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(More customer reviews)This review was originally posted to thefreshloaf.com by Mike Avery
I've owned a Nutrimill, a Whispermill and now own a WonderMIll and a KitchenAid mill.
I started with the KitchenAid mill. I really like it for a number of reasons. I like that it extends the use of my KA, and that it was cheaper than the rest of the mills. Also, I like being able to produce cracked wheat and rye chops. In both cases, you want the grain lightly broken and still identifiable. In "The Bread Builders" the authors joke that when you make rye chops, you want three pieces out of the mill for each two that go in. Pretty much true. However, the down side is that it's difficult to produce finely milled flour. Like othes here, I use the two pass system.
Which is what led me to the WhisperMill. It ground grain very finely and had little in the way of adjustment. It went from very fine to very, very fine. No cracked wheat. No rye chops. And, it seemed that the flour quality wasn't as good for bread making purposes as I wanted. However, it was able to make flour in a single pass and could be used for extended periods of time.
That led me to buy a NutriMill because of its advertized and much ballyhooed wider range of settings, a larger hopper, and the claim that it was able to handle starts and stops with grain in the hopper, which the WhisperMill does not handle. Sadly, the wider range of settings is not terribly releavant. Instead of going from very fine to very, very fine it goes from fine to very, very fine. No cracked wheat, no rye chops, and still the breadmaking characteristics of the flour seemed lacking.
When I sold the bakery, I sold the NutriMill and sent the Whispermill off to be overhauled - employees had turned it off and on with grain in the hopper a few too many times. By this time, the Whispermill company had died and been resurected as Wondermill, so now my mill is the essentially identical wondermill. Same comments apply as to the WhisperMill.
The Whisper/Nutri.Wonder mills have larger hoppers than the KitchenAid and can be used pretty much continuously. In baking classes, I've seen a friend grind as much as 25 pounds without stopping, except to empty the output hopper. I think some people have modified their Wondermills to feed into a trash can sized hopper.
The common thread through the Whisper/Nutri/Wonder mill is that they are all micronizer mills. The grains are sent into spinning wheels that are turning at around 45,000 rpm and the grain explodes into powder.
This has implications. A number of implications. First, the output is homogenous. If you grind grain with a KitchenAid or similar maill you can sift out the bran and make whiter flour, Your flour will have flecks in it, which I find attractive. You cannot do that with micronizer producd flour, the particle size is far moreconsistent.
Next, the micronizers produce more damaged starch than steel or stone wheels. Heartland Mills says, "When wheat is milled into flour some of the starch granules in the endosperm are broken. This damaged starch absorbs much more water than the undamaged granules. If too little damaged starch is in the flour, it will be difficult to mix normal to high-hydration doughs. If there is too much, the flour will exhibit high absorption, but the loaf may flatten at the end of proofing as the excess water is released. In between these extremes, as damaged starch increases, absorption will go up, but at the expense of extensibility and overall dough strength."
Yin and yang. Black and white. Teeter and totter. Sweet and sour. Most things need a balance to work well. Most of the people I know who use mills to grind their own flour look more at nutrition than bread quality. They tend to serve bricks rather than well risen loaves. And the micronizers do support that pretty well. My observations of contemporary America is that few of us seem to be malnourished.
However, I know that some people are concerned about trace mineral deficiencies. Minerals are not depleted in the whole grain flours sold on the shelves. Some people are concerned that whole wheat flour goes rancid quickly after milling. To some extent that is true, but I am not convinced that is significant if you buy flour from a merchant with quick turnover of their stocks.
Other people feel freshly ground tastes better. I won't argue that point, as there is no disputing taste.
The bread making characteristics of the stone or steel wheel mills seems to be higher than from the micronizer mills. However, the steel and stone mills have issues too. The KitchenAid is limited as to how much it can make in a single run. The KA's motor will get hot. Like other posters, I make flour in two passes. I will grind as much as 5 pounds, let the mixer rest, and then make another pass. This is OK for home use... mostly. Steel and stone mills such as the Retsel and Sampo are considerably more expensive, but are said to produce much better flour, and can make coarsely ground grain as well.
You can find Retsel and Sampo dealers on line, check Google or bizrate.
If you have a micronizer mill, you can work with your recipes to get the best results you can. First, be patient. Let the flour absorb the water. My 5 minute knead, 5 minute rest and 5 minute knead regimen works very well here. These breads really benefit from the use of vital wheat gluten. I use about 5 or 6% as a baker's percentage. If you go much higher, the bread can acquire a gummy texture that most people find objectionable. I suggest using an American organic vital wheat gluten, such as Bob's Red Mill as the Chinese gluten has been contaminated in the recent past.
Hope that helps,
Mike
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