Air-Powered Mill “Explodes” Grain Instead Of Grinding

Air-Powered Mill “Explodes” Grain Instead Of Grinding GRAIN HANDLING Miscellaneous Instead of using a hammer mill or grinder to process grain Sunrise Flour Mill’s Unifine mill uses high-velocity airflow and a high-speed spinning drum to make grain literally explode by forcing it against tiny teeth on the inside of the drum “It sounds like a big jet engine ” says Darrold Glanville Sunrise Flour Mill founder “Our finely milled whole wheat flour has all the good stuff still in it and yet it bakes into light lofty loaves more like white flour ” The Unifine mill was developed in England in the 1930’s before being destroyed during WWII bombing The inventor brought the concept to the U S after the war where it was refined by engineers at Washington State University Leonard Fulton a Washington grain farmer financed the building of 3 of the mills Although the mills caught on commercially his grand nephew is now reintroducing the technology “The mill spins at 2 300 rpm’s and is powered by a 30 hp electric motor ” explains Chuck Call Sunrise general manager “The round mill has a diameter of only 3 ft but produces more than 8 000 lbs of flour per hour ” “Our Unifine mill is one of only 5 now operating in the country ” notes Glanville Glanville and Call are producing Unifine milled Turkey Red a hard red wheat and Sonora White a soft wheat Both are heritage wheat varieties that Sunrise has long championed Glanville developed gluten intolerance to flour made from conventional modern wheat He discovered he could eat breads made with heritage wheat without a problem so he started milling and marketing grains flours and mixes as well as home baking equipment Vol 33 No 6 What started out as a booth at a farmers market has evolved into more than a full-time enterprise and is expanding more with the Unifine mill “Historically fine whole wheat like ours is what the Europeans milled ” says Glanville “The Turkey Red makes a great bread flour and the Sonora White is a whole wheat pastry flour It’s also the best flour I’ve ever used for fish filets The flavor is amazing and the crust is wonderful ” Sunrise also markets a pizza flour mix that is a combination of conventionally milled Turkey Red white flour and Unifine milled Turkey Red whole wheat Currently Sunrise’s white flour is contract milled with the bran sifted out Call and Glanville are working on adding equipment to remove some portion of bran for even lighter baking bread The company is also installing pasta-making equipment for use with the Unifine flour “We hope to build interest from folks who want to eat healthier and want their kids to eat healthier but aren’t crazy about traditional whole wheat bread ” says Call “We hope to integrate Unifine flour into a lot of different foods We think it is the best flour available ” Sunrise sells the Unifine flour via their website in quantities ranging from 2 1/2-lb packages up to 50-lb bags Prices range from $10 to $90 Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Sunrise Flour Mill 39724 Grand Ave North Branch Minn 55056 ph 651 674-8050; info@sunriseflourmill com; www sunriseflourmill com

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