Family Grain Mill W/ Handbase

I looked and looked annnnnnnnd looked all over the internet for a grain mill that would best suit me, my budget and use for it.This Family Grain Mill is the one!I ordered it just a couple weeks a go and have made 3 loaves of bread, pizza dough, cookies and banana bread since then. I think that says a lot about how much I've been enjoying this mill and even how well it's working.When researching mills I saw there was a big jump between the cheapy mills that had wildly fluctuating opinions on how well they worked AND the expensive mills that sound dreamy but are way out of my budget.I didn't read anything negative online about this mill, one of the reasons I was drawn to it.Also the price was right, a little more than I've ever paid for any kitchen gadget ever but it's so specialized and believe me I have tried every thing I already own to make flour, wasn't working.Now I can churn out flour when ever I want. It takes some work, I have figured it takes me about 5 minutes of steady grinding to turn 1 cup of wheat berries into flour when the grinder is set on the finest setting.So in about 20 minutes, give or take I have enough flour for a batch of bread.That might sound like a long time but I knew what to expect after all my wheat grinder research and knew a manual mill wouldn't be fast but it would be more affordable and get the job done.Plus, burning calories before I even get the bread made? Awwwwesome ;)The flour produced on the finest setting is NOT pastry flour, it's a little coarse still. But I knew that going into this purchase and it has not been an issue. I just made Peter Reinhart's 100% whole wheat sandwich bread the other night and it was soft, light and fluffy and tasted divine.The fresh milled flour DOES taste better than flour that's been sitting around, like store bought flour. I was geeky enough to make cookies from both my freshly milled flour and some left over purchased whole wheat flour I had. The freshly milled, while it did make a slightly coarser cookie (texture is awesome though so who cares if it's a little coarser) made the better tasting cookie. The store bought whole wheat cookie I made tasted a little "off". I realize now I have tasted this "offness" in the past when I made baked goods with store bought whole wheat flour, one of the reasons I was interested in grinding my own.The actual grinder seems quite sturdy. The base is wooden, the clamp metal. Seem strong and sturdy to me.The hopper and other parts are plastic but they seem tough, not the flimsy sort that's gonna crack any time soon, or ever.The burrs are surgical steel, they performed like I wanted and expected.It's easy to put together and because I have the manual Family Grain Mill it takes up practically no space. The base I leave clamped to a chair that I set aside and the parts for the grinder I store in the hopper, takes up as much room as a medium sized bowl.The handle is very easy to turn. I have read reports on other grinders having uncomfortable handles but this seems great. Turns easily, there is some effort needed if you start grinding your whole wheat berries right away on the finest flour setting but it's not THAT hard. If turning it is an issue for you possibly you can always crack the wheat berries first on a coarser setting, which means the handle is even easier to turn, then put them all through again on the finer setting.I like that there are other attachments for this mill. I don't own them but there are things for grating and flaking and such.ALSO there are these adapter things you can buy to let a motor powered mixer do the grinding for you. I love options and versatility, it seems like the designers of this product were really thinking.So, to summarize, I drooled over every grain mill that I read about online and then researched and researched until I found this one, the Family Grain Mill, which is the best grain mill I can afford that actually produces a nice, slightly coarse but perfectly usable flour. Yayness!

I'm satisfied with this purchase so far. After thoroughly researching the options for a grain mill, this one seemed to be the best value for what I wanted to use it for. Upon receipt, I did a full assembly and disassembly cycle to make sure all was well with the unit and that I could understand its workings; the latter is often helpful to me so I can ascertain from the innards what weaknesses something might have so I can avoid breaking it, and its strengths that I might be able to take advantage of. Anyway, the product was well made and all parts were undamaged. I did wish that the body could have been cast metal instead of PVC, but as long as we avoid impacts, it should be OK. The adjustment mechanism and crank mechanism look to be of a good design, and appear to work well. I haven't gotten a chance to mill up any flour with it yet, but I look forward to doing so. Presently I've got it disassembled and packed away in just one of the two boxes it came in. I mention that because storage and shipping costs of this product could be reduced further if it is packed more efficiently.

It takes two passes to make a grind fine enough for bread, but this item plows through wheat berries. Took some effort to grind three cups of berries twice, but after about 25 minutes we had what we needed to make stellar whole wheat bread. I'm looking forward to getting the Ankarsrum adapter.

got this for a "just in case" situation. was suppose to come with attachments like meat grinder but i didn't get it. but this will grind grain to make bread and it has different settings and can turn into a meat grinder as well. easy to use and take apart and clean. i researched hand grinders and this is the best on out there that i found. yes there expensive but it's worth it. GET IT!!!

I love being able to grind my fresh wheat berries for homemade bread. The taste is unbeatable. The Family Grain Mill does fast work and I love being able to adjust the fineness of grind. It is a darn good arm workout too.

Description listed as "Family Grain Mill with Handbase, Grain Mill, & Flaker Mill" - "Model 1012." It is not! It's model 1011, with the hand base and grain mill only and no flaker mill.Update: Amazon amended description to delete "Flaker" reference, but left model # wrong. Seller was very helpful in trying to fix this error.

This is a great product! It works very well. You can expect it to take longer to grind grain, but it does work!

Works very very well. First pass creates a decent flour on the finest setting. If you run it through again it creates a finer flour. Keep in mind this takes it straight from the berry to flour with one unit. Large processors may have a couple steps between.Don't let the plasticy polymer shell fool you. THIS IS A HIGH QUALITY UNIT and quite tough. I was sold when the lady I talked to brought in her bosch stuff she got in the mid 80's with NO malfunctions in 25 years. She is a Mormon mom that USES her stuff and it wasn't just a show piece.If I run it through several times I can get it a stage or two shy of the "big boys" as far as fine-ness. Does it make good bread? YES an astounding yes. I used the "finer" ground store baught whole wheat to make loaves...my 5 and 7 year old liked it even without something on it. Once I ground my own with this machine (no it wasn't quite as fine but still quite good) and made a loaf...my 7 year old ate a quarter of a loaf with nothing on it. He asked if he could have "some" and when I turned around he'd eaten a quarter of the loaf by itself. It makes VERY good bread.I have the manual hand crank version with an adapter to hook it to the universal mixer. I have made flour both ways...either way is quite easy and not very loud either (I was talking on the phone and someone said it was about as loud as a washing mashine). I have tried to include stories and info that I would have found valuable as a cook/baker/flour maker/dad. If you have questions just respond to this review and I'll try to get back to you asap