Ginny Clark

M Teague wrote:Welcome Ginny!

I am interested in this mill also. I usually buy heritage wheat and do buy other grains. My question is about Okra seeds. I bought, and loved, The Whole Okra, and one of the things I did was grind seeds from too woody okra seeds for a flour (I would add okra to beans, squash, potatoes and corn as essentials) which I add to pancakes or sourdough. It’s nice and nutty. BUT the okra seed flour needs heavy heavy sifting. Do you know of others who do this and how would the mill do with the grain mill. Thanks, Mark, gooddogboy.mark@gmail.com

Hi Mark,

I have not heard of others grinding okra seeds with the mill but that doesn't mean it can't do it. It will basically grind any dry grain that is not oily or too fibrous. It can do soft and hard grains, dent corn, legumes (i.e. chickpeas, dry beans, lentils), spices (i.e. mustard seeds, poppy seeds), and coffee beans. Since I'm not as familiar with okra seeds, I would recommend grinding a small amount first to see how they do in the mill.

Jennie Kies wrote:

Kevin Olson wrote:I have an old KitchenAid bowl lift mixer (K5A, I think - thrift store find, built like a tank).  If I buy one adapter for the KA, can I use it to power both the grain mill and the flaker?

My KA belonged to my grandparents, and I love it. I didn’t know I needed a grain mill until I started looking at this post. If it would be possible to buy an adapter to power the mill and flaker with the Kitchen Aid, that would be awesome! They would be a welcome addition to the meat grinder and pasta maker attachments. Isn’t it great when you can find a product meant to last?

Family Grain Mill makes an adapter that you can use to attach the Family Grain Mill grain head and flaker head to the Kitchen Aid Mixer. For more information, visit these webpages:
- Flaker Head - https://pleasanthillgrain.com/family-grain-mill-flaker-head
- Grain Mill Head - https://pleasanthillgrain.com/family-grain-mill-grain-head
- Adapter - https://pleasanthillgrain.com/mixer-adapters-for-family-grain-mill-attachments

I hope this answers your question. If not, please let me know!

Austin Guidry wrote:How does a mill like this one compare to a high power blender such as a Vitamix?

We have considered getting one alongside our blender so we can make uncommon flours.

The Vitamix will do a nice job of grinding small amounts of grain. The KoMo grain mills will give you the option of grinding larger amounts and with more variability in texture of the grind.

Jenner Aycock-Jandreau wrote:I’m in the search for a grain mill, and love everything I’ve heard and seen about the KoMo, but the price is daunting. I’m thinking of cleaning out the coffee grinder I don’t use, and using it for grain instead, until I can save up the money for something good.
I got the impression from what you wrote that the KoMo is worth the wait!?

Hi Jenner, it's definitely worth saving up for and getting! I stayed home with my kids when they were younger and after they all were in school, I started working part-time again. The KoMo Classic was the first thing I purchased after I started working again and am so happy I did!

Hi Gen,
The mill is super easy to clean. Most of the time you just mill your flour and either brush off excess flour dust with a little paint brush or damp cloth. If you need to clean the grinding stones, you just run about a 1/2 cup of white rice through the machine and that cleans them! So simple!

Sara Townsend wrote:What a beautiful machine!

Is there a guide for how coarse/fine to grind a particular grain for a recipe? (I'm a grain mill neophyte, can you tell?)

Is there a maintenance schedule for the motor? Are replacement parts readily available? Is there a manually-operated version of this mill?

Many thanks!

Excellent questions, Sara! With this mill, I like to grind my grain pretty fine for bread. There is a spectrum of dots on the front of this mill and you simply turn the hopper from the "finest" dot to the "coarsest" dot or anywhere in between to get your desired texture. For breads and pancakes, I usually grind it on the finest setting or close to it. If I'm grinding oats to put on top of my loaf of bread to make it look pretty, I'll grind on a coarser setting.

There is no maintenance schedule for the motor. One thing I love about this mill is how easy it is to use and clean. Most of the time you just mill your flour and either brush off excess flour dust with a little brush or damp cloth. If you need to clean the grinding stones, you just run about a 1/2 cup of white rice through the machine and that cleans them! So simple!

There is a 12-year warranty on this mill. We do have replacement parts available here: https://pleasanthillgrain.com/replacement-parts/grain-mills/komo-grain-mills

KoMo also makes a beautiful hand grinder: https://pleasanthillgrain.com/komo-hand-grinder-grain-mill

Here are a couple recipe books that I have found really helpful because they use freshly ground flour in their recipes:

Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: https://pleasanthillgrain.com/peter-reinharts-whole-grain-breads-book

Sue Becker's Home Ground Flour: https://pleasanthillgrain.com/peter-reinharts-whole-grain-breads-book
This book has good bread recipes but also cakes, cookies, scones, etc.

Another item to note is that if you're making cakes, pies, or cookies, it's better to use soft wheat. If you're making breads, then hard wheat is the way to go.

For breads, another option is to add a dough enhancer or gluten to the recipe to give it a lighter texture.

The Country Living Grain mill does have a Motor Drive now available: https://pleasanthillgrain.com/motor-kit-for-clm-no-mill-con

Abraham Palma wrote:Hi.
I thought this mill would be wonderful for our carobs and almonds.
However, I didn't read this part before creating a new thread in the 'bread' section: "one lucky winner in the USA or Canada".
Isn't it possible at all to send it to Europe?

Thanks for your interest in our mill! Pleasant Hill Grain is able to ship mills to Europe. For this particular free giveaway, though, we limited the winners to the USA and Canada due to the cost for shipping/taxes/duty fees that would be necessary to ship overseas.

If you're looking for a mill to grind almonds and carobs, you might consider the following mills that have steel burrs. For almonds or other nuts, you would need this type of burr since they are oily:

Wonder Junior Deluxe: https://pleasanthillgrain.com/wonder-junior-deluxe-manual-grain-mill
Country Living Grain Mill: https://pleasanthillgrain.com/country-living-grain-mill-wheat-grinder-combos

Lena Diehl wrote:Hi Ginny Welcome!!!
What typers of grains can be ground in the KoMo?  Could I grind other things in it, like corn, beans, and/or coffee?
Thanks!

Excellent question! All dry grains can be ground with the KoMo Classic mill, including soft or hard wheat, oat groats (dehulled oats), rice, triticale, kamut, spelt, buckwheat, barley, rye, millet, teff, quinoa, amaranth, sorghum, soybeans and dent (field) corn. It will also grind lentils, dry beans (pinto, red, garbanzo/chickpeas, kidney & more), and dried, non-oily spices. It isn't suitable for herbs, oilseeds like flax or sesame, popcorn, or fibrous materials.

You can grind dry, roasted coffee beans; however, there will be some flavor transfer to the stones so it's recommended to have a 2nd set of stones and switch them out when grinding other materials so your grains don't taste like your coffee.