Grain Mills | Grist Mill | Grinding Flour | Flour & Pantry Mixes

If you enjoy baking, making things fresh homemade and are concerned about what goes into store bought baking mixes, consider grinding your own homemade flour and making your own pantry mixes.

Many are shying away from the store box mixes simply because of the unknown manufacturing processes or the added chemicals. People on restricted diets such as low sodium or low gluten struggle to find affordable store bought mixes for baking.

Organic flours offer many the options for those to work with specialized diets but at a premium supermarket price!

The alternative is to grind your own flours and to make your own mixes. Several sources are available on the Internet to purchase bulk grains as well as grain grinders.

Shoppers can find traditional or organically grown grains as well as recipe books to mix their own dry pantry mixes.

Organic grown grains reportedly offer more concentrated nutrients, without the concern of potential cancer causing chemicals.

Some suppliers advertise organic grains while other advertise and display the national Organic Certified Grown symbol.

Certified Organic farms means they have been inspected by an agency, usually their specific state agriculture department, to verify they are grown to strict organic standards in order to display the Organic Certified Seal of approval.

Amish certified organic grown grains are noted by some as being the most sought after because of the belief they may provide an enhanced nutritional value from the Amish traditional organic growing methods.

People like to choose a variety or hard and soft wheat grains to grind flours, while others enjoy grinding blends of grains to make such popular mixes as a Seven Whole Grain Flour.

Spelt is a cousin to wheat but offers lower gluten than regular wheat and can be tolerated by many with gluten allergies.

Sprouted grains are becoming very popular because the sprouting process adds even more nutrient value than non-sprouted grains. The grains are kept moist in a bacteria free environment just until the sprout begins to break through the outer shell of the grain. The grain is then dried for packaging.

Grain mills come in a variety of styles and price ranges. Some can be attached to electric mixers while the most common are still hand crank.

The process utilizes a hopper and auger system that draws the grain into grinding burrs. The quality of the grinder will depend on how much flour that can be produced and to what powder consistency that can be ground.

Price always drives the quality of the product. Cheaper grain mills utilize plastic housings with small hoppers. They will produce flour but at a slower pace.

Probably the best grain mill on the market today is the all metal USA made GrainMaker. It also has one of the higher price points, but considering the long life, the versatility to do more than just flour and the labor savings it may be a wise choice.

It’s also good to have a versatile appliance around that can do more than just one function the GrainMaker will also grind coffee, and even make peanut butter.

You can even grind flax seed and other natural supplements. Best of all the GrainMaker uses a labor saving one step process, meaning the grinding burrs can be adjusted to grind even the finest flours without having to make several passes.

Recipes to make your own homemade mixes can also save your dollars while allowing you the option of adding your own ingredients to reduce the sodium levels.

Some of the best recipe books are published by the Amish self-sufficient communities who bake from scratch but still like the convenience of having pantry mixes made up a head of time.

At Cottage Craft Works .com You will find Amish certified organic grains, and the Homemade Mixes cookbook.

The GrainMaker can be purchased factory direct at http://www.grainmaker.com

If you would just rather skip the grain grinding process, you can also purchase stone ground flours including the spelt and sprouted spelt flour.