[Part 3 of 4]

An increasing number of people are using home grain mills to grind grain in their home. Fresh-ground flour can be purchased in most health food stores and by mail order, so why do people go though the work of grinding their own?

Flavor: People who grind their own grain know first-hand how much better it tastes than store-bought, pre-ground grain. Like coffee beans, grain's nutty-sweet flavor is at its peak right after it's ground.

Nutrition: Health reasons top the list for many home grinders. During refining and processing in commercial mills, the flour can lose most of its goodness and wholeness. The bran and germ, where much of the fiber and many of nutrients are concentrated, are often stripped away. The heat of commercial mills destroys many vitamins with their heat. Fresh-ground wheat flour contains approximately 26 valuable vitamins and minerals, including B vitamins, vitamin E, folic acid, copper, iron, magnesium and zinc. But store-bought, all-purpose flour only contains three to six.

Fresh-ground flour is also 100% natural; it contains no additives, preservatives, bleach or other chemicals.

Variety: Grinding your own grain opens up myriad possibilities in the kitchen. Besides flour, with some mills you can also make cereal, animal feed, nut butters, bulghar wheat, sesame tahini, coffee, corn meal, and more. One machine can create many foods.

Preparedness: Hand mills are also popular with people who want to be prepared during a power outage or other emergency. Fresh-ground flour will only keep for a few weeks unrefrigerated. If properly stored, however, some grains will keep for years. With a hand mill, stored grain can be turned into flour for wholesome bread at any time, even if the power is off. People who wish to grind their own flour at home have several options available to them.

Hand-Turned Grinders are the most affordable, they don't heat the flour (too much heat drives out nutrients), they can sometimes grind both dry grinds and oily seeds and nuts, they aren't dependent on electricity, and they give the user the satisfaction of doing the work him or herself. On the other hand, the smaller mills are often hard to turn and/or slow. This is especially true when making a big batch of super-fine flour. Some hand mills can be outfitted with an electric motor.

Most hand grinders use a pair of grinding discs with grooves in them (called burrs). One remains stationary, while the second one turns against it. The grooves allow ungrounded grain to slip in between the burrs. As the grain travels along the grooves -- which get progressively shallow -- toward the outside edge, they're crushed into smaller and smaller flecks, until they become flour. Most hand mills can be adjusted to produce anything from fine flour, to coarse meal, to cracked grain. The two primary kinds of burrs are stone or iron/steel.

Stone burrs consistently grind very finely and are have tradition on their side. Stones have been used to grind flour for thousands of years. Stone burrs will produce flour that is as fine as store-bought from wheat, rye, oats and other dry grains, but they may glaze over and plug with nuts and other oily materials. (You can remove the goop with soap and water or a stiff brush.)

Iron/steel burrs are much more versatile and longer lasting than stone burrs, but they may not grind as finely. Iron/steel burrs grind anything that stone burrs do, plus oily foods like peanuts, soybeans, sesame seeds, and coffee without plugging.

Electric Grinders are very fast and grind effortlessly, making them ideal for people who don't have the time, energy or patience to labor with a hand grinder. But electric grinders can't always be adjusted to make anything other than fine flour and they may not be able to grind nuts and other oily materials. Electric mills use stone, iron or stainless steel burrs. Lehman's sells over a dozen hand mills, ranging from around $40 to almost $600. They vary in speed, durability, versatility, ease of use, and fineness of grind. If you would like help in selecting a grain mill, please see Part 4, "How to Choose a Grain Mill."

<<<Read Part 2: The Goodness of Grains   Read Part 4: Choosing a Grain Mill>>>