My Tools

So, using fresh grain in your regular diet requires the use of a few tools. Here are the tools I bought after years of extensive research (I'm not kidding about that, either) and have used with no complaints:

1) The Grain Mill

As great as it makes you feel to have lots and lots of grain stored away it really isn't worth anything if you have no way of processing the stuff for actual consumption. The mill I love is the WonderMill. It is compact but has a large hopper (where you pour the grain) and bin. It's quiet, fast, and clean. In short, it's milling for the 21st century, if you can imagine such a thing.
A great place to buy it is Kodiak Health. In fact, that's a great place to buy all these products. The WonderMill will cost you about $240.

2) The Bread Machine

I love this machine. The Zojirushi BBCC-X20. It makes 2 lb horizontal loaves. No towers o' bread. It has two beaters for excellent mixing and kneading. No crusty bits of partially mixed dough stuck to the pan. It's durable, flexible, reliable. It's what you need for making a regular loaf of bread. I'm sure it has lots of bells and whistles, but I really use 3 or 4 standard settings and 1 custom setting.

3) The Little House on the Prairie Type Manual Mill

Yes, I have a hand crank mill. It comes complete with bonnet and a pink gingham dress. Alright, alright, not the bonnet. This is a really great tool to have because as fabulous as electric mills are they can't do nuts, seeds, or crack grains. They just make flour. That's okay, that's what they are supposed to do. I don't expect my washer to dry the clothes, too. (Which they should, by the way, as well as fold them.) I mostly use this for cracking my grain mix into hot cereal, which we eat alot of so I deemed it a necessary purchase. As far a manual mills go, I think this is the one to get. The stones are big, therefore faster (keep in mind faster is relative for manual mills. Once you have ground a cup of flour on a manual mill you will thank your lucky stars for your noisy electric mill. To continue with my laundry parallel, it's like washing laundry by hand instead of tossing it in the washer and pushing a button.) It is solid, has a large attached hopper so it doesn't accidentally get knocked off while you are cranking, and comes with optional stainless steel burrs (the actual grinders) for nuts, seeds, and other oily stuff. The crank has a large radius, too, which is much better than a tiny pencil sharpener which will take about 50 turns to 1 with a larger crank. This is also a great chore to give the kids and help them develop Popeye arms. Cost $220.

You are probably scratching your heads wondering why I didn't choose the Country Living Mill. It's just too darn expensive. It also has to be bolted down and doesn't do the oily stuff.

4) A Good Bread Knife.

The Forschner 10 1/4 Inch Curved Blade Bread Knife. It's just the best. Thin and sharp and not too expensive. Easily under $25.