What a home baker took home from the Grain Gathering
Maurizio Leo of The Perfect Loaf has written up the Grain Gathering, hosted by the WSU Breadlab and the Washington State Department of Agriculture from July 19 to 21 in the Skagit Valley. It was the first gathering in eight years, with the theme Nourishing Communities, and he went as a home baker among breeders, farmers, millers and professional bakers.
The highlight for him was a mobile bakery and mill built into a truck by Marc Benoit, with an oven, mill, mixer and workbench all powered by a solar array. Working with grains such as Hollis, Chimacum Confluence and Elwha River Spelt, the crew baked sourdough country loaves, focaccia, baguettes and bialys. The point of the truck is a shorter chain from field to loaf, with the farmer's name on the bag and more of the money staying with the grower.
Two ideas kept coming up. First, commodity grain gets anonymized, so care for soil and the farmer's effort go unpaid. Second, most wheat is bred for yield, uniformity, disease resistance and baking performance, and flavor and nutrition are missing from that list. The Breadlab puts them on the scorecard, breeding varieties like Skagit 1109, Salish Blue and Ruth, and then milling and baking them to see how they perform.
For home bakers, his takeaway is modest: swap one grain for an identity-preserved variety, or buy directly from a farm and mill at home. His own baking is trending toward more whole grains, named varieties and fresh-milled flour, though he admits good sifted flour still has its place.
What I like here is that fermentation is part of the answer but not the whole of it. Starting with grain that has flavor gives your starter something worth working with.
Source: The Perfect Loaf
The highlight for him was a mobile bakery and mill built into a truck by Marc Benoit, with an oven, mill, mixer and workbench all powered by a solar array. Working with grains such as Hollis, Chimacum Confluence and Elwha River Spelt, the crew baked sourdough country loaves, focaccia, baguettes and bialys. The point of the truck is a shorter chain from field to loaf, with the farmer's name on the bag and more of the money staying with the grower.
Two ideas kept coming up. First, commodity grain gets anonymized, so care for soil and the farmer's effort go unpaid. Second, most wheat is bred for yield, uniformity, disease resistance and baking performance, and flavor and nutrition are missing from that list. The Breadlab puts them on the scorecard, breeding varieties like Skagit 1109, Salish Blue and Ruth, and then milling and baking them to see how they perform.
For home bakers, his takeaway is modest: swap one grain for an identity-preserved variety, or buy directly from a farm and mill at home. His own baking is trending toward more whole grains, named varieties and fresh-milled flour, though he admits good sifted flour still has its place.
What I like here is that fermentation is part of the answer but not the whole of it. Starting with grain that has flavor gives your starter something worth working with.
Source: The Perfect Loaf
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