How to Mill Grains At Home: KitchenAid vs. Mockmill

We love grinding grains at home. Here, I am sharing my experience with the KitchenAid and Mockmill grain mill attachments.

Grinding grains at home is much better than buying whole-grain flours.

While there are so many different ways you can grind your own flours, I wanted to share why I love my KitchenAid stand mixer and what attachment I prefer for that!

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Why grind grains at home?

Of course, you can choose to buy whole grain flour. Or simply buy a whole grain product such as bread, bagels, cakes, muffins, or pasta.

While I am not certain about whole grain flours, I did learn a thing or two about whole grain products you can buy in the store.

A grain consists of the bran (the fiber), the germ, and the endosperm (the starch that is your flour). Since the germ contains oils, it can go rancid easily and quickly. Therefore, commercial food producers often, if not always separate all the parts of the whole grain but only add back the bran and the flour. Then, you are not getting a true WHOLE grain product. I don’t know about you but I found that pretty disturbing!

Why grind your own grains?

We like to bake our own breads and other flour-based goods.

I bake several times a week, both a darker, denser European-style whole-grain bread and a lighter artisan-style sourdough bread. The former is a true whole grain bread while the latter is white flour-based with some whole grain flour added for taste and better texture.

If you have never smelled the smell of freshly ground flour, you are in for a treat. But more importantly, grinding grains at home and immediately baking your bread (or using it) retains all the vital nutrients!

With the oils in the germ, whole grain flour can go rancid pretty quickly. So if you’re not using your freshly milled four right away, it is recommended to store it in the fridge for a day or two or better freeze for longer storage.

The KitchenAid grain mill attachment

I had enjoyed my KitchenAid grain mill attachment for some 17 years or so and it had been working well enough for me.

What I loved most about this attachment is that I can use my trusty old KitchenAid stand mixer instead of having a single-purpose appliance (a dedicated grain mill).

You see, for my German whole grain bread, I mill a pretty coarse flour.

But more recently, I have been wanting to and needed to grind grains to a very fine flour. I was shocked to notice how hot the flour had become from the friction of the grinding stones.

So I did some research and come across this:

The Mockmill grain mill attachment

Yes, there is another KitchenAid stand mixer grain mill attachment called the Mockmill. For clarity, I want to mention that this is NOT a sponsored post!

I am merely sharing my own opinion and my excitement over something that works really well!

This Mockmill attachment is Made in Germany – which is usually a good sign and makes this German girl very happy.

Similarities between the 2 attachments

The concept is the same for both of these: they attach to the front of the KitchenAid stand mixer. You pour the grains into the top or the hopper, turn the mixer on, and adjust the coarseness or fineness of the flour as needed while the machine is on.

Differences between the Mockmill and the Kitchenaid grain mill attachments

While the KitchenAid grain mill attachment is a single piece, the Mockmill attachment consists of the hopper, the actual grinding mechanism, and the chute.

That being said, the way these grain mills attach to the mixer, with the Mockmill, you can leave the bowl where it is. With the KitchenAid grain mill, you need to take it out and place it in front of the KitchenAid.

My absolute main reason for switching from something that works well is this: when I was grinding flour on the finest setting with the KitchenAid grain mill, the flour came out so hot, it felt as if it was being cooked. You might be able to grind a small amount of flour without it getting very hot. But once you want to grind a few cups at a time, the flour just gets too hot.

Again, I am not saying the KitchenAid grain mill attachment is bad! It is a fine choice for someone who grinds smaller amounts of flour, doesn’t grind flour very often, and/or doesn’t need to grind very fine flour.

The Mockmill attachment on the other hand, on the same setting, does warm the flour a bit but not nearly as hot as the KitchenAid attachment.

When looking at how finely ground the flours come out, the Mockmill does a much better job. The flour is so much finer than the one ground with the KitchenAid grinder attachment. When I set the dial to the finest setting on the KitchenAid attachment, the stand mixer started making a worrisome sound toward the end. I have never blown out my stand mixer and certainly don’t want to risk that!

And since I am grinding a lot of flour several times a week, I chose to get the Mockmill grain mill attachment.

Prices and availabilities of both grain mill attachments

As both of these are attachments don’t need their own motor, I find them reasonably priced. The KitchenAid attachment is about $150 and the Mockmill attachment is about $200 (you can buy it here with a 5% discount).

If you’re reading this post at the time of publication (July 2020), you might not be able to find either one. Everyone is baking bread at home and everyone seems to be grinding their own flour so both attachments might be sold out or on back-order.

I am giving you some vendors but it might be worth checking back periodically, whether one or the other grain mill attachment is back in stock.

Other ways to grind flour at home

There are a lot of stand-alone grain mills on the market. However, going into those would be a whole different post altogether. Mockmill also makes several other very high-quality dedicated grain mills.

If you don’t own a KitchenAid and/or if you don’t want to invest in a dedicated grain mill, you could use a high-speed blender such as a Vitamix or Blendtec. These work for smaller amounts of grains or if you only want to grind flour occasionally. Here, too, I find that the flour just gets too hot. But in a pinch, a high-speed blender can be a reasonable choice.

Sources and links:

KitchenAid stand mixer

KitchenAid grain mill attachment

Mockmill KitchenAid grain mill attachment

Vitamix high-speed blender

Blendtec high-speed blender

Organic wheat berries

Let me know if you have comments or questions!

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