Grain grinder/flour mill or food processor?

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leonie

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I’m a clueless cook.

Can you grind grain with a food processor?

If you get a grain grinder, are the manual ones just as good as the electric ones? The electric ones look expensive.

I’m thinking about making Ezekiel bread this lent for Wednesday and Friday fasting, but I’ve never baked bread in my life. :o

allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ezekiel-Bread-I/Detail.aspx
 
if you plan to do this a lot you might want to invest in a Vita Mix and purchase the optional dry container and blade for grinding grain, nuts, seeds, coffee etc. new they are way expensive, but used reconditioned ones from the factory can be had for less than the price of a food processor. they do so much, we have had ours for over 20 years, bought used and has been factory reconditioned twice (for free), and new pitchers about 10 yrs ago, we use it almost daily, and did grind grain when we had a bread machine, it worked exceedingly well for that purpose, also better than a coffee grinder that was lent to us for grinding whole coffee beans.

we use only the wet container now, for soups and fruit smoothies mostly, but drinks and chopped ice for parties, sorbet and fruit desserts, it has at least 38 separate uses I can think of off the top of my head.

I buy cabbage in bulk, chop and freeze a head in freezer bags in a matter of minutes, then thaw for slaw or just add to other recipes. I chop potatoes for hash browns, potato pancakes etc. chop carrots and other veggies.

I buy once a month onions, celery, bell peppers, parsley etc and chop them in the Vita Mix (use directions for water chopping veggies), drain, mix and freeze so I always have seasoning veggies for soup, omelets and other recipes.

I also grind whole flaxseed in the dry container.

my brother started grinding his own grain and making bread (he also tried some Ezekiel style recipes) so we got him one, he bakes bread twice a week and says it is superior to anything he has used before, and he has been a natural foods guy all his life.

get the real Vita Mix not a juicer or food processor, factory is in Cleveland (Olmsted Falls or North Olmsted, I forget which)
 
I am pretty certain that you can’t grind with a food processor. I am interested in the answers you get because I want a grain mill but they are expensive!!
 
I have an attachment for my Kitchen Aide mixer that grinds grain.
I have also used the food processor in my laziness to grind.
 
I’m a clueless cook.

Can you grind grain with a food processor?

If you get a grain grinder, are the manual ones just as good as the electric ones? The electric ones look expensive.

I’m thinking about making Ezekiel bread this lent for Wednesday and Friday fasting, but I’ve never baked bread in my life. :o

allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ezekiel-Bread-I/Detail.aspx
I bought my Wonder Mill from breadbeckers.com/. They have a lot of information about the different grain mills. I also buy all my grains and supplies from them as well.

While I don’t often make the Ezekiel bread (which is very easy to make and fabulous for fasting), I use the Ezekiel flour for all my breakfast breads (muffins, pancakes, waffles). We don’t purchase bread anymore since it is so much more healthy to make it from freshly ground grains.
 
I wonder if anyone has experience using the manual grinders that are less expensive?
 
I wonder if anyone has experience using the manual grinders that are less expensive?
My dear best friend has one and she said it is a tremendous amount of work if you want to get a decent amount of flour. She has three little ones and a husband to bake for, and it just was not very practical. I know they have a Vitamix now, but not sure if she has used it for grain or not.

I would try for an electric grinder if you can get one. They were really popular around Y2K time (the manual ones mostly)!! 😃

~Liza
 
I wonder if anyone has experience using the manual grinders that are less expensive?
Sorry, I realized that I didn’t answer your question. I haven’t heard anything great about the inexpensive manual grinders. I have heard good things about the expensive ones, which still doesn’t solve your dilemna.
 
if you plan to do this a lot you might want to invest in a Vita Mix and purchase the optional dry container and blade for grinding grain, nuts, seeds, coffee etc. new they are way expensive, but used reconditioned ones from the factory can be had for less than the price of a food processor. they do so much, we have had ours for over 20 years, bought used and has been factory reconditioned twice (for free), and new pitchers about 10 yrs ago, we use it almost daily, and did grind grain when we had a bread machine, it worked exceedingly well for that purpose, also better than a coffee grinder that was lent to us for grinding whole coffee beans.

we use only the wet container now, for soups and fruit smoothies mostly, but drinks and chopped ice for parties, sorbet and fruit desserts, it has at least 38 separate uses I can think of off the top of my head.

I buy cabbage in bulk, chop and freeze a head in freezer bags in a matter of minutes, then thaw for slaw or just add to other recipes. I chop potatoes for hash browns, potato pancakes etc. chop carrots and other veggies.

I buy once a month onions, celery, bell peppers, parsley etc and chop them in the Vita Mix (use directions for water chopping veggies), drain, mix and freeze so I always have seasoning veggies for soup, omelets and other recipes.

I also grind whole flaxseed in the dry container.

my brother started grinding his own grain and making bread (he also tried some Ezekiel style recipes) so we got him one, he bakes bread twice a week and says it is superior to anything he has used before, and he has been a natural foods guy all his life.

get the real Vita Mix not a juicer or food processor, factory is in Cleveland (Olmsted Falls or North Olmsted, I forget which)
I have to second this suggestion. I purposely purchased a VitaMix with the dry blade container so I could grind my own grains (I am sensitive to gluten so have to bake breads etc. from grains and starches other than wheat).

I am also allergic to tomatoes and have figured out how to make a decent red sauce using jarred peppers and cornstarch to thicken it - and spices. Works out really well.

I have to try some of puzzleannies ideas though about peppers and celery etc. and freezing them for later use!

I can’t help you with how manual grinders work compared to electric ones either.

Brenda V.
 
Wow, those mills and the vitamix are EXPENSIVE! My mom had a vitamix years ago, I don’t think they were $500 + back then! :eek:

I’d love to grind my own flour, but that’s pretty cost prohibitive 🙂

Jennifer
 
Wow, those mills and the vitamix are EXPENSIVE! My mom had a vitamix years ago, I don’t think they were $500 + back then! :eek:

I’d love to grind my own flour, but that’s pretty cost prohibitive 🙂

Jennifer
Look on eBay - you can find them for less.

~Liza
 
Wow, those mills and the vitamix are EXPENSIVE! My mom had a vitamix years ago, I don’t think they were $500 + back then! :eek:

I’d love to grind my own flour, but that’s pretty cost prohibitive 🙂

Jennifer
Actually, “back then” they were comparably priced ;).

The $500.00 for the brand new one with the dry blade container is worth it to me. This is an appliance that sits on my counter along side the coffee maker and toaster.

With multiple food allergies and the strong possibility of one or both of us becoming type 2 diabetics it has great potential beyond what I already use it for in my house.

Brenda V.
 
If you plan on making bread on a regular basis and grinding your own grain buying an electric one is really the most realistic. I do imagine I would like to have a manual one for some sort of vague doom days when we don’t have electricity, but I don’t think even my gas oven will work if we don’t have electricity so I will just soak my grains in water and smoosh them or something if that ever happens…

As it stands an electric grinder is the best option. Wondermill and Nutrimill are the two top electric models. I have a Nutrimill and am happy. I did use a K-tech for a while, but it has uncleanable parts that really should be cleanable because the flour residue just stays there and probably goes rancid. It also is veyr loud and not very clean etc.

Maybe you sould first see if you actually want to bake bread and slip into the routine of it before investing in a grinder. It is perfectly feasible to develope a routine that involves bread baking and all the usual aspects of your life, but doing it suddenly may not be the best way.
 
I really don’t see how I can spend several hundred dollars on any nonessential purchase right now:(

But, I’ll ask St. Joseph to get one for me. If God wants me to have one, I will. 🙂
 
I really don’t see how I can spend several hundred dollars on any nonessential purchase right now:(

But, I’ll ask St. Joseph to get one for me. If God wants me to have one, I will. 🙂
Yes I agree, that is why I suggested that you just try and make bread with store bought flour and see if you like the process. I think you can also buy ground beans (bean flour) in some stores.

To answer you intial question: A food processor will break grain up and make a sort of cracked grain, but it will not be fine enough for bread flour. Your bnread will be much much heavier than you want and some of the grain pieces may not even get soft enough to chew properly.
 
Yes I agree, that is why I suggested that you just try and make bread with store bought flour and see if you like the process. I think you can also buy ground beans (bean flour) in some stores.
I specifically want to make the Ezekiel bread for Lenten fasting. I’m not that interested in making bread in general. 🙂
 
I specifically want to make the Ezekiel bread for Lenten fasting. I’m not that interested in making bread in general. 🙂
Wow, my answers have been extremely unhelpful then!😃 I can think of a few options for you. This company (fullcupbread.com/index.asp) sells the bread already made. You can also purchase the grains/beans already mixed from them. Maybe you could get them to grind it for you. (You would lose a lot of the vitamins though between grinding and baking.) You could also try the same at BreadBeckers.

Have you already purchased your grains/beans? Maybe your provider can help you (or even get you in touch with someone who would be willing to help).

I found an manual mill here (breadbeckers.com/backtobasicsgrinder.htm). Maybe this is more in your budget.

BTW: You have me motivated to make this bread again for my fasting. Thank you.
 
I specifically want to make the Ezekiel bread for Lenten fasting. I’m not that interested in making bread in general. 🙂
**Well then how about getting a manual grinder (once you find a reputable one) and offering up the extra work for Lent too? If you only want to use it once a year and you aren’t rolling in money, it looks like the most practical way to go:)

malia**
 
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