Grains and Flour from Regional Millers
Isolation has produced a lot of interesting outcomes, for better or worse. Not the least of those is the rise of home baking, which has resulted in bare shelves in the baking aisle and sold out notices on our go-to websites. After scouring the web for basic AP and bread flour, and coming up with nothing, I turned to another source: small farms and millers.
For me, this has been one of the positives of these strange times. I’ve since spent more time than I care to admit researching different millers around North America, who are dedicated to heirloom and landrace varieties of corn, wheat, and even rice. Luckily, many have made it easy for home bakers to get hold of their products. Beyond bread, these suppliers offer great options for gluten free baking, pasta and pizza dough, and more. Below are some of the more interesting places I’ve happened upon in my searches, although I’m sure there are many more out there I have yet to discover.
Wild Hive Farm
Founded by Don Lewis, Wild Hive works with local farmers to grow heirloom varieties, like emmer, red fife, and einkorn, and supplies many of New York’s leading chefs, bakers, and restaurants with high quality stone-milled flour and grains. As a bonus, they’ve recently added dry active yeast to their selection, which has been hard to come by.
Highlights: They offer a range of flours made from hard red spring and soft winter wheats, as well as some interesting blends for pasta making and baguettes.
Farm & Sparrow
This North Carolina-based miller focuses on landrace grains, which are species that have naturally adapted to their local surroundings without formal intervention, and are considered “semi-wild.” You can shop their inspiring selection, which includes corn, farro, wheat, rye, and buckwheat, and select your milling preference and size. The experience on their site is very user-friendly, which is a big plus.
Highlights: They offer three types of Farro (Einkorn, Emmer, and Spelt) and an impressive selection of landrace corns, which they grind in the following formats: grits, polenta, cornmeal, and flour.
Anson Mills
This South Carolina-based grower and miller is dedicated to growing a range of heirloom varieties of wheat, rice, and corn. Founder Glenn Roberts began the project in an effort to resuscitate staple crops of southern cooking that were in danger of going extinct. Lucky for us, it's very easy to order a range of their products through their website.
Highlights: Pastry flours, special blends for pasta and pizza dough, Carolina rice and rice flours, and their own gluten free flour blend made from rice, oat, and heirloom Bennecake flour.
Maine Grains
Skowhegan-based Maine Grains is dedicated to relocalizing grain production and supporting the local economy, including family farmers, bakers, and breweries. They offer a range of pantry staples, as well as some less common varieties from Estonia and Denmark.
Highlights: Sirvinta wheat, an Estonian heritage variety, Ancient Kamut® flour, and Øland wheat flour from Denmark.
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“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” James Beard