Flaker for Grinder

That title will be Greek to many of you! 🙂 Stick with me . . I’ll teach you everything I know but honestly, this is one of those things most have no interest in and no interest in knowing but for the few who do . .

In February, 2008, I ordered a Family Grain Mill from Pleasant Hill Grain. I purchased a “combo” which was the motor base, the grain grinder and the hand base.

I wish I had kept track of how much grain I milled with that little mill. When I first started milling the grain, I made bread for us, the neighbors, the guy who brought dirt, the men who worked on the electric lines, Chad went back to college every Sunday evening with fresh, warm bread. I still love this little grain mill and I’ve kept it because it has the hand crank. If ever we find ourselves without electricity for an extended period, we could still grind wheat and make bread so it sits on a shelf.

In 2015 I convinced Vince that I needed the KoMo Fidibus Classic grain mill.

These two are the only mills I’ve ever used but I would highly recommend either of them. The KoMo grinder will grind almost everything and I can grind a much finer flour with this mill. It’s also much faster – not that speed matters much to me since I’m usually grinding just enough for a loaf or two of bread. I grind it as I need it.

We use a lot of oats – some steel cut, which I can make from whole oat groats with either mill, but we use a lot of rolled oats.

Rolled oats do not last as long as oat groats so I don’t stock rolled oats. I keep oat groats and will hand flake the oats to make rolled oats but if I have lot of oats to roll . . I will buy the old fashioned oats at the store.

Here’s a blurb from Honeyville about oat groats that are properly packaged:

Shelf-Life: Whole Oat Groats will store for 10 to 15 years in a sealed #10 can or bucket (oxygen absorber included) under ideal storage conditions (cool, dry place). The 2.2 pound bag and the 45 pound bag will store for 1 year in sealed packaging under ideal storage conditions (cool, dry place).

https://shop.honeyville.com/whole-oat-groats.html

Here’s a statement from Healthline about the shelf life of rolled oats.

Similarly to dried rice or pasta, commercially processed and uncooked rolled, quick, or steel cut oats will typically last at least 12 months — and up to 2 years if the package remains unopened or the oats are stored in an air-tight container 

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/does-oatmeal-expire

At Aldi, rolled oats are about $1.57 per pound. At Walmart, Great Value oats are $1.53 per pound. At Azure Standard, I can buy a 50 pound bag of oat groats for 75 cents per pound. That isn’t organic but neither are the ones at Aldi or Walmart. At Azure, organic oat groats are $1.18 per pound.

I use rolled oats in my meatloaf. I’ve been making Oatmeal Toasting Bread. We’ve switched from storebought cereals to homemade granola.

A full tray is about 2 quarts. I don’t add fruit when I make it but I do add nuts – usually two kinds and it can be walnuts, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. In our bowls, we will add sliced bananas, or apples or dried strawberries, cherries, cranberries . . any dried fruit; or frozen blueberries, blackberries, raspberries .. whatever we have on hand.

I have a hand crank flicfloc but I can tell you that rolling enough oats for our breakfast one day isn’t too bad but rolling 4 or 5 cups of oats . . that’s a pain. The KoMo electric grain roller is almost $500. I can’t justify the cost. Yes, I save about 50 cents per pound by rolling my own oats and yes, I can store oat groats for many years where I cannot store rolled oats for many years. Who knows when there will be a shortage of oats so I prefer to keep plenty on hand since we use them a lot and it doesn’t make sense to buy a lot of rolled oats.

Yesterday I was looking at Pleasant Hill Grain to see if they had other rollers/flakers, they had this one in stock. It fits the Family Grain Mill and I saw a couple of blog posts that say it will fit the Kitchen Aid mixer. I got the Family Grain Mill out and ran some grain through it to make sure it still works. It does! It doesn’t make any noise, it seems brand new so I ordered the attachment and can’t wait to use it. It has to be better than hand turning that flaker and taking so long just to get enough for breakfast.

Of course, I’ll let you know what I think about it once it arrives and I use it.