Inside the Mill House

At the beginning of the year we posted this photo of a black door opening into a new space at the Sotterley Food Hub and an exciting new phase for Hodmedod.

We've now opened the doors to our new Mill House and stone mill, beautifully made by Andrew and the team at New American Stone Mills. 

At the mill's heart are two Vermont quarried Natural Barre Gray granite stones. This granite has an exceptionally fine grain, even texture and durability, as well as an ideal carving capacity that makes it popular among both sculptors and millers. Granite millstones have a large thermal mass that helps to keep temperature low during the milling process, protecting the grain's nutrients.

The speeds of the mill and the grain feed from the hopper are adjustable, allowing the mill to run at just the right rate for different types of grain.

The mill gives us the flexibility to work with small quantities of very special grains, like Owen Davies' black "Blacksmith" wheat, einkorn from Carr House Farm, and traditional Atle and Squareheads Master wheats grown by Paul and Tobias Watkins.

Our miller Keith and Josiah have been getting the measure of the mill over the last couple of months. Having initially milled a large batch of emmer flour for Pastificio Carleschi to use in our collaborative Emmer & Fava Bean Pasta, Keith has now milled an extended range of flours for baking, alongside our existing selection of flours milled for us by Maple Farm in Suffolk and Shipton Mill.

Here's a short film of the mill in action:

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