KitchenAid Grain Mill Attachment KGM

Please note: I use capitals for headings and emphasis, not yelling ok? GRAIN MILL? WHY? Fresh flour... doesn't sound exotic, or even exciting until you find out that, most of the flavour found in grains (the short-lived, aromatic parts especially)… Read more

is largely removed in commercial milling operations in the head-long pursuit of flours with longer shelf life. Considering that 95% of global wheat production is just one species of wheat, (Tritium Aestivum) amongst many unsung alternatives out there, the easiest way to improve breads, pastries, and even cakes (both as a flavour thing and/or as a health thing for people with gluten "intolerances") is to simply mill it as freshly as possible, and dabble with alternative mix of grains.

Gluten-free bread on a cheaper budget is entirely possible at home with your own mill, but there's a growing body of research to indicate that it's not actually the gluten that's the problem facing many people's bread intake. (Naturally get medical advice for your particular situation if you are concerned, this is just an educational statement, and does not consider your particular circumstances).

If you're "getting serious" in your hobbyist bread baking, you'll want to either buy freshly milled flours (doable online) or make freshly milled flours yourself from actual grains. The difference is noticeable from the first batch you make, and that difference gets bigger as you shorten the time between milling and baking.

Note: Online "fresh flours" in Australia average 20-40% more expensive per kilogram than buying the grains yourself and milling them at home.

ANOTHER KITCHEN APPLIANCE? REALLY?

While our kitchen is not small by any means, we're at the stage where buying any more single-purpose kitchen appliances, is carefully weighed against the required storage space. This attachment takes significantly less space than dedicated impact/stone mills, which I'm sure is important to many people. If you have any Kitchen Aid stand mixer, (not just the Tilt-heads mentioned on the Kitchen Aid Australia site), just know that it works with our bowl-lift (a.k.a: "Professional") series too.

HOW IS IT TO INSTALL, USE, CLEAN & MAINTAIN?

It comes pre-assembled, the two screws that need removing to disassemble it and clean it out are tight but weren't ridiculously so... I've read in other reviews during my own research that the screws holding the unit together were prohibitively tight. However that wasn't a problem I faced. The included brush doubles as a screwdriver for these two screws.. but I honestly prefer to use a proper screwdriver.

NOTE: You do NOT immerse this with water, EVER! Forget the dishwasher too! Simply give it a light wipe down with a damp cloth, with a tiny bit of detergent (on the cloth) if you wish, then let it dry COMPLETELY before use. You'll be passing though some sacrificial grains (don't eat the flour afterwards) to get the machine into a usable state. Then you're ready to go.

INITIAL SETUP AND USE:

Mounting it to the Kitchen Aid does need a little gentle twisting to align the drive shaft, as well as the mount points with the stand mixer. I HIGHLY recommend ensuring that the attachment is fully seated into the mixer, and that the retaining screw tightened well (not excessively so) to stop it from wobbling off. Do NOT leave this attachment unattended when in operation, and keep listening to it... it'll tell you if there are any problems. If you need to leave the kitchen, simply turn it off until you come back. It's ok to do things in the kitchen as it's running (food prep, cooking, whatever) as long as you can respond to it quickly.

To start the initial grind, I set it to the coarsest grind, and put two cups of cheap uncooked rice through the mill to test. I progressively set the grind to finer settings re-passing the same rice through, at each pass. I intentionally used a slow grinding speed, (the manual says use a top speed, but I was more cautious). The whole unit never even got warm in our winter kitchen. However, as soon as you get to the finest (or even second/third-finest) grain setting, you may start hearing unpleasant noises of metal on metal, just back it off one notch when you hear that. That's as fine as you can go with the grains you're milling. Discard your initial flour batch to ensure no oil (the protective coat Kitchen Aid put on the mill to prevent rust in transit) is in your food, and no other foreign objects end up in your food. It should be good to use (for edible flour making) once that is done.

Cleaning the mill attachment involves a simple dry-brushing out of the flours (brush is included with the kit). I don't disassemble the mill for every use (I use it almost daily) but if you're leaving it for a while, I open it up, thoroughly dust it out, and stick it in an air-tight container with silica gel pack to prevent rust (you can find them in empty vitamin bottles, seaweed sushi sheets, and many other places around the home). If you're just changing grains, you'll need to flush the old stuff out by running a cup of the new grain variety through. Also, you'll probably need to readjust the coarseness setting too.

WARNINGS:

Now this does NOT do wet or oily seeds/grains (no peanut butters, no coffee, etc) it is only for seeds with moisture contents below 15% but for most casual flour making (wheat, barley, corn, rice, millet, rye, buckwheat, oats, etc), that's more than enough.

PERFORMANCE:

Honestly, you're not always going to get that insanely fine dust-like flour that you see in stores... you should expect a small degree of "grit". If that's a problem, sift the flour afterwards. That's exactly what most commercial mills do. However, note that a portion of that grit can be re-added afterwards to "reduce" the grittiness without sacrificing rustic flavours. Of course, you can skip sifting altogether if you're using a "full retention" bread recipe, or sift it all out if you want finer flour. Sourdough bakers will want to keep all the grit in for the natural yeasts it provides to their starters. The breads beyond that... can be adjusted to taste.

This isn't going to as quick as a dedicated mill appliance. To add further discrepancy, despite being told to run the mixer attachment on "high speed", I choose to run mine on slow, to avoid heat (even temperatures barely over 40C can degrade the flour) and because I don't need a lot in a hurry. I can do 600g of hard wheat berries in under 30 minutes on slow. It's reasonably quiet and doesn't bother me. Most of my bread doughs are made days in advance, so I can spare the time. It says not to do more than 2Kg at a time, then to let the unit cool down over 45 mins... I live in Canberra, and it's winter. My internal temp probe says my auger is a whopping 15C... so no issue there. For those using faster settings, or living in warmer climates may have to heed those warnings for best results.

ATTACHMENT PRICE & THOUGHTS THEREOF:

I bought the Kitchen Aid Grain Mill Attachment after reading "Flour Lab" by Adam Leonti (and others) which recommended more expensive milling gear.. and I hesitated due to the price. When I saw that the EOFY sale price from the Australian Kitchen Aid site was actually cheaper than AliExpress milling attachment "knock offs" that offered fewer coarseness settings, my interest increased.

Conversely, certain "fancier competitor brands" of milling attachments (l'm looking at you, Mock Mill) were over TWICE the sale price of this attachment.. and when I read the manual for both attachments... I found that they did EXACTLY the same thing, with EXACTLY the same limitations (no oily/wet seeds). Now it's POSSIBLE that the Mock Mill brand will mill to a finer powder in common situations, and make life a little easier... but the difference between the finest grittiness and ease-of-use between the attachments is NOWHERE near commensurate with the vast price increase.. unless you need the ultimate finest powder on a routine basis. So consider your needs carefully. I'm going the other way, where I'm embracing the rustic charm of grits and seeds... but pastry chefs looking to use fresh flours might choose differently.

Ok, so you need to provide a separate container to catch your flour with the Kitchen Aid mill attachment, (Mock Mill's attachment simply has a chute to push it into the stand-mixer bowl) but my friend with the fancy Mock Mill model says it actually kicks up more flour dust into the air than mine.. and containing that with the spinning mixer head is hard. That might be a consideration for those with breathing issues. Since the Kitchen Aid uses a separate container away from unused moving parts of the mixer itself, I use a tall measuring jug on an upturned Tupperware container to "shorten the drop" and wrap a tea towel around the milling attachment/jug junction, and bulldog-clip it into place to contain the flour dust. It works very well... and has less mess to clean up.

CONCLUSION:

All metal construction, 12 coarseness settings, easy to mount, easy to store... low maintenance, 95% of the function for under 40% of the price (when on sale) of competing brands. what's not to like?