Flour Mills Guide: Blending & Grinding Your Way to the Perfect Loaf

If you hopped on last year’s lockdown-inspired baking trend, you know how therapeutic this sweet little hobby can be. Scratch therapeutic, it’s addictive. Once you discover the joys of baking, there’s no going back. It’s like you’re constantly competing with yourself… and winning! Unfortunately, that is until you hit a plateau. So you wonder, how do the bakers do it? What’s the secret to that perfectly crispy crust, airy crumb, soft texture, rich aroma and complex flavour?

We all know the foolproof recipe for decent homemade bread. You measure the ingredients, activate the yeast, combine it all together, knead it, let it rest, punch it down, form it, let it rest again and finally bake it. But is that all there is to it? Well, it seems like there’s an important step missing in the recipe above. Ask any professional baker, and they’ll tell you, every recipe to world-class artisan loaves and pastries begins in the flour mill.

What Is a Flour Mill? 

Generally speaking, a flour mill is a plant where different types of flour are produced. But this term also refers to the flour grinders that crush grains into flour and middlings. These specially designed machines separate and break down different grains like wheat, barley and rye into fine flour – a process known as milling. From the large stone wheels to the automated commercial flour mill all the way to the compact flour mill machine for home use, milling equipment has been constantly evolving in step with the advancement of technology. 

Why Do You Need a Flour Mill?

It seems like milling companies have it all figured out. There’s a variety of easily available flours on the market, from all-purpose to speciality blends, so why bother? Well, there are quite a few reasons why you should invest in a flour milling machine for your kitchen or business. You surely know that homemade bread tastes better than store-bought loaves; that’s probably what got you into baking in the first place. It’s quite similar with freshly milled flour, really. At the risk of stating the obvious, freshly milled flour is better simply because it’s fresh. Define better, you say.

Not only that it’s more nutritious, but it’s also more delicious. If you’re thinking that flour is just another neutral ingredient like water or salt, you should know that providing structure isn’t its sole purpose. In fact, the grains are packed full of flavour that starts fading away once the grain is opened. When milling your own grains, you keep their nutrition and flavour intact up until the moment they’re opened, crushed and turned into flour. This is why freshly milled flour offers an unmistakable depth of flavour and aroma. 

Then, if you love experimenting with whole wheat flours, you know that sometimes the result might be tasty yet kind of bitter. This happens because the healthy fats in the grain become bitter with age. Milling your grains is one of the ways you can prevent those pesky bitter notes from taking over yet keep the delightful flavour of the bran and germ.

Next, flour grinders leave your hands untied for all kinds of experiments in the kitchen. Not only that you can grind and blend a wide variety of grains like corn, chickpeas, lentils and seeds, but you can also mill at different coarseness levels to fine-tune and perfect the texture of your baked goods. You see, everyone thinks that a professional deck oven is the baker’s ultimate weapon, but in fact, the flour mill is the secret ace up the baker’s sleeve.

Last but not least, milling your flour may be time-consuming, and we all know that time is money. However, fret not a flour grinder may actually save you a nice sum, especially if you’re buying premium organic flours. Not only that grains are more affordable than store-bought, ready to use flours, but they also have a longer shelf-life, meaning you can buy grains in bulk and save even more.

What to Look for in a Flour Milling Machine?

If you decide to add this mighty machine to your kitchen baking equipment, there are a few things you need to consider. When shopping for flour grinders, you’ll notice that there are various sizes and types to choose from. Depending on your needs you can select a commercial or domestic flour mill. Commercial grinders are typically sturdier, built to withstand heavy-duty use, which naturally makes them more expensive. Of course, that doesn’t mean that domestic grinders aren’t powerful or durable, it’s just that they don’t have the capacity for large-scale milling.

Then, you can also choose between hand-crank and electric mills. Truth be told, both types will get the job done, but if you want to save hours of hassle and blend your flour in a jiffy, by all means, opt for the latter. High-quality electric mills nowadays are incredibly efficient both in terms of time and energy consumption. 

Next, since buying a flour mill isn’t a small investment, you need to ensure that you’re getting your money’s worth. Your safest bet is to opt for a trusted brand such as Mockmill. This manufacturer has an extensive range of high-performance grain mills for both commercial and domestic use. One of the company’s top-selling countertop home machines, the Mockmill 100 is made affordable for every family and yet it offers first-class milling performance.

Another important thing to consider before you head out to buy a grain mill is the functionality. For instance, if you want to make fine, all-purpose flour or experiment with different textures, you’ll need adjustable settings to allow you to go from very fine to coarse levels. Speaking of making all-purpose flour, look for units that have a bottom pan and sieve included, so you don’t have to buy these pieces of equipment separately.

And finally, you should look for a machine with a sturdy industrial motor that doesn’t heat up quickly. Why does this matter? Because heat can burn off some of the precious nutrients and delightful flavours of the wheat berries. The mighty little Mockmill 100 mentioned above can run up to 25 minutes straight producing a throughput of approximately 100g of soft wheat per minute before the 15-minute cooldown.

You know how they say… stay on that grind and get that dough right! *chuckles* No one says that, but they should definitely start. Now that you know how this one extra step can take your baking game to new levels, it’s time to explore some flour mills online.