In both cases, whether you use a roller mill or a traditional stone grinder, the seed is crushed:
• by cylinders
• by the weight of the wheels
The Moulin Astrié stands out because it does not crush the cereal but rather unrolls it.
The amount of flour
Stone mill flour mills were replaced by roller mills during the industrialization of the West to meet increased demand for quantity. This is why roller mills have a better output. The system produces more flour per hour.
The quality of flour
Stone grinder mills have evolved a great deal, making it possible to refine the rotation of grinding wheels for optimal crushing in a minimum of passes.
That said, it is still necessary to make several passes for the grain to be crushed in a traditional stone grinder. It is therefore generally heated, losing its nutritional interests with each pass.
The Astrié mill, the “must” stone mill
This is where André and Pierre Astrié made a real discovery: starting from the observation that the quality of flour from a stone millstone mill was slightly superior, they sought to improve the crushing system of seed.
Indeed, in a millstone, the seed remains crushed, heated, oxidized.
The seed is crushed by the weight of the millstone. They therefore sought to no longer "crush" the seed but to unroll it to preserve the complete germ. The idea being to set aside only the "bran" (the wheat grain envelope) and then keep the whole seed for a digestible, healthy and high value-added flour.
Distinguish between a traditional stone grinder mill and an Astrié stone grinder mill
With a “Moulin Astrié” type stone millstone: the seed is no longer crushed by the weight of the millstones, but is unrolled.
The rotating millstone unrolls the cereal seeds in its grooves on the dormant (fixed) millstone. It is not the weight of the millstone that crushes the seed, but its rotation that unrolls the cereal to extract the envelope and preserve all of the germ.
They invented a micrometric adjustment that allows, depending on the cereal chosen, to unroll the seed and no longer crush it.
What difference does it make to unroll the seed instead of crushing it?
• The germ of the seed is preserved in its entirety, making it possible to preserve:
proteins
mineral salts
vitamin B
• the seed is never heated since the extraction rate is 80% in a single pass
• all nutritional inputs are retained
• the flour is more digestible
• the flour obtained is local flour
• you can mash all cereals as long as they are perfectly dry
The local flour obtained is of great added value
The flour obtained with a moulin Astrié is therefore a flour of terroir: more nutritious, more qualitative and therefore provides added value to the end consumer or the farmer baker.
Depending on the sieve chosen for your mill and the grain you are going to crush (wheat, buckwheat, rye, barley…), you can obtain different types of flour. With the sieve included in the mill offered by Astréïa, your flour will be T80.
You want to know which seeds can you unroll with an Astrié type stone grinder ? Click
It is even possible to make "gluten-free" flour in an Astrié-type stone mill, to find out how: Read our full article Co How do I make gluten-free flour with my Moulin Astrié?
Moulin Astrié: for consumer health
If we had to summarize this article we would say that the Astrié mill:
- rolls out the cereal instead of crushing it
- does not heat the cereal through multiple passes
- keeps all the nutritional qualities of crushed cereal
- has an extraction rate of 80% in a single pass
- makes it possible to obtain a local flour
- makes it possible to enhance the processed product or the cereal
If you want to know more about the Astrié mill, read our article All about the Astrié mill in 8 points