Grain Mill Choices

06 Feb.,2024

 

Hi, I'm interested in getting a grain mill for the following reasons:

  1. Health - organic grains milled with less destructive methods than commercial milling are more healthy
  2. Cost - buying bulk grains, storing them long term and milling when needed is less costly over time than buying flour
  3. Supply - grain will store longer than flour. Having grain on hand to be milled on demand will provide fresh flour over a longer period.

I'm mainly interested in the Royal Lee Household Flour Mill, the Mockmill 100, The Nutrimill Harvest, Salzburger MT5 and the Wondermill.

I'm a little wary of the synthetic corundum stone mills because the idea of ingesting these particles do not seem healthy. I'm not aware of any definitive understanding as to whether these types of stones are truly safe. I'm also concerned about how the impact mills heat up the flour, which can cause them to lose nutrients. Information about whether the impact mills get hot enough to cause nutrient loss is all over the place.

With that said, I was going to go with the Salzbuger MT5, which uses natural granite stones, but they are not currently shipping to the U.S. Now, to me the next best is the Royal Lee, which does use synthetic corundum, but is engineered to use air and centripetal force to collide the grain with a stationary corundum stone. This results in virtually no stone particulate within the flour since the stone is not grinding against another stone and it does not heat the flour as much as the other stone or impact grinders.

The question then comes down to the quality of the bread made with the Royal Lee. It's my understanding that the Royal Lee will grind the grain finely together with the brand and germ resulting in a flour that cannot be sifted into an all purpose flour. 

Is the texture of the breads and other baked goods from the Royal Lee more dense because the brand and germ are all present?  Can you create lighter, fluffier baked goods with the Royal Lee mill?  Can I get an all purpose type flour from the Royal Lee if I configure it to a more coarser grain setting and sift?