The Wondermill Jr. Deluxe is a manual operated mill capable of grinding both dry and “wet” grains, beans, corn, etc. It is not a flaker and is incapable of flaking groats into oatmeal flakes. It is also not inexpensive, it is an investment but one which will be utilized for the rest of our lives.
Assembly isn’t difficult, it all goes together pretty intuitively thankfully because the assembly instructions are lackluster at best, and honestly some of the worst I have ever run across. I managed to do it and I am probably the least engineering minded person I know, which means anyone can figure it out. There are too augers, clearly labeled for dry or wet mill, same with the grinding plates. I assembled ours for grinding wheat berries, which is what we will use it for most often.
It was initially attached to our stainless steel prep table, the clamps held it securely in place. However, despite the table being loaded with heavy kitchen equipment, grinding action caused the table to shake noticeably. This isn’t problem but it was unexpected.
Soft wheat berries were the first thing we tried. The mill performed as expected and was easy to operate. The grinding is a decent upper arm workout, which is not a bad thing for an over fifty woman who needs an upper arm workout routine and there is no better motivator than freshly ground flour to make things with as a reward.
The flour and bran are both byproducts of the milling process and you must sift the bran from the flour prior to use. The flour is wheat in coloration and retains all of it’s vital nutrients when milled. Milled flour is good for about a week, so I only ever mill enough we can use in that time frame. Once sifted the bran can be consumed by both humans and livestock, just depends on how many bran products you like to eat. Also, just as a warning, there will be far, far more bran than flour. Easily, from the four pounds of wheat berries I milled, we got back 4 pounds of bran at least and approximately five cups of flour.
Not going to pull punches here, it is a lot of effort for flour. It is much easier to grab flour from the grocery store and utilize that instead. There are health benefits associated with milling your own flour however. A quick search will bring up a plethora of articles discussing the health benefits associated with milling your own grains. It ends up being a highly personal choice in the end.
You can see the flour and the bran in the picture above. I used this flour to make a the pierogis in the last Cooking the Books post, found here. Both were delicious and there was no adjustments needed to any of the recipes. What we ended up with was delicious food that was far more nutrient complete and dense. For us, there is no question that the majority of our flour will be milled at home. I won’t lie, there will always be store purchased flour in the house for those times when it is needed in a hurry.
Overall, the Wondermill Jr. Deluxe does perform as intended. It is expensive and the company needs to do a serious overhaul of their instructions and manuals, including their website which isn’t helpful at all. But those minor gripes aside, it is an investment and purchase that will pay for itself easily.
Pecandarosa 