great introduction to the methods of milling different types of grain, along with many recipes that make use of the flour. As a dietitian, she gives much good advice concerning the extensive health benefits of consuming fresh-milled whole grains over the store-bought stuff.
Erin Alderson’s The Homemade Flour Cookbook gives brief descriptions of the many types of grains and legumes that can be milled into flour and offers a wealth of intriguing recipes that will be fun and tasty to try. Based on her advice I purchased small quantities of ancient grains from which modern wheat varieties descended: spelt emmer, and Kamut.
I’ve made several loaves of bread so far using my own milled flour, and I’m happy to report that not only is it fun and easy but that the resulting bread was fresher and more flavorful. The difference in taste is dramatic and makes bread of a quality that’s impossible to imagine until you’ve tasted it. So far, I’ve only used the hard red wheat and some rye berries to make flour. I’m eager to test the ancient grains to see what flavor and quality differences they add to my baking. And, I may purchase some hard white wheat to test out the taste difference it offers.
I’m very happy I made the switch to milling my own flour. It has taken my bread baking to an entirely new and higher level.
