Are you interested in milling your own grain? There’s nothing quite like fresh, homemade bread right out of the oven. Using a grain mill is an excellent way to increase your family’s nutrition. When I got married, I knew that I wanted to be able to make fresh bread and other baked goods for my family. Being able to buy wheat berries and bake with whole grains was a priority to me. Now that we’ve had many years of experience milling our own grains, I thought I would share my Komo Classic Grain Mill 13 Year Review!
A Brief History of Flour Milling
If you lived in America in the mid 1800s, you might have traveled to a Grist Mill (such as the one shown below) to have your grain milled. A mill was a center for social activity. Farmers and settlers would bring their wheat and corn to the mill, and the large wheel driven by waterpower would grind the grain into flour.
Because whole grain flour has a short shelf life and can go rancid, these mills started removing the bran and the germ from the grain. This left only the endosperm – the soft but nutritionally useless part of the grain.
The demand for refined flour grew, as people began to prefer the fluffy, soft bread that this flour could produce. Additionally, white flour could be bagged and stored for up to a year, much longer than whole grain flour.
However, this quickly became a problem, as many people relied on whole grains for vital daily nutrients. Deficiency-related illnesses became more common: beriberi (thiamin deficiency), pellagra (niacin/tryptophan deficiency), and anemia (iron deficiency).
By the 1920s, it began to be documented just how much the milling practices were resulting in loss of these vital nutrients. The first tests of flour enrichment began, which is the process of adding nutrients back into flour after it has been stripped of all that was naturally occurring.
By 1941, the U.S. began mandating the enrichment of white flour with iron, niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin (and later folic acid).
While this did not make the product as nutritious as stone-ground flour, it did almost immediately eradicate the deficiency-based illnesses that had been observed.
This led to white flour as we know it today: grains that have been separated and often bleached and enriched with synthetic vitamins and minerals.
Types of Home Grain Mills
There are two main types of mills for grinding flour at home:
- Manual Mills
- Electric Mills
Manual mills are usually less expensive but require physical effort to use and don’t create as fine of flour. My parents had a manual mill when I was young, and we would take turns grinding the flour. One plus is that this type could be used in a power outage.
Electric mills come in 3 main types:
- Stone Burr Mills
- Steel Burr Mills
- Impact Mills
I won’t go into all the differences of these types of mills, but one thing to note is the Komo Classic is a stone burr mill. Some of the benefits of a stone burr mill are the ability to get really fine flour, they are generally quieter than steel burr mills and impact mills, and they also typically remain at a lower temperature when grinding, which can be important in retaining the nutrients in the grain.
What Are the Benefits of Milling Grain at Home?
Better Quality Food – Wheat berries, if stored properly, will last indefinitely. Flour on the other hand begins to lose nutrients and shelf life as soon as the grain is cracked open and exposed to air. Whole wheat flour goes rancid even faster than white flour. When you mill your grain at home, you have better control over the quality of the grain, and all those wonderful vitamins, minerals are retained in your finished bread product.
It’s Cost-effective – Have you noticed how expensive a loaf of bread is these days? I can make a healthy, wholegrain, organic loaf of sourdough bread for less than $1. Yes, a grain mill is a big investment, but it can quickly pay itself off as you begin making bread, scones, tortillas, muffins, and more in your own kitchen.
It’s Healthier – fresh, whole grains are full of vitamins and minerals, and fiber. Whole grain wheat contains the entire B complex, except for vitamin B12. The germ is especially rich in vitamins B and E, high-quality protein, unsaturated fats, minerals, and carbohydrates. The bran consists mostly of the insoluble carbohydrate cellulose and contains incomplete protein, traces of B vitamins, and minerals – especially iron. Other vitamins and numerous other minerals are found in the wheat kernels, though in small amounts. These include carotene, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin K, and more. Other minerals are sodium, calcium, manganese, and zinc.
Choice of Grains – Milling your own grain allows for more choice in what grains you use for various purposes. You can choose gluten-free grains such as rice or millet. Or grind your own chickpeas for chickpea flour. I’ve had great success with sprouted hard red wheat. You can mix various grains to prepare your own flour blends.
What I love about the Komo Classic Grain Mill
- Beauty – I mean who wouldn’t want this beauty on their counter?! Almost anyone who comes into my kitchen asks about it, and it makes for a great conversation piece.
- Quality – handmade in Austria, these mills are high quality but really very simple in their components.
- Fine Grind – I love how fine of flour I can get with it.
- Adjustable – With a simple turn of the hopper, you can change the fineness or coarseness of the grind.
- Long Warranty – This mill comes with a 12-year U.S. warranty. I’m outside of that now with my mill, but it’s still going strong with zero issues.
- Versatile – This mill can grind so many grains and beans, with many gluten-free options as well.
- Allergy-Friendly – Komo offers optional interchangeable inserts to use with the grinder, an ingenious way to keep some grains completely separate if someone in your home has a food allergy.
- Easy to Clean – Very simple to use and clean up after. No taking it apart to get the flour out and clean the bin like other mills I’ve tried.
- Quiet – It doesn’t have a high-pitched sound like some mills. It is one of the quieter home mills available.
How To use the Komo Classic Mill
To mill grain in the Komo, simply flip the switch on the side to turn it on, and begin pouring grain into the top. Make sure to place a bowl under the spout, as fresh flour will immediately begin coming out.
When I was first learning to use it, my mill would sometimes jam. I don’t think I had fully read the instructions, because they do specify that you turn it on first. I took it apart a few times to unjam it and clean it, but later learned that it’s not necessary to do that.
To clean the mill, Komo recommends turning it to the coarsest grind setting and milling a scoop of white rice. This will clean off the stones and get it running smoothly again, and you can then adjust it finer while it is turned on and milling.
You can take out the stones and clean them with a dry brush, but it’s really not necessary and I haven’t done it in many years. The first time I opened it up I was worried I wouldn’t be able to put it back together, but it’s really very simple inside.
What Types of Grains Can you Grind?
The Komo can mill any dry grains such as:
- Hard Red Wheat
- Hard White Wheat
- Soft White Wheat
- Rye
- Buckwheat
- Millet
- Oat Groats
- Brown Rice
- White Rice
- Spelt
- Quinoa
- Kamut
- Amaranth
- Einkorn
It can also mill beans such as:
- Kidney Beans
- Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans
- Black Beans
- Lentils
- Pinto Beans
- Peas
What NOT to Put in the Komo Classic Grain Mill
Popcorn – the manual specifically states to not grind popcorn, due to its inner moisture content. But you can buy grinding corn (field corn), which is okay to use in the Komo. For corn I usually buy organic polenta (we love to make polenta with dinners) and then grind it finer with the mill on the occasion that I want to make cornbread.
Flax seed (or other oilseeds) – flax seed can wreck the mill, so keep a separate small coffee grinder for your flax and spices.
Cinnamon sticks – Cinnamon bark is way too hard for this mill.
Cocoa Nibs – Again too waxy and would potentially damage the grindstones.
Sugar – Don’t try to grind sugar finer in this mill.
My favorite ways to use freshly milled grain
- Whole Wheat Tortillas – Tortillas are likely the number one thing that my husband and I have made over the years with fresh ground grain. They work extremely well with 100% fresh ground hard white wheat, and they are quick and easy to whip up. Healthy and high quality with so many more nutrients than store-bought white flour tortillas!
- Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread – Sourdough Sandwich bread with 100% freshly ground whole wheat is so tender and airy, one of my favorite breads!
- 100% Soft White Wheat Pancakes – My husband loves to whip up a batch of Saturday morning pancakes. I can’t even tell they are whole grain when he uses soft white wheat berries.
- Fresh Ground Rye to feed my Sourdough Starter – I feed my sourdough starter 50-70% rye flour, and grinding my own rye for feeding it has saved a lot of money. Sometimes I use rye in loaves as well.
- Sourdough Discard Pizza Crust – We make sourdough pizza frequently as a family. I have one of my boys throw together the dough in the early afternoon, and by 5-6pm it’s ready to use. I love making it with 50% freshly milled whole grain for added nutrition.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a quality mill that will last many years, I highly recommend the Komo Classic Grain Mill. I believe its beauty and usefulness will bless your family, as it has mine.
Happy Baking!
