We purchased our first grain mill, the Mockmill 200, about 4 months ago. Since then we’ve been putting it to some good use. I wanted to share a quick review on our experience so far and how it is working for us. I was not paid to write this review, and all opinions shared are based on our own experiences.
In short – we love it!! We have talked about getting a grain mill for years but have never pulled the trigger. For some reason it seemed like a big undertaking. A seismic shift in our baking operations. Something that would take a lot of effort to perfect. I have to tell you, converting to fresh milled flour has been NONE of those things for us. I am so happy we made the switch. If this is something you are on the fence about let this be your encouragement to pull the trigger!
Over time I plan to add recipes to this site that I’ve converted to fresh milled flour. Keep an eye out for those if you are looking for ideas. Also, if you want to read more about switching to fresh milled flour, how to do recipe conversions, that sort of thing – hop on over to my post that gets into those details! And now back to the purpose of this post – reviewing the Mockmill 200 herself.
Why we choose the Mockmill 200
After doing quite a bit of research on different grain milling equipment, we knew we wanted a stone mill. Milling with stones is the best way to preserve the inherent nutrients in the grains. This is primarily due to the cold temperature (the grains don’t get too hot while milling), and the slow process. We are always looking for ways to make the foods we consume as nutrient-dense as possible. So for us being able to maximize the nutrition from our fresh milled flour was an important factor in our final decision.
In terms of brands, Mockmill has lots of great reviews. They also have a solid manufacturing history and a fantastic warranty (6 years for non-commercial units!). Mockmill was also recommended on one of the grain sites we planned to purchase from (Einkorn.com), so that was added confirmation for us.
The Mockmill 200 was our model of choice mostly because of the speed factor. It’s twice as fast as the 100 model, milling 200 grams per minute. (For context, a loaf of bread that we bake uses ~2-300g of flour.) We didn’t want milling our flour to be a bottleneck step in baking for us. We wanted it to be so simple that it would be easy to adopt. On top of that, milling isn’t exactly quiet. And so we liked the idea of minimizing the length of time we need to run the mill.
Setting up the Mockmill 200
Setup for the Mockmill 200 was super straightforward! Hubby did the honors of unpacking and setting it up. The instructions were super clear, and it took just a few minutes to get it ready to go. A couple prep steps we had to take care of after unboxing:
- Remove a locking mechanism from around the stones (there for shipping stability).
- Adjust the stones so that they hit at the finest setting of the adjustment lever.
- Mill some “throw away” grains to clean off any residue on the stones. We used rice for this step and were amazed with how fine the rice flour turned out on our pilot run!
Other than these three steps the mill was ready to use out of the box!
Using the Mockmill 200 in the day-to-day
Lastly, but truly most importantly, is the day-to-day use of the Mockmill 200. We keep it setup in a corner of our kitchen with a crock of wheat berries near by. This way we are ready to mill without any extra setup. It’s super easy to just weigh out the grain you need, drop it in the mill, and collect it from the output spout. It literally takes a minute or two, even when milling enough flour for a couple loaves of bread!
Even if you are using flour for purposes other than baking, it’s super easy to use fresh milled! For example, I breaded and fried some fish for dinner this week. To get the flour, I just turned on the mill and poured in a handful of wheat berries. I added a little at a time until I had as much flour as I needed for breading. It barely took any longer than scooping out the flour would have. Really, it’s that easy. I do think part of this ease is due to the model of mill that we have, and the speed that it grinds. The convenience factor is strong and I would make the same decision again.
If I end up with extra flour, I just keep it in a baggy in the crock with the wheat berries. This way it’s there if I need a pinch of flour for anything. The flour doesn’t stay fresh long once it is milled, but for quick uses here and there it totally works! Left over flour should keep a couple weeks in a ziplock baggy like this. For longer term storage of fresh milled flour, consider keeping it in the fridge or freezer.
Step-by-step with the Mockmill 200
Lastly, I thought it would be helpful to walk you through precisely what I do when I need some flour. This is my sequence of steps for using the Mockmill 200 when I am baking:
- Calculate how much flour I need by weight. (See my conversion chart below, or for more details go to my post on how to use fresh milled flour <link coming soon>.)
- Pull out two bowls – one for the berries, one for the flour.
- Weigh out the same amount of wheat berries to match the calculated flour weight. (I usually mix a couple of varieties of wheat, depending on what I am baking.)
- Turn on the Mockmill, and slide the lever to adjust fineness until you can hear the stones are just touching.
- Position the empty bowl under the spout.
- With the mill running, pour the berries into the top of the mill. Re-seat the lid to dampen the noise.
- Wait for the flour, turning the receiving bowl as needed so it doesn’t overflow.
- Mix up your recipe and bake!
Where to purchase
If I’ve convinced you to pull the trigger and purchase your own Mockmill grain mill, head on over to Mockmill.com. They will direct you to a local distributor. In the US they distribute through Breadtopia, which is where we purchased our mill. Shipping was free on the mill, and it came within a few days.
I do want to share a word of caution if you add wheat berries to your grain mill order through Breadtopia. Even though the mill and berries ship together, there is a shipping charge on the grain portion of the order. We added a couple 5 lb bags of berries to our mill purchase and were surprised to see a shipping charge added to the final order. Not a big deal but just unexpected, so I wanted to pass that along.
Summing it all up
I hope this review of the Mockmill 200 has been useful for you. I wish you all the best in your baking adventures! Check back often for new recipes, and more tips and tricks as we increase our experience with fresh milled flour and the Mockmill 200!
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