Need some info on Hawos Grain Mill

Hi Sassnee,

Thank you for your kind words about Diet for the Whole Woman.

I’ve had my Hawos mill for years and love it. It’s been a critical part of my kitchen. You are correct, the Mill 1 (and Oktagon 1) are the only Hawos mills that are wired for American voltage. Unless you need commercial amounts of flour, the Mill 1 will be more than adequate for the average kitchen. They are beautifully made and the flour comes out warm and fluffy.

It makes fabulous breads, biscuits, and crusts (as long as you like whole wheat). It will also grind hard corn for polenta or corn bread. I usually mix wheat and spelt. As you probably know, spelt is a very old species of wheat and has less gluten which is good for those who have a gluten sensitivity. The combination makes a dense, satisfying loaf.

Good luck with your Hawos and keep us posted on your journey into healthy diet.

Christine

My recent foray into flax seed has got me thinking, and I have been on a quest with limited success to find whole grains that I can mill myself. The range of whole grains available in supermarkets is very limited indeed. My conclusion is that whole grains are too valuable to sell in supermarkets in their unprocessed form. Food processors can make a lot more money out of them by dividing them up into fractions and individual nutrients, which they sell to other processors at a much higher price to add back in to other processed foods that lack them, then sell them through supermarkets. It is called value adding, and the consumer is the bunny who funds this plunder. (I am turning into a cynical old bag, and loving it.)

So now, having worked out that the logical thing to do is to grow my own wheat (Thankyou for that idea Christine. We have the acreage. Am I some sort of idiot for not thinking of this myself? Now perhaps if I was less cynical ...) I am also looking for grain mills. Has anybody used a Retsel mill? They manufacture several models. I am thinking of purchasing the Lil Ark. I know Christine recommends the Hawo mill. What about any other sort of mill? DH and DS1 both want to know what home-milled flour is like for breadmaking and pasta making? They think it is like commercial wholemeal flour, and I am not sure that it is anything like commercial wholemeal flour. Christine, can you answer this?

Cheers

Louise

Hi Louise,

My dh bought me a great electric pasta maker for my birthday – I think two years ago – and it’s still sitting in its original box. I really do want to use it – but there’s always so much else to do yada yada…

Actually, I had an electric pasta maker when my kids were babies and I remember that it didn’t take kindly to whole wheat flour – made the machine cough and choke.

Whole grain flour makes great bread though, but it must be milled finely – that’s what I love about the Hawo. Gosh…I think we’ve had ours for a dozen years now.

Bread is so easy to make by hand. As a matter of fact, today was a busy day for me but still I produced two beautiful round loaves for supper with very little disruption to my work routine. It’s not like bread takes four solid hours to make. Rather, you do it in steps so it fits in easily with whatever else is going on. In fact, it kind of sets up a rhythm for the day and kneading is such lovely activity.

I have a question…does anyone know how to make pasta by hand?

Hugs!

Christine

Hi Christine

DS1 does all the mixing of the pasta dough in our electric breadmaker. It even does a better job than the Kenwood dough hook. However I see no reason why you couldn't just do it the Italian way, which is to put the semolina on the bench with the edges higher than the middle and break the egg and the oil into the middle of it, then just fold the semolina inwards until it is all mixed. Once you have kneeded it you can break pieces off and roll them out with a rolling pin or a piece of broom handle (which is easier with the very stiff dough). Once it is thin enough you can cut it into strips of a suitable width, with a pizza cutter (ie wheel) or a big chinese chopper, or sheets for rolling into canneloni or flat for lasagne.

DS1 uses an Italian hand wound pasta machine, but it is a bit tricky winding the handle with one hand and keeping the strips straight when feeding them in to the machine, (particularly as he is a man, and can therefore only do one thing at a time!). In true Italian tradition food preparation is done by a group of people, so this is not a problem in Italian households. It is just another method of cooperation between cooks.
DS1 is thinking about getting a power unit for it. I know you can buy them. They just fit on the spindle that the windy handle turns.

Christine, I made bread for years by hand, but not with home-milled flour. It does fit well into the day. Then we had a good bakery in town for a few years and got spoilt, so breadmaking stopped. A few years later DH was spurred on by a particularly objectionable man who kept boasting about winning all the bread section prizes at our local Ag Show each year and purchased a breadmaker, because there was no section for handmade bread, a sign of modern times. DH knocked Mr McInnes off his prize podium in all classes within a couple of years and has continued to perfect his own recipes and keep us in yummy bread. The Ag Show continues to have a thriving bread competition each year.

It is often said that all men need a shed. This one needs his breadmaker. When I get this mill organised I might go into competition with DH, but I don't think I would go back to hand-kneading. On the other hand it is probably very good for upper body strength, and I think I could do with some of that!

Cheers

Louise

Thanks for this, Louise...but don't you have to dry the pasta out - like hang it over chair backs or something? lol...

Yes, you do need to dry it. DS1 hangs his fettucini and spaghetti over a wire coathanger on the pantry door frame. You can string up a broomhandle, which spreads the load a bit more and keeps the two halves of the strand a bit more separate. I think a clothes airer would be best of all. Just make sure there is a little flour/semolina on both sides of the sheet of dough before you cut it into strands. This will help to prevent it sticking together when hung up. I have also heard of people drying it flat on a fresh, dry teatowel. Anything that allows the air to circulate around it a bit is OK. We cook it more or less straight away, as soon as any wetness has dried from the surface. We don't dry it completely though. I see little point in that. If we want dried pasta, we buy it in a packet!

Cheers

Louise

Hi Christine

This is an old thread, but a goodie. I notice that you have Hawo Mill 1 and Mill 2 available at The Store.

Here is a nutshell comparison of them.

Mill 1:
* has a slightly larger hopper,
* is taller, both sub-assembly and total
* is much heavier
* has a smaller footprint
* makes slightly more noise

Mill 2:
* has a slightly smaller hopper
* is more squat, both sub-assembly and total
* is much lighter
* has a slightly larger footprint
* makes slightly less noise

The appear to have identical milling mechanisms, milling speed, milling chamber material, stones, and motor power and motor protection function. They are available in both 230V and 110V (but that is not stated at The Wholewoman Store).

I have also researched the Wondermill (used to be the Whispermill, which may be still available, maybe manufactured by someone else???). I found some reviews of it, one of which stated that you can't crack/kibble with this mill, only grind to flour, because it has a different milling mechanism (steel), so it is not very adjustable. It is a high speed mill, much faster than the Hawo, but they say it does not heat the flour. It does look like there is a lot of air around the milling pieces, so I guess that is possible.

How adjustable are the Hawo mills?

Can you tell me why you stock two different models?

If I bought a Hawo from Wholewoman Store would you be able to supply 230V (for Australia etc)?

Louise

I have looked everywhere and called places in Maine. I have looked at sites that might sell the algae but to no avail? Any suggestions from anyone is welcome.
Heavenly