I got a Family Grain Mill!

[Emerald]

Baymule, thanks for posting this about the grain mill you bought. I had kind of decided on the Blendtec, but was uncomfortable about it being only electric. I looked at the Family Grain Mill and saw that they have a manual hand grinder, so I've decided to get that, with the option of later getting the motor attachment if I feel it's needed. I don't use flour on a daily basis; I mainly use it to make sourdough once or twice a month, so I think I can afford the time it will take to hand-grind several cups of flour. Thanks for steering me in the right direction!

If you buy the motor attachment, the hand crank comes with it! So you can use the motor and if the power goes off, you have the hand crank as a backup. We get hurricanes here and are without power for 1-3 weeks at a time. Bread is the first thing to fly off the shelf, so being able to make my own comes in handy. of course, my oven is electric, but flour tortillas over a backyard fire or bbq pit are delicious!

build yourself a big old Earth Oven and you will be able to make bread then too.. I think that they make an earth oven in Arizona called a Horno -My sis in law lives down near Phoenix and her neighbor has one in their back yard. It looks different than my earth oven but she said that it makes wonderful bread and that they also put pots of chili and beans in for slow cooking.

and on a funny but creepy note.. the banner ad ^ up there had Amazon and the very grinder we are all talking about.. it is stalking me!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Baymule - you and I must think alike on hurricane supplies, lol. We have lots of charcoal/starter for one grill and propane for the other. With all electric appliances you really learn to value your outside cooking appliances a whole lot! I've enjoyed hearing about your grain mill. I'd love one, but with DH's diabetes we don't eat many carbs around here, so it doesn't make a lot of sense for me - even though I loooove bread..

 

[Emerald]

Okay!!! I just got my Family Grain mill today and the only thing it doesn't say is how fast or what speed to put the mixer on for grinding? Any advice? and I was so tickled to see that their hand crank base will clip on to my counter in the kitchen!!! it is a first! My dad and mother made those counters and well.. they are not standard by any stretch of the imagination! So even in a power outage I can grind inside!! YAY!

 

[ORChick]

Emerald, congratulations! I have the Family grain mill as well, and am quite happy with it - although it did NOT clamp to my counter (not enough overhang). I ended up buying a small-ish wheeled kitchen "island", which is actually great because I can park it in a little used corner, and I keep all my fermentation jars, as well as my dehydrator on it. The grain mill is clamped there as well, and I just need to pull the whole thing out from the wall a little to use it. The 2 shelves down below are useful for storage.
I have the KitchenAide adapter for mine, and set the motor to the lowest speed. I'd suggest you do the same, and you can always crank it up by increments to see how it goes if you want. I let it stay on the lowest because my machine is kind of old, and I don't want to take the chance of overheating the motor.

 

[Emerald]

Emerald, congratulations! I have the Family grain mill as well, and am quite happy with it - although it did NOT clamp to my counter (not enough overhang). I ended up buying a small-ish wheeled kitchen "island", which is actually great because I can park it in a little used corner, and I keep all my fermentation jars, as well as my dehydrator on it. The grain mill is clamped there as well, and I just need to pull the whole thing out from the wall a little to use it. The 2 shelves down below are useful for storage.
I have the KitchenAide adapter for mine, and set the motor to the lowest speed. I'd suggest you do the same, and you can always crank it up by increments to see how it goes if you want. I let it stay on the lowest because my machine is kind of old, and I don't want to take the chance of overheating the motor.

Thanks ORChick! I was going to try that first so I'm glad that you posted the same thing. If I had a kitchen that was bigger than my darn bathroom I'd have a butcherblock rolly table too! I can stand in the middle of my tiny kitchen and reach the sink/stove/counter/pantry cupboards. my bathroom is only about 4 square feet bigger..
That is my dream.. we almost never use the dining area/ computer area and if we ever get any money hubs had finally told me that to keep drawing up plans to turn that huge room into the kitchen!
Everyone wants to be in the kitchen with me and there is just no room.. heck the fridge is in the dining room with the big freezer cuz neither one of them fit thru the door into the kitchen!!! not that they would fit but heck.. that is a small kitchen! lol
I want to put a big different level bar thru the whole room with my kitchen on one side and bar stools on the other for everyone to sit at. and all the plumbing and electric and other stuff is right under that room anyhoo in the basement so shifting the kitchen to that room wouldn't be that hard(and I have contractors in my family yay!) and the cold small kitchen will be gutted and the washer and dryer put in there. it was an add on that started as a back porch with a big concrete slab so it is cold all the time and the spin out of the washer in there will not be felt all over the house as it is now..

 

[moolie]

Congratulations! And enjoy

No advice here on mixer speed, I bought the power based (which came with the hand crank base as well) and I was also happy that the hand crank base worked with my countertops, because some things just don't.

I have ground so many things with it! Hard red and white wheat, oats, rice, barley, spelt, buckwheat, and beans. I haven't done corn because you're not supposed to do popcorn, and my attempt at growing flint corn died with the first frost back in September.

I love not buying "Cream of Wheat" hot cereal anymore, the coarse end of the dial makes perfect cream of wheat cereal. My family absolutely loves pancakes and waffles and we've tried just about every grain we can think of--oat flour is particularly good mixed 1 part oat flour to 2 parts wheat. We have also tried just about every combination of grains in our bread.

 

[baymule]

Emerald, congratulations! Right now I am eating a piece of bread with honey on it. I used hard white wheat, a cup of stone ground cornmeal (bought it) , quinoa, oatmeal, and had about 1/2 cup of leftover rice, so threw that in there too! I also use my own milled flour in my dinner rolls and it is so good!

Dinner Rolls
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teasp salt
1 cup milk

Combine above ingredients and scald the milk. Don't boil, just get it hot. Set aside and let it cool

1 pkg yeast in 1/2 cup warm water, dissolved.

When milk mixture has cooled to warm to the touch, beat in
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg
Beat until smooth, add yeast mixture. Beat well.
Add 2 cups all purpose flour, one cup at a time. Beat until dough follows the spoon. Turn out on floured surface and knead until smooth. If dough is still sticky, add more flour.

This is the basic roll recipe. You can let rise until double (I never do) then roll out the dough (I pat it out with my hands) and cut into desired shape, let rise again and bake at 400* for 15-20 minutes.

Or..... roll it out, cut out rolls, place in greased pan, cover with plastic wrap and keep in refrigerator a few hours until you get the rest of your meal ready.

What I do is to triple the recipe, cut out all the rolls (I use an upside down drinking glass) put them on a greased cookie sheet, cover with cup towel and put in the freezer. The next day, I bag them up in zip lock bags. When I start supper, I take out the rolls I want, put them in a greased pan, cover and put in a warm spot. Right before supper is done, I pop them in the oven.

For cinnamon rolls, roll out the dough, cover with a melted butter, cinnamon, brown sugar mixture and cut in strips. Roll up the strips and let them rise. Bake same as dinner rolls. Glaze with confectioners sugar/milk mix.

Is everybody hungry now?

 

[Emerald]

YAY! Moolie I bought hard white wheat just for making real Cream of Wheat but my other grinder is such a PITA that I hadn't made any yet. and Baymule that recipe looks great! since hubs is gonna be gone all next week(company is sending him to North Dakota for a week) I will work on playing with my new toy!

 

[moolie]

Total aside, but I am such a sucker for white dinner rolls!

I always grab two when we go to something potluck because we never eat white bread at home. I swear white bread is my crack, it's SO addictive. Wouldn't dare buy it/make it or I'd eat en entire batch.

 

[baymule]

I have always made those rolls with all white flour. Since I got my mill, I added 1 cup of my own milled whole wheat. I will try a batch with ALL whole wheat and let ya'll know how they turn out. I have some frozen white/whole wheat now, so I think I'll put both kinds in the pan so we can compare what we like best.