Last week Pleasant Hill Grain offered to let me test one of their most popular products, the Nutrimill grain mill. And better yet, they offered to let me give one away!
For your chance at winning a Nutrimill, here’s what to do:
1. Go to Pleasant Hill Grain and check out the Nutrimill Grain Mill and its natural companion machine, the Bosch Universal Mixer.
2. Look at the kitchen equipment on the website, then come back here and leave a comment telling me which appliance you want and why.
Deadline is October 31 at noon. I will pick a comment at random.
It’s as easy as that, but since the prize in this instance is the Nutrimill, I’m going to tell you what I thought of it.
Grain mills have become popular among the baking set and the Nutrimill has quite a few fans. For those not familiar, it’s a machine which lets you grind your own fresh flour. You can use typical wheat grains from the bulk bin at the grocery store, or make flours out of spelt, rye, green peas, garbanzo beans, popcorn, triticale, quinoa and on and on. It sounds almost too good to be true, so I have to admit I was a little skeptical at first and wondering if I’d really be able to use it. Would I be able to put it together? Would it look nice enough to keep on the counter? Would it even be practical?? Yes on all counts.
Assembly was a snap. All I had to do was detach a few things, re-attach them as per the instructions, and plug in the mill. As for looks, I think the design is pretty slick.
But how did it work? Before I get to my experience, let me point out some notes from the manufacturer. They’re proud of their product because it’s powerful and fast, can grind flour super fine or coarse, grinds beans as well as grains, protects nutrients with an airflow design that keeps flour at the proper temperature, is quieter (about as loud as a vacuum), has a lifetime warranty and a feature not a lot of other mills have, which is that you can put grain in the hopper before you turn on the machine. Apparently a lot of other machines get clogged up when you turn them off and on. The Nutrimill is trouble-free in that department. So those are the features I learned from the company, and after using the mill myself I can see why they’d profile those things.
Frankly, I was just excited about the prospect of turning grain into flour in my own kitchen and happy the machine was so easy to use.
Step 1: Put the wheat in the hopper. Step 2: Grind it. Step 3: Take out your flour. It really was that easy, going from this (some 99 cents a pound red wheat)…
..to this. Whole wheat flour!
Next up was popcorn.
Apparently popcorn ground in the Nutrimill makes actual cornmeal that you can use in actual cornbread or muffins. And you can adjust the settings to make your meal fine or coarse, as mentioned above.
I was grinding all my flour on the “fine” setting, including the cornmeal, but the finely ground cornmeal worked perfectly in some cornmeal maple biscuits I made later, so it wasn’t an issue. I’ll bet I could make popcorn polenta. Cool.
Finally, I decided to make some garbanzo flour using garbanzo beans from the bulk bin. Garbanzo beans are larger than popcorn kernels and wheat, so getting them to go down the grinder hatch took a little time and coaxing. It was kind of like using the Coin Star machine at the grocery store where you have to kind of slide the pennies in just right so they don’t pile up. Garbanzo beans are on the “Use with caution/care” list, but I did eventually get some very soft, fine garbanzo flour and am looking forward to trying it in some recipes. I’ll probably start with Chickpea Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I haven’t deciced yet. The great thing is I made a few cups of garbanzo bean flour for pennies, when I would have had to buy a big, expensive sack of it.
I should have picked up more grains at the bulk bin (Here in Austin, Sprouts and Sun Harvest and probably Whole Foods have a good selection), because now I want to make more flour — particularly barley, since the flavor reminds me of malt. But I’m looking forward to experimenting. There is one caveat, though. You can’t grind flaxseeds, other oily seeds, and nuts because they will clog the machine. That was kind of disappointing since it would have been fun to make almond meal, but I’ll live. The benefits of making all the other flours outweigh the cons.
The Nutrimill is a winner, and that’s coming from someone who’d never heard of a Nutrimill but had a lot of fun using it and will be using it often from here on out. Given my experience, I think this would be an excellent holiday gift for the baker in your life. If you want to shop around, try Googling Nutrimill for specs and opinions. In my perusing the Internet, it seems a lot of more serious bakers are in love with their Nutrimill. And since I hinted that I was using one the other day, a few people have already commented or emailed to find out if mine was a Nutrimill.
So now you have a shot at winning one from the company. As I stated above, for a chance at winning just visit the Pleasant Hill Grain website, look at all the goodies (I actually have my eye on the dehydrator, too), pick one, then come back and tell me why you want it.
Good luck!
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I’d love the Cuisinart food processor…been meaning to get a new one for a while now.
I have been wanting a Nutrimill for years! A good friend owns one and she grinds flour for me. It is so much better than store bought whole wheat flour! My family loves it!
I would really love the stand mixer…I keep reading so many recipes that direct you to use certain paddles or settings on you stand mixer – and I haven’t got one, still.
It would be cool to be able to make my own wheat flour, though – the mill looks so compact and easy to use.
I really have my eye on the Vitamix and the Bosch Mixer, but after reading your description of the Nutramill, I want that!
Honestly, I would love the Nutrimill! I store my specialty flours (like spelt, buckwheat, rice flour) in my fridge and freezer to help keep them from going rancid–having a Nutrimill would mean my flour would be as fresh as possible, all the time. Love.
I would LOVE to have a Nutrimill! Both my daughters have one & they love theirs! I want one SO bad!
Oh, it is so hard to decide! I have a Bosch and a wheat grinder I purchased at a yard sale years ago…for 50 dollars! And I just love them! Now, though, that I bake two loaves of bread a week, I surely would love that Bosch Universal Plus mixer…so many wonderful features. I also would love the Nutrimill…after all, one needs flour to make bread…and I am just loving grinding and using whole wheat. And the fact that the Nutrimill grinds other grains…oh, how I would be in heaven!
What a vast selection of kitchen toys! If I were choosing for my husband I’d go for a Zojirushi bread machine. My MIL always made homemade bread and he remembers that often.
For myself, I’d love to try a food dehydrator (assuming I win the grain mill and don’t have to wish for that).
I would love the Viking Stand Mixer. I am a college student who has fallen in love with baking. I spent hours researching recipes and ingredients online and mor specifically I enjoy your blog. I studied abroad last semester and lived online and through blogging (my own and others).. the more detailed the pictures the better! I have currently been using my hand as a form of mixing. I bake every chance I get–usually everyday! If I get out at class at 930am I rush back to my dorm and bake before my 1130am class. I bake at 4am when I cant sleep. I love everything about it. I love to create my own recipes and love to incorporate some that I have inherited from my grandmother. I love to see the enjoyment on others faces when they see my goods. As you know its not just about the taste, but the appearance tops it off! I love the holidays when I can add even more creativity to the mix!…
Thanks! Britt
Wow…cool site…I love the nutrimill and I do the no knead bread with whole grains but the juicer and viking mixer look like must haves too!
I would love to have the Nutrimill, actually. My husband and I want to eat more fiber and what could be better than grinding your own flours. I think it would increase the flavor and taste of everything. It would be wonderful if your random selection would pick my comment – smile!
probably the vitamix because i’ve wanted one of those for a long time
So many toys to choose from. I cant decide between an electric scale or possibly aa meat slicer. On the one hand the scale would make baking so much easier and more accurate; on the other hand the meat slicer would make it so much easier to prepare beef and pork roasts for sandwich meat to avoid the excessive salt in store bought cold cuts.
How cool is that? Way better than using my burr coffee grinder!
I would love a grain mill for the following reasons:
1
I would love a grain mill for the following reasons:
1) Fresh ground grain must be better than preground (I am thinking of coffee)
2) the different flavors of cornmeal alone that I could play with…I bet wabash farms baby white vs Carmel would be interesting in corn bread.
3) There is a huge health benefit from whole grains… more to explore.
thanks
Ben
I would like the food dehydrator. I love having dried fruits but they’re always so expensive.
The nutrimill would be such an awesome appliance around the kitchen. I’ve avoided baking for a few months after I opened a new bag of flower only to find a blackish brown stick in the bag. Stick, no. Insect leg, yes. It really grossed me out and I haven’t quite gotten back into the baking ‘swing’ of things yet. Being able to see my own flour milled in front of my eyes – bug free -would be a relief.
Oh my gosh that nutramill would be something we surely would use alot at the kitchen!! I love all the gadgets and oh the kitchen toys but really would love the nutramill!!
I would love to grind blue cornmeal for muffins!!
Oh, how I long to grind my own flour.. I’d love a Nutrimill. The vitamix is mighty tempting too though..
I would love to have the Nutramill. I love baking with grains, this would be perfect!
It’s a tie between the dehydrator and Cuisinart food processor. I love making my own granola bars, and being able to dry my own fruit would be less expensive than purchasing at the store.
I didn’t know you could do that – what a healthy, economical option for homemade flour! (Besides the cost of the grain mill, haha). I stopped on that website the second I spotted the Viking mixers. Someday I need a new mixer. I dream of having those cool kneading blades and whisks.
I would love the nutrimill. That is one thing for my food storage that I don’t have. Plus I would love it to be able to grind my own flour.
I’ve been hearing a lot about the benefits of grinding your own grain- I’m so impressed with how fine your flours look! The Nutrimill looks wonderful, but if I had to choose one from their website, it would be a toss up between the Nutrimill and a Cider Press. I would love to make my own cider from our apple tree!
I don’t think I can pick just one. A stand mixer and a grain mill are both on my wishlist. I’d like a nice rice cooker too!
Other than the nutrimill of course, I would love the The Cuisinart Powerprep Plus Food Processor.
I’d love to have a vitamix. I once read that someone used a vitamix to turn two bags of spinach and a whole bunch of fruits and veggies into a single smoothie.
This is an awesome giveaway! I have longed for a grain mill for some time now. I like to cook with whole grains, and a Nutrimill would help keep them much fresher. I also think that a meat grinder would be a fun appliance to have.
Definitely the Bosch “Universal Plus” stand mixer – what an awesome appliance! If I won I’d give it to my son, who’s in LA attending grad school, living in his first apartment, and becoming an awesome bread maker. All by hand. I think he could use the help!
Susan
susie.galasso@gmail.com
The Nutrimill Grain Mill would be my first choice. I like to experiment using whole grains in recipes. It’s hard to find these unusual flours in smaller and or affordable quantities. Grinding your own grains or beans would solve that problem.
Definitely the Zojirushi Bread Maker. I used to make fresh bread every week but have just run out of time. I think a bread maker would be a lot of fun.
The Vita-Mix is big on my dream list!
I would love to try the Nutrimill Grain Mill. I can think of all sorts of fun baking experiments I could do with fresh milled flours.
I have been looking in to a grain mill. Since we bake all of our own breads, we might as well grind our own wheat too! I would love to have the Nutrimill. I would have it already we had the extra $ for it.
wow where to start lol so many choices. I’d love to have a stand mixer I do a lot of baking with heavy doughs and sometimes my little hand held just can’t handle it. The Nutrimill is another definate. I never even thought that grinding your own grain was possible and would definately love to do it myself.
I will love to add this member to my family of appliances.
So hard to decide – but I think I’d have to go with a food processor. Ours broke a while ago, and I wish we could afford to replace it.
Cuisinart DLC-2014 Powerprep Plus Food Processor looks nice!
I like the Nutrimill! The other appliances are cool, particularly the French press, but I really like the idea of grinding your own flours.
The Viking Stand mixer because I will need one when I move into my first apartment next year.
I am so intrigued by the Nutrimill. I never knew such a product existed. Pretty cool.
This is a really generous and really awesome giveaway. The grain mill would be great as I have 150 lbs of hard winter wheat berries in the deep freeze….Other than this great grain mill I would love the Cuisinart DLX Professional Food Processor. I think I have about done my old one in between pesto, applesauce and pie dough!!! Thanks for this great offer.
I really need a good electric digital scale — baking is much easier when you can be super precise!!
I would love the dehydrator..I feed my dog a raw diet and have wanted one for a while now so I could dehydrate his treats!
thanks for the fun giveaway!
Well, I definitely want the Nutrimill. We are having our first baby in December, and I love the idea of being able to mill fresh whole grain flour for my new family. Of course, I can also see us getting a ton of use out of the Tilia Gamesaver Silver Food Saver. Would love to be able to vacuum seal all those pre-made, frozen meals I need to get working on . . .
I’ve actually wanted a grain mill for a long time. We’d love to harvest our own wheat for our own consumption. But the website has alot of goodies!! The cider press would also be wonderful for the fall’s apple harvest!!
I would love to try the bread maker and the mill together to make really fresh bread!
I would love a grain mill like that one. I enjoy baking with whole grains.
I also would love some of those other products, like a new Cuisinart!
Thanks for the chance to win!
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