Honest review of Mockmill 100 stone grain mill after using a Wondermill for years. I share the pros and cons of both – and how a grain mill saves you money! Use your freshly ground einkorn wheat berries to make my easy no-knead einkorn sourdough bread.
Have you ever wondered what the big fuss was about grinding grains at home?
For a long time, I thought using a grain mill was reserved only for the “super crunchy” people that raised their own cows or had huge acreage-sized gardens.
Then I realized that you didn’t have to be “all in” to the hyper-healthy lifestyle to enjoy homemade bread made from freshly ground grain!
Although I can say this – finding a grain mill that’s within your budget AND one that you like is not easy. Years ago, I invested in a new grain mill and I’m sharing my honest review of the Mockmill grain mill.
Mockmill Grain Mill Review
First, let me say this: There are several grain mills on the market. They come at different price points with different pros and cons and different bells and whistles.
You don’t HAVE to buy a Mockmill. In fact, I’ve already shared how to grind your own grain WITHOUT a grain mill at all.
But I’ve owned two grain mills – two of the handful that are the most popular on the market – and I wanted to share my thoughts so you had some insight if or when you decided to make the investment yourself.
Before I jump in, let’s get a few of the basics out of the way.
Why Use a Flour Mill?
The most popular reason to use a flour mill is because freshly ground flour is healthier. This is true. According to my friend Wardee, flour starts to lose nutrients through oxidation 24 hours after grinding.
Who knows how long those bags of whole wheat have been sitting on the store shelf. And it kind of makes me wonder if there are any nutrients left at all.
Personally, I like using a grain grinder because it gives me more control over my food. In a variety of ways.
- If I run out of flour, I can make more. This includes all-purpose flour, too. (See how to make your own all-purpose flour.)
- I can grind a variety of grains. We’ve been using einkorn exclusively for several months, but I’ve experimented with hard wheat, soft wheat, spelt and kamut before.
- You can create flour blends for your favorite recipes. You’ll be hard pressed to find blends of different flours at the store (other than the 50/50 whole wheat / all-purpose blend), but you can make any blend of grains you want when you mill them yourself.
Plus, using a grain mill can save you TONS of money!
I absolutely LOVE crunching numbers like this, and that’s what I teach members to do in my course Grocery Budget Bootcamp. You can sign up for a free 3-part video training series HERE and learn more about saving money on groceries! Grocery Budget Bootcamp enrollment is currently closed, but you can join my FREE 5-day Crush Inflation Challenge and start saving money on groceries tomorrow!
How does a grain mill work?
In my research and experience with grinding my own grains, I’ve come across two types of mills. The most common for using in a home kitchen: an impact mill and a stone mill.
- Impact mill: This grain mill is made up of stainless steel blades that move incredibly fast, bursting the grains into small pieces as they hit the mill.
- The popular NutriMill and the WonderMill that I have tried are the two most common impact mills.
- Stone mill: This grain mill has two grooved stones that crack and grind the grain as it moves through the mill.
- The two of the most popular stone mills are the Mockmill and KoMo grain mills.
Which grain mill is best?
Isn’t that the million dollar question!!
I personally have owned both a Wondermill (an impact mill) and a Mockmill 100 (a stone mill). Let’s dig into the pros and cons, so I’ll give you my honest opinion based on my experience with both of these grain mills.
Wondermill: Pros
- A good budget option when you’re first starting out.
- It’s easy to use and it gets the job done.
- Comes with a container to hold my freshly ground flour.
Wondermill: Cons
- Loud. Very, very loud. Grinding grains during naptime or after bedtime would not be possible.
- It comes with several parts. The mill + mill lid + canister + canister lid + foam filter for the canister.
- It’s kind of bulky. I think all grain mills are going to be taller than we’d like, simply because it’s the nature of the beast, but because the canister was SEPARATE, it meant the entire machine was wide too. It takes up the space of TWO appliances in the pantry.
- Messy. Flour comes out through the foam filter at the top. It comes out through the chute that runs from the mill to the canister. It shakes out from the lid when you open the canister. I never measured, but I’m pretty sure I lost a good bit of money – via lost flour – because of the mill.
- The flour got hot. The freshly ground flour was noticeably hot after being milled, which tells me that it’s immediately losing nutrients and/or going rancid because of the heat.
Cleaning the Wondermill was difficult…
- Hard to take apart. This is through a friend, but she told me that something got stuck in her Wondermill and it was nearly impossible to take apart. Once her husband finally did get it apart and dislodged whatever was stuck, it was nearly impossible to put back together correctly. It was only a few days old at the time, and pretty much useless after that.
- Hard to clean. The stainless steel blades heated the flour as it was ground, which made it just a bit moist. This moist flour would then get stuck in the mill and chute every time I milled grain. I tried to clean it out using a new, dry paint brush, but some places you just couldn’t reach. I heard you could mill plain white rice to clean it, but I couldn’t understand how making MORE flour to clean the mill would work.
Needless to say, I had my WonderMill for several years and stuck with it because of our desire to “make do” with what we have. But honestly, it made grinding grain such a chore, I didn’t want to do it anymore!
I finally invested in a Mockmill 100 and couldn’t be happier. Let’s look at how the Mockmill 100 contrasts with the WonderMill.
Mockmill 100: Pros
- SO MUCH QUIETER. The kids can watch a movie in the living room just 20 feet away and not have to turn the volume up. This right here is worth the extra money.
- Just one piece! The mill is just one piece – nothing extra.
- Extra long cord. I don’t know why it is, but the cord is just a bit longer than most of my other kitchen appliance cords and I like it! It gives me flexibility with cooking in the kitchen.
- Slim design. It’s taller than the Wondermill, but it’s not as wide, so it takes up less room overall. I put it in the same cabinet as my 8 quart Instant Pot, since that’s a semi-tall appliance too.
- The flour doesn’t get as warm. In fact, the flour feels room temperature to the touch.
- Easy to clean. I haven’t had to officially clean the machine yet, because the flour doesn’t get hot and sticky and make a mess. The only “mess” there is, is a little flour left in the chute that hadn’t come out yet. A firm tap on the side of the mill takes care of that!
- Easy to take apart. Thankfully, I haven’t had to do this either, but my same friend whose Wondermill was doomed after a bean got stuck was able to take apart AND put back together the Mockmill in an hour. And it still worked!
- The flour is so fine! It’s hard to explain, but I think the flour from a Mockmill is more fine than the flour from a Wondermill – and I always used Wondermill’s finest setting!
Mockmill 100: Cons
- The chute covering could be sturdier. This is really a minor issue, as the chute covering is cosmetic anyway. There is a round hole where the flour comes out, and a rectangle covering that goes over it. The covering could be easily pulled off (hence the many warnings on the machine and instructions to NOT hold the machine by that covering), but doing so wouldn’t affect the integrity of the machine.
- It’s tall. This isn’t an issue for me, because as I mentioned I have an 8 quart Instant Pot that isn’t exactly small, so I stored the Mockmill in the same cabinet. However, it is a couple inches taller than the Wondermill and was too tall to fit in my pantry shelves.
Order your Mockmill grain mill through this link!
Flour Mill FAQs
The short answer is… you can use a food processor or a blender. Would I recommend it? No.
Grinding grains in a food processor or blender will get you a very rough flour. So rough, that it wouldn’t fair well in a loaf of bread because it would be too heavy.
If you start with a food processor or blender, you have to continue to process the flour – after it’s been cracked or “ground” – until you get a flour that’s more suitable to bake with. This extra processing creates lots of heat, and in turn destroys the nutrients of the flour.
So basically, you lose the healthy benefits of grinding your own flour at home.
There are a few different names used for a home grain mill. All of them typically refer to the same type of flour machine. These names are: grain mill, flour mill, flour mill machine, corn mill.
I’d save up for a good, quality grain mill. Something that is dedicated and designed to mill hard or soft grains into fine flour. I prefer Mockmill above the other brands like Wondermill, or Nutrimill.
How to choose the right grain mill
So, now that we’ve looked through some of the options out there for grain mills, honestly, I recommend saving for quality grain mill. One that is dedicated and designed to mill hard or soft grains into fine flour.
We know that here in the Crumbs community we encourage saving money on our grocery budget and buying things that are affordable.
In the case of a grain mill, we can think about the money saved over a period of few years with using grain ground at home instead of store bought flour.
- Think long term savings.
- Another option is if you can find a refurbished model of either the Wondermill or the Mockmill, or have a friend who doesn’t want her grain mill anymore, go for it! I’ve never been ashamed of buying used or accepting hand-me-downs!
- But if you choose the Wondermill or even a Nutrimill now, I think you’ll wish you waited for the Mockmill later on.
- Kind of how some people “settle” for the Nutribullet but wish they had saved up for a Blendtec.
- In the end, it all boils down to your finances and your real food goals. All that matters is that you do the best you can, with what you have!
My wife and I purchased a C.S. Bell Mill at a garage sale for $2. I need to so some repair work on the setup and now since the company is no longer around to find parts is going to be hard to repair. I think the Mill Pieces are worn out. I milled some wheat and got it milled but it was pretty course, not as fine as what I would like, but we will work on that in the future. What i really wanted to talk about was everyone’s supply of Wheat Berry and Corn. I live in rural Oklahoma and I went to my local elevator and purchased a 5 gallon bucket of wheat for 80 cents. Now it is a mixture of all the different kind of wheat that is grown in my area but it is eatable. looking at purchasing a newer Mill, and we are looking at the Mock Mill.
This has been so helpful to help me decide between the Wondermill, Blendtec, and MockMill! I appreciate the small size and noise level of the Mockmill. At the time of writing this, the Wondermill is $299, Blendtec $269 and Mockmill $342. Not too much difference, and being as this is an investment for several years, size/performance is important. I think I’ll be getting the Mockmill 100, however, your link does not show a discount at checkout. I have seen other bloggers with this issue as well – is that an error or does your link at least give you an affiliate perk? Thanks for all your info!
Hello Rebecca,
All you have to do is click on the link. There isn’t a discount code. 🙂
I used the Mockmill that attaches to my KitchenAid. The greatest problem with it was that the screw that secures it to my mixer actually wears away the finish of the mill which sends the hopper (filled with grain) spinning. There is a two year warrantee, so there will be a $30 cost to replacing the part.
Just wanted to thank you for the affiliate link! I ordered the Mockmill 200 professional.
I already have a nutramill which had worked great as well as the Grainmaker 99. The flour seems to come out fine but I hear the stone mills will go a little finer.
Has the discount link expired?
Sarah,
Not to our knowledge. Did you not get 5% off when you went to check out?
after a lot of research i am buying two mills a mock mill 200 and a manual mill made in montana called the grainmaker 99 it has more bang for you buck than the country living mill
Have you ever tried the Country Living Grain Mill? That’s what i have and I love it!!
I have had my Mockmill for several years now, and love it very much, especially having used a Wondermill for so long before. I really needed that extra countertop space, having moved into a small apartment.
About purchasing einkorn berries: They are rather expensive, but the food co-op of which I was a member began carrying einkorn and the price was much more reasonable. I’m no longer in the co-op because our membership dwindled so low we couldn’t get a large enough order to purchase from them. If you can find (or start!) a UNFI co-op in your area you might be able to purchase it there. UNFI goes all over the country. Perhaps there are also other co-ops that can get einkorn also.
I am very interested in this… could you speak to the cost effectiveness of buying your own berries (and where to do so) vs buying Kind Arthur brand flour? Thanks!
I’ve owned 2 wondermills. Each one broke on organic corn. Before these I had a Grain master that lasted about 4 years then broke on organic pop corn. The Wondermills lasted about a year each. The last wondermill had baffles to slow the flow of fine grains. But the big grain baffle wouldn’t accept pop corn, so what does one do? I am considering a Mock mill 200. I make gluten free pancake mix and organic bread for my wife and I. I’m not a industrial user.
Hello Doug!
The Mockmill will work with food-grade corn but not popcorn kernels. If you’re using popcorn kernels, I suggest using a blender or seed grinder. Grind it until it becomes a powder & after the first round, you will sieve the powder into a bowl and regrind the bigger pieces. I hope this helps.
My new Mockmill 100 was delivered today. I used the discount link and it worked perfectly. I also ordered some five pound bags of organic wheat berries. Can’t wait to grind and make bread. Thanks for the great review-it helped me decide on the Mockmill.
Hope you love it as much as we do, Rick!
You say, “BUT WAIT… for every 1 pound of whole grain you grind, you get 2 pounds of flour…”, which is false. If you start milling with a pound, you end up with a pound, or more likely, a bit less.
One cannot get something for nothing!
Ken, If you are making bread, are you measuring by volume? For example, if you have 1 cup of wheat berries, and you mill them, you are going to come out with 2 cups of flour (or a bit less). Cups can be converted to lbs. One cup weighs eight ounces and therefore, two cups equal 16 ounces, and this is the same weight of one pound–16 ounces. So four cups of flour would be equal to 2 lbs.
Hi, I think you are mixing up volume ounces and weight ounces. As an experiment I would recommend that you weigh the one cup of wheat berries on a scale and then weigh the 2 cups of flour after milling and you will see that they weigh the same even though the volume has increased (lots of air in fresh milled flour.) Another way to look at this is the flour you buy at the store – 2 cups of flour from the bag was milled from 1 cup of wheat berries at the factory. So, you’re not creating more flour by milling at home. But you are getting much better flour that’s worth every penny 🙂
I think Jeff is right. You certainly aren’t getting more than a pound of flour out for a pound of grain in. The volume may increase because the flour’s density is lower than the grain’s.
What is the difference between mock mill 100 and mock mill lino wooden version?
Just the wood
They have different adjustment controls as well. The 100 has a lever with an adjustment; the Lino adjusts by turning the wood top and it appears to adjust over a larger area for presumably the same range of sizes. That would suggest the Lino has more granular adjustment steps.
How do I get the 5% discount on a Mockmill? The link takes me to their website but there’s nothing about a discount.
It should be applied at checkout, however we will look further into it to ensure it is not a corrupted link. I am sorry it is causing issues for you!
Is the discount still good? Clicking on the link takes me to the website, but doesn’t apply the discount.
Hi Kate,
Is the 5% discount reflected at checkout?
Excellent writeup. I own a Wondermill and have considered other options. I was mainly wondering about finer grinds. What I end up doing with my Wondermill is sifting the bran out of flour (the milled endosperm is powder fine), soaking the bran separately, and reincorporating it at the end to prevent tearing the gluten in my bread.
Anyway, there was one correction I wanted to offer, if you’re open to hearing it. Near the top it states that when you mill one pound of grain, such as brown rice, you get two pounds of flour as a result. If you start with a pound of anything, you will end up with a pound or slightly less of flour. Because the weight is the same, it does not result in a 50% savings. I’m guessing you were referring to volume, which probably does double.
Thanks for the writeup.
I have a Whispermill (the original before Wondermill bought them). I was at least glad they changed the name from “whisper”. Sounds more like a jet airplane!
I’ve been reading about Mockmill so I was super thankful to read your review so I could compare what I currently have to Mockmill. Thank you for sharing!!!
His,
Mrs U
You’re most welcome!
I’m leaning toward the mock mill but I just have ONE question: does it do cracked grains too? Like steelcut?
Here’s a question. The reason we don’t want to create too much heat when we grind the berries is to keep the nutrition of the berry, correct? So, how much nutrition is lost when we actually bake the bread. Because, I bake at a pretty high temp!
Couple of things here. Firstly, is your time free? I didn’t think so, so why are you excluding it from your cost calculation? Secondly, I need you to explain the physics behind this statement *for every 1 pound of whole grain you grind, you get 2 pounds of flour*. I’d love to see that in action.
Where do you get Einkorn to grind into flour? Is it as affordable as store bought flour ?
Hi Barbara! I bought the Mockmill grain mill and grind it myself at home! Over time, it’s much MORE affordable than store bought!
Does i grind to a superfine flour?
That depends on which model you get, but this one does.
Hi, My mom used a noisy grain mill when we were growing up. Two things are very important. One, always start the mill then pour grain into the top. Two: after using it, unhook the canister from the side and take it to an outside door with a receptacle nearby. Plug it in and aim the side opening out the open door and run the machine for a bit to clear out any remaining flour. I learned the hard way after she gave me the mill to use and I didn’t always do those steps! Thankfully my dad came to the rescue and it still works. Just thought I’d pass this on!
Our family just invested in a Nutrimill a month and a half ago. I like it a lot. It is loud but I think that is something I can live with because it doesn’t get flour every where. I do have to tap the lid before I take it off and I use a pastry brush to clean it with so I dont lose much flour. We decided to invest in it and do a complete whole food pantry- no processed foods at all (health reasons). Right now I am using it to mill flour for waffles and muffins. I need to use it to mill flour for bread making but in our area we cannot find the hard white wheat or einkorn unless we have it mail ordered.
Um, grinding for doors not change the weight, just the volume…
I have a minimum, and I just love it!
Or you know, grinding flour does not change the weight… Love autocorrect! And my mockmill!