End of the Road Ranch

The Family Grain Mill

In response to quiltercmr  "Which grain mill do you have? I am planning to buy one that is electric or hand crank and am looking at the Family Grain Mill." and anyone else interested.

I have a Family Grain Mill and it works well for light use, but it does have some limitations.  I decided to buy it based on a few factors, the biggest being that it had the interchangeable hand crank/ electric options.  I like to be prepared for anything/everything but know that hand grinding is not realistic for me if it is not necessary (my son isn't old enough to be the motor!).   I liked the large grain cup and the fact that I could get the oatmeal roller attachment. 

It works great with both soft and hard wheat, although if I want a very fine flour I will have to send it through several times.  I have only rolled oats a few times since I still had a stock of store bought, but it seems to work fine.  Oatmeal must have more oil in it than wheat because when I grind it into flour it seems to get a little sticky, but I just run a little hard wheat through the machine when I am done to clean it and it seems to work fine.  I haven’t tried any beans or rice. 

The one grain that I was disappointed with is the corn.  It is very hard on the machine to grind it, so I really limit how much I use it.  I will sometimes find small pieces of plastic from the grinder in the ground corn, and it loosens all of the parts as it grinds.  I have adopted a 3 part grinding method to get fine corn meal, starting by running the corn through on the coarsest setting and then regrinding it on finer settings.  This seems to work well for the corn and the machine, but I still limit using it.

I love using the flour for the obvious items like bread, but also for hot cereals in the morning and especially pancakes!  I use the following recipes the most.

Hot Cereal

•             1 part any grain or mix of grains at desired consistency
•             2 parts water or milk or mixture
•             1 - 2 eggs (optional)
•             Pinch of salt

Bring 1 part liquid to a boil in a pot.  Meanwhile, mix together eggs, grain and other part liquid.  Since salt keeps some whole grains from absorbing liquid properly, save the salt until the end).  Slowly add grain mixture to the boiling water, stirring constantly until it comes back to a boil. Add salt.  Remove from heat and cover, let sit until it reaches desired consistency.

I like adding the eggs to get a little protein into the cereal, but have found that you can't add too many without the whole thing becoming excessively eggy in consistency. 

Pancakes

• 2 cups FRESHLY ground whole wheat flour
• 2 TBS Evaporated Cane Juice Crystals or Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Sea salt
• 1 TBS Baking Powder
• 2 Eggs
• 3 TBS Olive oil
• Milk

Mix all ingredients together adding enough milk to reach desired consistency.  Let sit until baking powder activates and begins to raise the batter (about 5 minutes, usually by the time the griddle is hot).  Grease griddle with lard and cook as normal.  Serve with a small amount of Pure Maple Syrup and fresh or canned fruit as topping.

I would highly recommend getting Crystal Millers bread making lesson on CD for anyone new to baking whole grain bread - her recipe is delicious and is the only one I use now.  Her website is www.thefamilyhomestead.com and her blog is here under quiverfull. 

Happy Grinding!

Untitled Comment

{ 06:00 , Thursday, August 9, 2007 } { Posted by quiltercmr }

Thank You for the information! I want the hand crank option for preparedness as well. I knew about having to do multiple grindings to get the finer flour but was not aware of the corn issue. Not a show stopper but important to know.