One of the questions we are asked most often about home flour mills is also one of the most sensible: can I mill this?
Once you have a domestic stone mill on the worktop, it is tempting to look at every jar in the cupboard as a possible flour. Wheat, rye and spelt are obvious. But what about dried maize? Chickpeas? Buckwheat? Linseed? Coffee beans?
The good news is that home milling gives you enormous freedom. You can mill fresh wholegrain flour just before baking, make small bespoke flour blends, add colour and flavour to your dough and use grains and pulses that you would rarely find as fresh flour in a shop.
The equally important news is that a flour mill is not a blender, coffee grinder, nut mill or wet grinder. The stones are designed to grind dry, clean, suitable grains and similar ingredients. If the ingredient is wet, oily, sticky or sugary, it can smear across the stones. Bakers often describe this as the stones becoming blinded: the surface becomes coated, the mill stops gripping properly, and the stones then need cleaning.
The simple rule
If it is dry, clean, hard and not oily, it is usually a good candidate for milling. If it is oily, damp, sticky, sugary or very aromatic, treat it with caution - or do not mill it at all.
That rule will answer most questions. A dried grain such as wheat, rye, spelt, rice, millet or dried maize is normally what a domestic flour mill is made for. A wet grain, a nut, an oily seed, a date, a raisin or a dark roasted coffee bean is a very different proposition.
At-a-glance guide: what can I mill?
Use this table as a practical starting point. Always check the instructions for your particular mill, especially if you are using an unusual ingredient or a very hard pulse.
| Ingredient | Mill alone? | Blend with grain? | Our guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat, spelt, rye, einkorn, emmer, khorasan/Kamut | Yes | Yes | The core use for a home flour mill. Excellent for fresh bread flour and sourdough baking. |
| Barley, millet, sorghum, teff | Yes, if dry | Yes | Good for flavour, colour and variety. Expect them to behave differently from wheat in bread dough. |
| Rice | Yes | Yes | Useful for rice flour, dusting flour and cleaning the stones after strongly flavoured dry ingredients. |
| Dried maize / corn | Yes | Yes | Use fully dried, food-grade maize, not fresh sweetcorn. In the UK, remember that this makes whole maize flour or cornmeal, not cornflour in the starch sense. |
| Buckwheat | Yes | Yes | A wonderful flavour addition. Despite the name, buckwheat is not wheat. |
| Quinoa and amaranth | Usually yes, if dry | Yes | Strong flavours. Start with small percentages in bread blends. |
| Lentils, chickpeas, split peas, mung beans, fava beans | Usually yes, if dry | Yes | Best as small additions for flavour, colour and protein. Check your mill’s instructions for very hard or large pulses. |
| Oats / oat groats | Check your mill | Usually small amounts only | Manufacturer guidance differs. Some guidance lists dry oats among millable grains, while other guidance treats oats as too oil-rich for the stones. Rolled oats, porridge oats and damp oats should not be milled in a stone flour mill. A flaker is usually the better tool if you want fresh oat flakes. |
| Malted grain | Caution | Small amounts | Dry malted grain may be suitable, but sticky malt products are not. Use sparingly unless you know your recipe. |
| Dry spices | Case by case | Usually not needed | Some dry spices can be milled, but aromas can linger. We usually prefer a spice grinder unless you want the flavour to carry into your next flour. |
| Linseed/flaxseed, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, chia, hemp | No | Only with caution | Oil-rich seeds can smear and blind the stones. Safer: add them whole to the dough, or grind separately in a seed/spice grinder. |
| Nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts | No | No | Too oily for a stone flour mill. Use nut flour bought ready-made or a tool designed for nuts. |
| Coffee beans | No | No | Use a coffee grinder. Roasted coffee may be oily and the aroma can taint later flour. |
| Fresh sweetcorn, wet grains, wet sprouted grains | No | No | Moisture can clog the stones. Sprouted grains must be thoroughly dried before milling. |
| Dried fruit, dates, raisins, candied peel | No | No | Sugary and sticky. Add them to the dough instead. |
| Chocolate, cocoa nibs | No | No | Fatty and prone to smearing. Not suitable for a flour mill. |
Can I mill dried maize?
Yes, dried maize is one of the more common questions, and it is generally suitable for a domestic grain mill when it is fully dry and food-grade. The thing to avoid is fresh sweetcorn or anything moist.
It is also worth clarifying the language. In Britain, “cornflour” usually means the fine white starch used for thickening sauces. Milling whole dried maize gives you something closer to whole maize flour, cornmeal or polenta-style meal, depending on how finely you mill it.
Can I mill oats?
Oats need a little more care than wheat, rye or spelt. The safest answer is: check the guidance for your exact mill and only consider clean, dry oat groats - not rolled oats, porridge oats, soaked oats or damp oats.
Manufacturer advice is not completely uniform. Some milling guidance includes oats among grains that may be milled, while other guidance treats oats as too oil-rich for a stone grain mill. That is why we prefer to describe oats as a caution ingredient rather than a simple yes.
If your aim is porridge, muesli or fresh oat flakes, a flaker is the better tool. If your mill maker permits oat groats and you want oat flour for baking, start with a small amount, mill coarser first, and check that the flour is flowing freely and the stones remain clean.
Can I mill coffee beans?
Our advice is no: use a coffee grinder. Coffee beans are not a grain for flour, and roasted coffee can be oily and highly aromatic. Even if a particular machine can physically break them down, you may not want tomorrow’s sourdough tasting faintly of espresso.
Can I mill linseed or other oily seeds?
Not on their own. Linseed, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, chia and hemp seeds are all valued precisely because they contain oils. Those oils are lovely in bread, but not lovely on the milling stones.
The safest approach is to mill your grain first, then add the seeds whole to the dough. If you want broken or ground linseed, use a seed grinder, spice grinder or pestle and mortar.
How to make more interesting flour without blinding the stones
A flour mill becomes especially exciting when you stop thinking in single grains and start thinking in blends. You do not have to bake with 100% freshly milled flour every time. You can use a little fresh flour to change the flavour, aroma, colour and nutrition of a familiar loaf.
For bread, start gently. A good first step is to replace 5–15% of your usual flour with a freshly milled grain, then increase it as you learn how the dough behaves. Some grains and pulses bring flavour but no gluten, so too much can make the loaf denser.
| What you want | Try this blend | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| An easy flavour boost in white sourdough | 85–90% strong white flour + 10–15% freshly milled whole wheat, spelt or rye | A very good starting point if you are new to milling. |
| A golden loaf with gentle sweetness | 90–95% wheat or spelt + 5–10% dried maize flour | Maize has no gluten, so keep the percentage modest for bread. |
| A darker, earthier loaf | 80–90% wheat + 10–20% rye or buckwheat | Expect more flavour and a less open crumb. |
| A seeded loaf without risking the stones | Mill wheat or spelt first, then add whole linseed, sunflower or pumpkin seeds to the dough | The safest way to get the goodness and texture of seeds. |
| A pulse-enriched bread | 90–95% wheat + 5–10% chickpea, lentil, fava or mung bean flour | Interesting flavour and colour. Start low and adjust next time. |
| A more aromatic bake | Mill a dry grain, then add spices separately to the dough or batter | This avoids spice aromas lingering in the mill. |
How do I know if grain is dry enough?
A simple test is to press a grain firmly against a hard surface with the back of a spoon. If it cracks or shatters, it is likely dry enough to mill. If it squashes or flattens like a flake, it is too moist and may clog the stones.
What if the stones become blinded?
Stop milling. Do not keep forcing the mill to run if it sounds strained or flour stops coming through normally.
For a light clean, many mill makers suggest milling a small amount of dry rice on a coarse-to-medium setting to help clear the stones. If the stones are badly coated, follow the cleaning instructions for your particular mill. Always switch the mill off and unplug it before any manual cleaning.
Our practical BakeryBits advice
Use your mill boldly, but not recklessly. Mill fresh wheat, rye, spelt, rice, dried maize, buckwheat and other suitable dry grains. Experiment with small amounts of pulses and distinctive grains. Build your own house flour blend. Keep notes. Change one thing at a time.
But keep oily, sticky and wet ingredients away from the stones. Nuts, oily seeds, dried fruit, chocolate and coffee are better handled by other tools.
Fresh milling should make baking feel more creative, not more worrying. Once you know the simple rule - dry, clean and low-oil - the question “can I mill this?” becomes much easier to answer.
Need help choosing a mill?
If you are choosing a mill for bread baking, the best starting point is to think about what you bake most often, how much flour you want to mill at a time, and whether you also want to roll flakes. Explore our range of home grain mills, or ask us before trying an unusual ingredient.
