The bread in the bottom photo is made with Red Fife wheat. It was the flour of choice in the 19th century. It made it's way to Canada in the 1800's probably from Scotland. Before that, it's origins are unknown. It was reintroduced as part of a heritage grain project in Canada in 1989. Many of our modern types of wheat have the Red Fife lineage. It makes a bread with a pronounced nutty and slightly herbaceous flavor. It was one of the most delicious loaves I have baked. Without the work of farmers and the Canadian agronomist Sharon Rempel, Red Fife may have been lost as it fell out of production soon after the Great Depression.
The photos at the top are of Mike Zakowski, an exceptional baker in Sonoma, California and some of his fantastic breads. I recently spent time talking with him about different varieties of wheat and the challenges of obtaining local and organically grown. One of the most fascinating things about wheat is that it goes through genetic changes every year it's grown and interacts with its environment. This makes its 'terroir' specific to the field and environment it was grown in that year. It also creates the challenge of each batch of wheat being slightly different. Protein and starch levels can vary from field to field and year to year. Baking becomes more art than science, especially if the grain is milled truly whole--meaning that the bran has not been milled separately and added back, as in commercial flour. Truly whole grain flour is milled with endosperm, bran, and germ intact. This accounts for much of the great flavor in varieties like Red Fife.
The photos at the top are of Mike Zakowski, an exceptional baker in Sonoma, California and some of his fantastic breads. I recently spent time talking with him about different varieties of wheat and the challenges of obtaining local and organically grown. One of the most fascinating things about wheat is that it goes through genetic changes every year it's grown and interacts with its environment. This makes its 'terroir' specific to the field and environment it was grown in that year. It also creates the challenge of each batch of wheat being slightly different. Protein and starch levels can vary from field to field and year to year. Baking becomes more art than science, especially if the grain is milled truly whole--meaning that the bran has not been milled separately and added back, as in commercial flour. Truly whole grain flour is milled with endosperm, bran, and germ intact. This accounts for much of the great flavor in varieties like Red Fife.
Over the past few years there has been a great effort to restart a demand for wheat that exists outside of the commodity market. Recently, in Northern California we have seen a movement to establish a local grain economy. The Community Grains project is helping to engage farmers in this complicated task. Many of the images we see of wheat in the fields are very large areas planted to one variety on some interchangeable Midwestern range. The reality is, it's not different from other crops in its susceptibility to disease when planted in large monocultures. Wheat can thrive as part of small, bio-diverse farms. The challenge is to find more small farms to participate and to invest in an infrastructure that will support what is grown. That means having the capacity to mill, blend, and store it. This is expensive because of obvious economies of scale. The five multinational companies that distribute in the world's wheat commodity market have a massive scale. They are also selling a product that has only a faint resemblance to wheat. It is essentially starch with no nutritional value or flavor. In the few small mills that exist there is large minimum crop requirement to be able to process. This has made it impossible for farmers with small harvests to mill their crop. The first steps toward this have been taken. Starting with finding farmers and purchasing a small mill, the project seems to be slowly moving forward. Perhaps the next steps will be to diversify the varieties of heritage wheat and continue to find customers willing to bake with it in the necessary small batches.
The demand for traditional wheat exists. If we give people access to the true flavors of the past and the opportunity to taste and see the unique gifts that they offer, I know a non-commoditized wheat economy can flourish. If you bake at all, I highly recommend trying some of the different flours available at Anson Mills. It's only by exposing ourselves to these new, old flavors can we hope to keep their uniqueness alive.
