Best Oats for Making Oat Flour

When purchasing oats, there are four types to choose from but some of these oats are better than others for making oat flour. The Wonder Junior hand grain mill can grind all four of these oats but the WonderMill electric grain mill is only warrantied to grind oat groats and steel cut oat, not rolled oats or quick oats. The WonderMill makes a very fine and fluffy flour from oats that are a great addition to many baking projects.

Whole Oat Groats

The Best Type of Oats for Oat Flour are Oat Groats

Oat Groats are whole oats with their husks removed that look similar to wheat. Not only do oat groats flow better through the electric grain mill but all their nutritional benefits are protected in their whole grain state, during storage or sitting on the shelf. These whole oat groats also retain more of their terrific oat taste for your homemade oat flour.

One drawback of oat groats is that they are not as common to find in stores, although I was able to find them at a local grocery store in our town. If you live near a grainery or whole grains store you can usually get oat groats in bulk for a good price. Oat groats are also available online but shipping can be expensive on bulk oats.

Steel Cut Oats

Second Best Type of Oats for Oat Flour is Steel Cut Oats

Steel cut oats are oat groats that have been cut into smaller pieces, into thirds or so. Steel cut oats are more commonly found in stores than oat groats and are usually found in the bulk bins section of grocery stores. Steel cut oats do not keep there nutrition as long as oat groats but far longer than rolled oats. Steel cut oats also feed well through both the WonderMill and Wonder Junior grain mills.

Rolled Oats

Least Recommended are Rolled Oats and Quick Oats

Rolled oats (also called old fashioned oats) are oat groats that have been steamed and rolled flat. Quick oats are steel cut oats that have also been steamed and rolled flat. This processing destroys the enzymes and exposes the oats nutrients. Rolled oats and quick oats do not have as much nutritional value as oat groats or steel cut oats due to being more processed. Quick oats have the least nutrition of them all because they have been processed the most.

The Wonder Junior hand grain mill can grind these type of oats with ease, unlike the WonderMill electric grain mill. Because rolled oats and quick oats are light weight and flake shape they often cause clogging issues in the WonderMill’s feeding tube, so use these oats with caution and at your own risk as they are NOT warrantied in the WonderMill.

It is common to use rolled oats in a food processor to make oat flour but oat groats or steel cut oats are better for grain mills and give you the best oat flours.

You may have also seen instant oats at the grocery store but they are not for making oat flour. Instant oats also have very little, if any, nutritional value due to the extent of processing that it takes to make them instant.

See WillItGrind.com for more information on what you can grind in the WonderMill and Wonder Junior grain mills.