[tomtomgo44]

hi been looking on ascott website and come across hand mills, just wandering for people who have made their own flour.

is it hard and what processes do you need to go through to make good quality flour

thanks
tom

[Poolfield2]

I once use a coffee grinder but it took ages to get enough but it was to show children that flour came from milled grain.

[Trillium]

the mill needs a variety of disks so that you can start with coarse and keep doing it (by changing disks) until it's finer. A hand grinder is hard work and there's little point doing tiny quantities at a time. A few high end food mixers will have flour grinding attachments available through special order but those are getting fewer with less people interested in doing such work. You'll also need to have a source of reliable wheat kernels suitable for either soft (pastry) flour or hard (bread) flour, aka, spring wheat and winter wheat. Organic would be safest but might not be easy to obtain, something to check on before you invest in equipment.

[compostqueen]

they used a small mill wheel type affair on Hugh Fernly Wotsit the other night when they were making spelt flour. I can't remember if it was electric or hand cranked but it did the business

[Farmers wife]

Hi I have a small wheat grinder purchased from Germany off the internet for about £280 - alot I know but when your husband grows wheat for aliving it made sense at the time!

The one big problem is getting the moisture right in the wheat otherwise when in the breadmaker and you add the required amount of water according to the recipe its always wrong!  So I have to watch the breadmaker for the frist 10 mins to see if more water is required or more flour!!!!!  the bread is always very heavy but after one slice you are full up and its far healthier as it wholemeal - bran included....sometimes I sift out the bran and use it for other things.  Needless to say once i have had a grinding session it looks like its snowed in the kitchen.

[Trillium]

You're right, I forgot about the snowy kitchen    Definitely not a job for a breezy day as it always seems to blow through the house as well.

[Oscar Too]

A bio-dynamic German family I knew used to mill their own flour, but they lived on a farm with a load of kids and a load of WWOOFERs, and the first job of the day every day was to make 8 loaves of bread.   They had a great big electric mill from Germany - it wouldn't fit in a cupboard it was so big. TBH for anything other than this sort of use I don't think it would be worth it.