Today I am republishing one of the very first posts I wrote on this blog. My Whisper Mill is still working beautifully today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If gluten-free baking is something you’re going to be doing long term and you’re interested in saving money, here’s something for you to consider.
Buying a grain mill is expensive at the outset, but it will pay for itself before long. I bought a Whisper Mill, which is now called WonderMill
Here is a picture of the mill with white rice in the hopper, and another picture of the flour. I turned on the mill, filled the hopper with rice, mixed up some frozen juice while it was milling, and about the time I finished the flour was done. It couldn’t be easier.
So let’s talk about money. The Whisper Mill will cost you $260. How much money you save on flour depends on how much you use and how much you pay. This week I bought a 10 pound bag of white rice for $5.99. That’s only 60 cents a pound! I bought some brown rice in smaller bags for $1.37 per pound. If you look at how much you are paying per pound ($4 for white rice?) plus shipping, it’s a lot of savings.
So far I have only used the mill to make rice flours including white rice, brown rice, white sweet rice, and brown sweet rice. The brown rice flours I keep in the freezer. If you have a mill and use it to make other gluten-free flours, I’d love to hear from you.
Since writing this post, I have begun milling sorghum. You can read about it here. And I now mill millet too.
Do you use a grain mill? If so, what kind do you own and what grains do you mill?
I never thought of milling rice! What a great idea! It is so much cheaper to buy rice in bulk rather than the flour. Thanks for sharing this one!
Toni
http://thehappyhousewife.com
Great to know. I’ve been wondering about milling gluten free flours. I don’t have a grain mill yet but have been contemplating soem for awhile. I’ll be anxious to hear about other ventures in milling gluten free.
I have a Nutrimill that I use for gluten free flours. I have done rice, sorghum, millet and corn as well as beans. Definitely worth the investment!
How fine does it get the rice flour? I’ve been using either the Authentic Foods superfine white rice flour or superfine white rice flour from a Middle Eastern store near me. They’re both much finer than the Bob’s Red Mill. Almost as powdery as wheat flour.
On the finest setting it is somewhat powdery. Definitely finer than most rice flour. I usually set it a little above that, and I don’t have trouble with baked goods being grainy. I think adding sorghum improves the texture also.
Great idea! I’ve never milled my own flour and it would be great to be able to control the consistency.
I have a different brand of grain mill (can't remember the name) and I use it to grind my own brown rice flour. It is fantastic and so easy to use. I'm always amazed when the brown rice turns into finely milled flour!
~Ellen
I've been making flour out of anything that is made of beans or rice or legumes. It works great. I do have problems with fava beans and garbanzo beans. They seem to get stuck going down. I break them up in a vita mix first then grind them. Have you tried these beans and have you had any success?
I have heard that beans can be milled, but have not tried it myself because I don't use the flours. We don't digest them well, and my husband especially doesn't like the taste. If you like them though, I think they give a nice texture to baked goods and add protein.
I am just looking into getting a grain mill for gf purposes. I also have a allergy grocers in town and I am wondering if price-wise it is still cheaper to grind the flour yourself? I would love to know what you think with that comparison. I don't have to buy flours on line and I am not even sure where I would buy my rices, sorghum, and millet to grind. Help! Kellyc =0)
cooperkelly4 ~ I have had my mill for so long that I haven't done price comparisons recently. Sorghum I buy from Twin Valley Mills. I pay more for shipping than I do the actual grain, but it's still pretty cheap I think. Millet I'm still looking into. I recently bought some at a farmer's market and their supplier said it was not processed with wheat. Rice I usually buy a the grocery store.
In addition to cost savings, I think whole grains are healthier when freshly ground. Not that I always use it immediately, but I think it's still probably better.
I hope that helps.
well, I just purchased a vitamix that mills grains and so much more! Thanks for you input. =0) Kellyc
I also have a Whispermill and I love it! I've ground rice, millet, sorghum, and even tapioca! The tapioca balls are hard on the machine – I found I had to do half rice mixed w/ the tapioca balls and then the machine ran fine.
However, my homemade tapioca flour was a bit different than store-bought and seemed to require more liquid in recipes. When I discovered tapioca flour for dirt cheap at the Asian markets (we live in a big California city) I decided to just buy tapioca.
Thanks for your blog, it's very helpful to me as I come around again to being gluten-free. My rash is gone, my digestion is much improved, my energy levels are rising – I think I need to be a lifelong gluten-free gal!
Very cool. I actually hadn’t heard of a grain mill. I just use my spice grinder, but the mill probably gets a finer grind.
I never thought of milling my own flours. What a great idea! Thanks for the tip.
There are many more gluten free flours you can grind in the WonderMill grain mill, which I have and love. Check out http://www.willitgrind.com to see most everything it will grind.
A WonderMill can grind things like:
Oat Flour
Tapioca Four / Starch
White & Brown Rice Flour
Sweet Rice Flour, or any rice flour
Quinoa
Corn Flour
Bean Flours
Millet Flour
Sorghum Flour
Teff Flour
Buckwheat flour
Cornmeal
Soya flour
For the smaller items like teff you will want to feed into the mill slowly or use there small grain adapter, I just pour it in slowly. The hand mill made by WonderMill can even mill almond flour.
That’s a great list, and thanks for the link. When I first bought my mill I specifically remember reading that it said not to put tapioca in the mill because it was too hard. I pretty much mill all the flours I use except for the starches.
I wouldn’t mill tapioca in the old Whisper Mill, but the latest model of WonderMill has a way more powerful motor and can handle it, the willitgrind website recommends pouring it in slowly also to prevent overloading the motor because it is small and goes though to quick. I think it says in the manual not to do it but you can in the new WonderMill.
Oh, I have this mill, but hadn’t thought to use it for gluten free. I had purchased it before going gf. How can I get it cleaned out after grinding wheat with it??
Laura, I’m not sure it’s possible to get it cleaned well enough. I bought mine after going gluten-free and never looked into cleaning one for that purpose.
I’ve used the Wondermill for 6 years. I mill chickpea flour (garbanzo beans) in mine, along with white/brown rice, millet and a few others. DISCLAIMER: the chickpeas need to be cracked into smaller pieces, you can’t put them in a wondermill whole or you’ll have trouble. I use an old KitchenAid grain mill to crack them into smaller pieces and then finish it off into fine flour using my Wondermill.
Tapioca could be cracked into smaller pieces and then milled in the wondermill. Hope this helps!
I grind nearly all of my own flour. I use a Vita-Mix. I’ve ground:
Corn, Rice, Buckwheat, Sorghum, Teff, Oats, Garbanzo Beans, Black Beans, Quinoa, and Millet. The only thing that I haven’t ground that I use is tapioca and soy flour.
Katie,
I know its been a while since you wrote this post; but I’d like to ask a question. I want badly to purchase the new Vita-Mix I hear it grinds, makes soups and a whole lot more. However with all these plastic problems. I am reluctant to purchase it.
Do you know of any site that has done a complete test on the plastic they are using for the jar. Did you get that information before you purchased it. I hate to be 6 months down the road and they say it’s bad for you. I know this is the norm these days, but I like at least trying to find out.
Thanks
Catherine,
From their website the container is “BPA Free Eastman Tritan® copolyester”. I think its safe. Most people who own a vitamix are very health conscious people so I’m sure if it was unsafe there would be a lot of screaming around the internet and I’ve never heard anything bad about them. These containers aren’t cheap plastic. The Vitamix is constructed very well. We don’t do a lot of plastic, but honestly EVERY thing you eat comes in some form of plastic during it’s route to you…unless you are growing all of your own food. We go out of our way to purchase things that aren’t in plastic, but it still amazes me at how something so young as plastic has taken over the market place. Hope that helps.
I have the K-Tec kitchen mill. I’ve used it for years for flour and now I’m going GF. My daughter and I nave itchy dry skin in patches.
I wondered too about cleaning mine, since it’s been used for wheat flour for years. I’m going to try blowing it out with canned air and a brush. I have had my machine apart before and the “teeth” it uses to grind don’t actually have any build up, so I think as long as I get the case and the container clean, I’ll be ok.
My GF issue isn’t as critical at Celiac disease, however. So please ask your doctor or nutritional specialist about cleanliness.
I have a swiss grain mill – I read that they grind the flour for their bread in hospital fresh each day to get more nutrients and thought Yup, that sounds like what I need. I grind urid / urad lentils for all my baking – a creamy coloured mild flavoured lentil used in south india. It means I never use any gums/ gelatins/ pectins etc to hold my foods together. I have used it for rice and corn too. The flour isn’t much more expensive ready ground, but the whole lentil keeps better.
Lois, that’s interesting. I don’t like bean flours, but I wonder if I wouldn’t mind lentil flour. I might give it a try some time.