Tears in my eyes, reading the post previous to yours, Todd.

Congratulations on getting your Country Living Mill.

Wow Todd, I was reading this and say.... this thread sounds familiar... and it was.. a year ago. Congrats on the new purchase, enjoy the healthier eating.. also something I have been playing with the last year is whole grain foods... not grinding it but cooking it whole and adding it to reciepes. wheat, with sausage, kale (or spinach or broccoli) sun dried tomatoes, topped with parmasan or balsamic. Good healthy and filling.

Did you end up getting the power bar? Since my last post I used the CLM to grind coffee beans and it worked great. It was a bit over kill of course but it worked beautifully!

Cheers,
Logan.

I read your blog entry, nice job Todd.

Yup, grinding grain is a lot of work. That is why it was one of the first things to get mechanized.
You might rig up a solid mount and possibly even a type of bicycle drive. Bigger cranks, flywheels and even pedals so you can use your legs instead of your arms make it easier, but it will still be work even with some type of bicycle arrangement. Of course the more machinery you attach to it the more permanent, bulky, ugly and awkward to move around it, it becomes.

It will grind quite a bit faster than your results though. As you say it might be because you didn't have it bolted down securely.

Added:
I had some friends that were using a similar grinder and they bolted it to a good solid board and clamped the board onto their kitchen table with two great big C-clamps when they wanted to grind flour.

About cooking bread, it does not have to be baked. A lot of breads can be fried, steamed or grilled.
Boiled breads are not to my taste unless they are fried afterwards like bagels are. I just find boiled bread too slimy on the outside.
Fried bread can be very nice. You make it about a half inch thick and fry it like a pancake but a bit slower.
I then to put a lid over it when I fry it.
If you have a covered barbecue you can use it as an oven.
Steamed bread is usually bun size. Chinese buns like they have in Chinese bakeries are usually steamed buns.

Todd, Glad to hear you purchased the Country Living Grain Mill!

I too would like to know if you included the hand crank extension - I believe it does make the milling alot easier.

Have you tried creating your own Starter/Sponge for sour dough bread yet? You'll be amazed what great bread you can create with nothing but your flour, water, a pinch of salt, and a touch of olive oil.

Keep up the great work!

We have the extension, but due to it not being mounted it would topple the mill! When we get it mounted we will surely use it

Nope, where can I find the info on the Starter/sponge for sour dough??


Thanks!
-Todd

Starter depends on the spores in the air at your location, which is why bread varies from town to town, country to country, and places that tranfer part of their "mother" have to continually re-supply remote locations or the strain changes.

Just make bread dough and keep part of the unbaked dough as your "mother." Some say divide out part before salt is added.

Edit: http://www.baking911.com/bread/starters101howto.htm

Sweet! Thanks for that info and URL.

Congrats on getting your Country Living Grain Mill.

I've had mine for a couple of years now, and am very pleased with it.
Mine is permanently mounted to a counter in our laundry room; and I have the extension "power bar" for the handle... nice!

Before "moving up" to the Country Living Mill, I used one of the cheap Back to Basics mills. I think that mill can be a good way for someone to get some inexpensive experience with grinding/using grains... but the Country Living Mill is a huge difference in speed and convenience.