I made biscuit dough in it the other day and cutting in the butter was extremely quick and easy. I mixed it too long after adding the buttermilk though and made it too uniform. It’ll take some getting used to.

I’m planning to make an apple tart this weekend and will be using it to make the crust. I’ll be trying a salad tonight. I’m impressed with the quality of this unit, especially considering the price.

It was a close call between the corresponding KitchenAid and this Cuisinart. I opted for the Cuisinart because it has a lot more attachments available. There were some complaints on Amazon about noise levels, but I have found it to be remarkably quiet.

1. good pans – I recommend stainless steel pans. Aluminum is questionable in terms of the health impact. Teflon is also questionable health-wise. Cast Iron is good if you are making foods that are non-acidic (e.g. no tomatoes). Alternatively, enameled cast iron such as Le Creuset are nice, but quite expensive. Don’t skimp too much here. A good set of pans will last a lifetime. Make sure you get a large stockpot. I went middle of the road here with Cuisinart. There are better pans, but significantly more expensive. I’m very happy with my pans.
2. glass mixing bowls – plastic may be questionable health-wise, but the real reason to use glass is because it’s just nicer to work with. e.g. plastic wrap clings better to glass then plastic.
3. canning jars – If you’re doing any fermentation (e.g. pickles, condiments), sprouting, or storage of meat stock, canning jars are a must.
4. blender – I use my blender nearly every day to make blender batter quick-breads from whole, unmilled grains. e.g. pancakes, waffles, muffins, coffee cake, corn bread, etc. This is the cheapest, easiest way to get into freshly milled whole grains. I have a Bosch Universal mixer/blender.
5. grain mill – If you want to make biscuits, scones, cookies, or yeast/sourdough bread you will want a grain mill. packaged whole grain flour is nearly always stale and/or rancid. Milled grain loses vast amounts of nutritional value within 72 hours of milling. I highly recommend the Fidibus 21.
6. toaster oven – throw out your microwave (I haven’t been allowed to yet). Microwaving is questionable in regards to health. No long-term studies have been done. More often than not, new-fangled methods and foods end up being detrimental to your health. Use a toaster oven instead. They’re cheap.
7. mixer – a good mixer is a time saver, but everything that can be done in a mixer can be done either by hand (i.e. kneading) or with an inexpensive hand mixer. Get the higher priority items before popping for an expensive mixer. I have a Bosch Universal.
8. dehydrator – these are good for drying sprouted grains for milling into flour. I also use it for drying fruits like pineapples and bananas that are highly sugared if you buy them dried at the store. There are lots of other cool things you can do with a dehydrator. I have a Nesco.
9. immersion blender – this is good for making creamed soups, sauces, and smoothies. I use mine to make tomato soup, spaghetti sauce, mashed pinto beans (for burritos), and various creamed soups. Some units can double as a hand mixer. I have a Cuisinart.
10. food processor – I don’t have one yet, but it’s on my list of things to get. It is similar to a blender, but much better for dry things and for slicing things. Using a blender for dry stuff usually just throws the stuff up against the blender walls where it sticks. Food processors are good for things like pesto, pie crust, nut butter, etc.

Please comment on these items. I will update this list based on user comments.

I had been making corn torillas with masa harina, but Shari wanted me to try to make flour tortillas. So here’s the recipe I developed for whole wheat flour tortillas.

• 2 cups soft white wheat freshly ground into flour (or about 3c whole wheat flour)
• 2 tablespoons of whey
• 1 teaspoons of sea salt (I’m currently using RealSalt)
• 1 tablespoon of oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 cup of lukewarm water

Mix all of this stuff up and let it sit for 12-24 hours at room temperature. It’s probably better to leave the salt out and knead it in just before baking as it will allow the lacto-bacilli in the whey to work better.

Pull dough off in 2 inch diameter balls and flatten in a tortilla press or baker. Heat on both sides until done. Keep warm in the over (or toaster oven) on a plate covered by a damp paper towel till ready to serve.

If they stick to your press, you may want to add some extra flour to the dough or flour the press. The press I am using is Teflon coated (gasp) so works well with this recipe.

These are wonderful fresh, but get quite stiff if they sit around for very long. I found that they make a nice chewy snack after a day or so, but won’t work for burritos anymore unless you seriously rehydrate them.

The Fidibus 21 is a very attractive mill with a nicely finished beechwood enclosure. It is not a terribly large mill and has a fairly small footprint. It has to be one of the most convenient mills on the market. I simply pour the grain in the top, put a bowl under the spout, and flip a switch.

Several of the mills I considered had complaints about producing dust. The Fidibus 21 does not have this problem. Neither is it excessively noisy. Depending on the grain used, it is probably about the noise level of a microwave.

One of my concerns was fineness of flour. There are very few mills out there that can beat an impact mill for fineness of flour. The Fidibus 21 produces a flour that is more than fine enough for anything I’ll ever make. It isn’t as silky soft as corn starch, but it seems as fine as any store-bought whole wheat flour I’ve ever used.

On the other hand, I can set it to produce what is basically a cracked grain for hot cereal. I have been using my blender to do this, but the Fidibus 21 produces a much cleaner cracked cereal with much less flour than my blender, and it’s easier to use.

This morning I made scones with flour from this mill. The scones were much lighter and fluffier than I’ve ever been able to make with my old mill. I am very happy with my choice of mills.

UPDATE (February 7): The seller responded to a question about milling beans or oilseeds with this:

With regard to milling beans or oilseeds, this kind of mill – which grinds rather than cuts – is generally not recommended. The beans are not nearly as dry as grain, so they tend to smear on the mill surface during the grinding, and gum up the works. Then this residue tends subsequently to flavor your grain flours and meals in unintended ways.

This is not a problem for me since I have no intention of milling beans and use my blender to handle flax seeds.

Also, in the video, I first fill the hopper and then turn on the unit. The seller recommends spinning up the unit before filling the hopper. I must agree, it does seem to work better that way.

After living with this mill for a week I absolutely love it. While the stunning good looks, fine low temperature flour, and relatively quiet operation are all excellent features, my favorite thing about this mill is its convenience. It is so easy to mill just a little bit of flour without any setup or cleanup. It makes milling almost as easy as using pre-milled flour from the store.

UPDATE (2/9/2007): I just milled 2 cups of flour and then stuck an instant read thermometer in the flour. The room temperature in our house is about 69 degrees F. The thermometer read 80 degrees. The flour that came out first was cooler than the flour at the end, so if you are milling large amounts of flour the stones will heat up some. But a 10 degree gain is miniscule in my mind.

My main reasons for this choice are:

• I’m a traditionalist. I’m skeptical of newfangled ways of doing things. For this reason I shyed away from choosing a high speed pulverizing impact mill like the Nutrimill or Wondermill. More often than not, newfangled methods end up being problematic (e.g. trans-fats, aspartame, pasteurization, microwaves)
• The Fidibus is aesthetically in a different league. The Nutrimill is a standard white plastic non-descript appliance. The Fidibus is housed in an attractive beech wood cabinet.
• I want convenience. My current mill requires me to jump through hoops to grind flour. The Fidibus looks to be one of the most convenient devices available. You pour the grain in the top and the flour comes out a little spout on the side, right into your mixing bowl or measuring cup. Most other devices have separate flour bins you have to insert and extract or attach.
• By all reports, the Fidibus is significantly quieter than any impact mill.

The Fidibus 21 is is the little brother to the Fidibus Classic, which is also marketed as the Wolfgang mill in the US. The Wolfgang/Fidibus Classic is a nice looking mill, but it was out of my price range.

I’m anxious to receive my new mill. A review will be forth-coming once I have an opportunity to play with it.

UPDATE: For more information see my later post on the KoMo Fidibus 21.

I discovered that there is a widening crack in my attachment for my Bosch Universal. The ebay ad said there was a crack, but I had not been able to find it until now. Perhaps it was exacerbated when I dropped it. At any rate, my flour has become much coarser now.

My spending limit is $250. I’ve been looking at both impact mills and stone mills. I looked at some of the less expensive steel burr mills, but none of them will grind fine enough for what I want to do.

Currently I have narrowed the list down to 2 mills:

• The Nutrimill – an impact style mill that pulverizes the grain at super high speeds into micron size particles.
• The Komo Fidibus 21 – A German stone mill that is visually stunning and well reviewed.

At this point I am leaning toward the Fidibus 21, but am still considering the Nutrimill. I am primarily concerned about possible high temperatures and possible excessive starch damage caused by an impact mill.

I would love to hear comments on either of these mills (or any other mill for that matter) from people who have used them.

I didn’t really time it exactly, but I think it took 4-5 hours. I was amazed since my previous unit seemed to take forever. I ran it at 135 degrees for the first 1-2 hours and then dropped it down to 115. The unit is well built and the best part is that it is expandable to 30 trays.

The kids love the fruit leather and the apple pieces as well.

I’ll be trying doing some sprouted wheat flour and maybe even some jerky.