Nothing sets my heart a-pattering like the complex yeasty smell of fresh-baked bread. The multi-layered crackle of a well-made artisan loaf puts me at the gates of heaven. Baking bread is a magical combination of art, science and experience. It is the archetype of the expert homemaker, but it is not something at which I've ever truly succeeded. The first time I tried whole wheat bread (I kid you not) one bite of the wheat-based Masonite I had created caused my gums to bleed.My bread is better than it used to be. It rises. It smells right. It thumps a good hollow sound. It is good when it is hot. But it is kind of pasty, and there is an ethereal quality of bakery bread that has eluded me. I call it The Chew. A good chew is what you get when bite a slice of Crumb Brothers ciabatta drizzled with honey, or eat a good bagel or pizza. It is something I haven't been able to duplicate at home. The Chew is partially responsible for keeping bread appetizing when it is no longer hot, and I couldn't make it happen in my loaves. I was at a dead end, bread-wise. I adjusted lots of things, but I never thought about my flour. Little did I know that just four blocks away was the answer to The Chew.
My sister's neighbor is The Pie Lady of Kaysville. She sent my sister on a trek to stock up on her flour of choice, Central Mill's organic unbleached pastry flour. The Pie Lady insists on it, said my sister. It is the only flour she uses, nothing else makes the cut for her crusts. I looked up the address she gave at Center Street and 100 East in Logan. There had to be a mistake. I know that neighborhood. I walk that way weekly during gardeners' market season, and had never noticed a flour store.
But there it was, set in the middle of the block, an unobtrusive red-brick building fronting towering silos. I've lived in Cache Valley long enough to know the ins and outs of the local businesses. I'd never heard of the nationally-known Central Milling Company. One of the biggest producers of organic grain products in the West, their flour is sought after by foodies and bread artisans all over the U.S, especially California.
I visited the small brick building and picked up a 50 pound bag of bread flour (they don't come any smaller). Honestly, I was doubtful that flour could make that big of a difference for my bread. One wheat flour is as good as any other, right?
Wrong, said Zach Perry, quality technician, tour guide and unofficial flour educator at Central Milling Company. Flour isn't simple. When wheat is milled to make white flour, the germ and bran are removed from the kernel (even though they contain nearly all the fiber and B vitamins, they are removed because they also interfere with the elastic properties of the gluten, vital to the texture of the bread). Flour has starch (complex carbohydrates). It also has protein. Soft wheat produces low protein flour for cakes, biscuits and pie crusts. Hard wheat has enough gumption (and protein) to develop higher amounts of gluten … the elastic stuff that allows yeast breads to rise (and gives a good chew).
When you buy flour from the grocery store, there is no way to know what the properties of the flour in the bag are. Wheat crops vary from year to year. Protein and mineral levels change. Some flour makes good bread, some doesn't, said Perry.
Central Milling Company uses a cocktail of 3 to 6 different wheat grains to get high protein bread flour that meets their specifications. They work closely with farmers to help them select seeds that will grow well organically and still produce wheat with the kind of properties they are looking for. They have an on-site quality testing lab. They use old varieties and local varieties of grain.
They don't try and breed out the color. Wheat is generally bred to be as white as possible, said Perry. Organic wheat has more color and more flavor, he said. They don't add bleach, they don't use pesticides, herbicides, and you avoid the chemical sewage sludge produced by conventional farming when you choose organically grown products, he said.
Central Milling Company uses local wheat when they can, but can't fill the demand for their organic products with only Utah wheat, said Perry. About one-third of their wheat comes from Utah. The rest comes from the mid-western United States and Canada. And part of their wheat is ground indirectly by local river water. Since last year, a diversion from the canal turns a generator under the mill that fuels one-third of their energy needs. They are also the oldest continuously operated business in Utah, Perry said.
Which is all very cool, but what about my bread?
I cracked open the big bag as soon as I got home. The first difference I noticed was the texture of the dough. It was silky, much softer than what I was used to, but not gluey. It reminded me of play dough, in a good way. The dough was easier to knead, and still rose significantly higher than what I'd accomplished before.
And then there was The Chew. The finished product had good texture, and a nice springy bite. I was impressed. I'm currently cooking my fourth loaf with Central Milling Company's flour. I haven't yet been able to do the cold bread test, since the first three loaves were consumed too quickly. I have hopes for this one since everyone at my house is currently at work or school. Except me, I'm home. We'll see.
