June 27, 2011 - 11:53pm
Zentrofan
I wonder if anyone is familiar with Zentrofan brand?
Their mills make very fine wholemeal flour. I am buying Zentrofan-milled flour from one local grower. It makes very interesting bread.
Can you recommend other mills for very fine wholemeal flour?
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I've only recently discovered the Zentrofan process and have been looking around to see how widely it is used. Yours is the only comment here, and you don't seem to have had any response. So I was wondering, how did it go?
Jeremy
I didn't see any photos of how it worked, but this description
A strong fan blows the grain round inside a small chamber made from basalt lava rock. When the particle size of the resulting flour is small enough, the cyclone carries it out into a bin, filtering the air flow through a large bag so that no dust enters the kitchen or bakery. Large particles of grain continue to be whittled down until they are fine and light enough to leave the chamber. Nothing is removed from the grain.
makes it sound like it works similarly to the Lee Household Flour mill. That mill spins the berries against a stone ( it does not use 2 opposing stones as in most stone mills ) and then blows air to blow the dust through an adjustable "screen" and then into a hopper.
Yes, I've got documentation on how it works. I had been hoping to get a personal opinion but it seems that this was Lucifer's last post. Maybe he'll come back to life.
Thanks for the tip on the Lee mill. I'll take a look at what people say about that.
But it looks the size of a home micro brewery!
http://zentrofan-muehle.de/media/wysiwyg/a/zentrofan_wholefoodmill_flyer.pdf
And I'm sure all that precision German engineering won't come cheap!
Now if they shrunk it to the size (and price) of a Mockmill 100...
There again, there are lots of times when you don't want any bran in your flour, and presumably, if it's that fine you won't be able to sift it out?
Lance
If it is that fine, why would you not want it?
Jeremy
I'm not a whole wheat purist, and I find that if a loaf is over 30% whole wheat, the bran can give the loaf a strong, bitter flavour; this may depend on the wheat variety, I guess.
I notice that bakers who make loaves with a high proportion of unsifted whole wheat often add some sort of sweetener to their loaves and I presume it is to try and mask that bitterness.
Lance
Lance, have you tried winter white wheat. I usually bake with 100% winter white, no added sugar, and have never had anyone suggest it is bitter. I agree that red spring wheat can have a grassy flavor that can be quite strong.
Yes, I do like the white wheat as the flavour is milder.
Unfortunately, in the UK we only have one brand of white wholewheat flour and no whole grain available to purchase - which rather negates the point of having a home mill!
Lance
I personally like the stronger flavors of Hard Red, Red Fife, and Turkey Red. But for a milder flavor White Sonora is a great grain.
See this link for a test of 6 various grains. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/56742/community-bake-maurizios-fiftyfifty-whole-wheat-sourdough-everyone-welcome#comment-412372
Lance, do you mill your grain?
Dan
I don't mind the taste when I come across it, but I don't mill my own and cannot buy wheat in any case. Just curious.