Mill for coarse/cracked grains
I have finally found a recipe that makes me want a new partner for my 30-year old Kitchenetics mill:
http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/protohistoric-multigrain-flatbread
I decided that it was worth a proper trial with coarse cracked grain close to her specification of steel-cut oats, and pulled out the poppyseed grinder, and used whole oats, hulled barley, and a bit of emmer wheat, all put through the grinder together. I adjusted the grind to give some quite large pieces of grain, and the result was a mix of textures from coarse bits maybe 1/5 of a single grain to some moderately fine flour. The flatbread came out really nicely: crisp and crunchy without the break-a-tooth quality of some of my attempts at multigrain crackers from my finely milled kitchenetics flours. I'm pretty sure the mix of coarse and fine flours is key to the wonderful texture, and like the result enough that I'm ready to invest in a mill that can give a similar result without the same degree of effort required from the little poppy mill.
So: looking for a mill that will happily make a flour like this
with a little less arm work than the poppy mill; open to manual or electric options. I'm not expecting it to replace the Kitchenetics for the fine flours I adore for most of my uses, but don't just want a flaker or cracker: I want the range from coarse cracked grains to coarse flour. And tasty as these flatbreads are, I don't need huge capacity (nor do I have room for the gorgeous Diamant mill, although it's tempting to think about creating a space for it). I just need to be able to prepare a kilo of coarse flour a few times a year.
I do have a 30 year old Kitchenaid and if the Mockmill can make this range of flour textures that might be just the ticket.
Check out the Mock Mill I've seen it on the Breadtopia website but it's sure to be available elsewhere. It is designed to work with a KA. If it is like the KoMo you can get cracked grain like what you want set on the widest adjustment.
Stu
Sorry I just reread your post and realized that I got the type of mill wrong in any case the KoMo style mill will do what you want.
It is tough to judge size from a photo, but any of the old style electric mills with mill stones should be able to accomplish that quite easily. Marathon, Excalibur are two names you find on ebay quite often. Current ones include All Grain and of course the Komo. Basically, these machines have one stone that is fixed and one that rotates, and there is an adjustment that varies the space between the two stones. Set them far apart, and you will get a very coarse grind.
For granulation of cracked grain to coarse flour in one pass, I recommend the Retsel Mil-Rite with medium steel burrs.
I should have put a few pieces of whole grain on top of the cracked/ground flour for comparison. Making note to self for the next time I try a close up detail of flour.
And it seems there's a clear recommendation for a stone burr mill overall--that cuts down the ones I need to scout for / study a bit. Thanks!