FLOUR POWER
Find out more about the lockdown baking trend, plus how to use interesting and lesser-known types of flour
In the last year, baking has been our entertainment and salvation, and we’ve become more adventurous, seeking out lesser-known flours made with heritage grains. Here, we explore the positive impact our collective baking bug has had on Britain’s artisan flour makers
For a long time, my understanding of flour comprised four types: plain, wholemeal, bread and self-raising. Then, lockdown hit. Suddenly, an ingredient I’d taken for granted was the most sought-after staple. ‘People went on a journey,’ says John Lister, founder and CEO of Shipton Mill in Gloucestershire, which saw a phenomenal increase in sales right across its range of flours as we all baked banana bread and sourdough and our confidence grew.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH BENEFITS
Standard wheat is dependent on pesticides and fertilisers as it’s been bred with a shortened stem that cannot grow tall enough to shade out weeds and has lost the protective husk for its kernels. The shallow roots also make arable soils more prone to flooding, and the widespread use of chemicals is stripping the soil of organic matter and reducing biodiversity.
Research is ongoing into how widespread use of these chemicals may be increasing wheat allergies and intolerances – a factor that’s driving interest in heritage wheat varieties, which have deeper roots and can be grown without these chemicals on farms that adopt regenerative natural practices. Many heritage wheats ‘are naturally gluten-free or have a more digestible structure of gluten,’ says our health editor, Tracey Raye. ‘That’s helpful for people following special diets. A flour that’s naturally free from, or lower, in gluten will invariably be ‘higher in nutrients and fibres than one that’s been processed to remove the gluten.’ Additionally, the deeper roots of heritage wheats draw more minerals up into the plant, enriching its nutritional content.
HOW IS IT PROCESSED?
As ever, the golden rule is the less processing, the better, which is why the renewed interest in heritage grains has come hand in hand with a resurgence in traditional stone milling.
‘Stone milling means the whole grain is ground in one process, so its goodness is retained and the whole grain imparts a lovely nutty flavour,’ says Lister, who pioneered the return to stone milling in 1979. By way of contrast, in modern mills steel rollers strip the bran and wheatgerm from the grain, leaving only the white
The less processing, the better, which is why the renewed interest in heritage grains has come with a resurgence in stone milling
endosperm for grinding. Brown and wholemeal flours undergo the same process, but are slightly healthier as some of the extracted bran is added back in.
‘Stoneground flour makes a big difference when it comes to the flavour of your bread. It also activates a sourdough starter more quickly because more of the natural yeasts that are needed are present,’ says our resident sourdough expert, Barney Desmazery. ‘Once activated, the yeast has more food to feed on, so can swiftly get on with fermenting.’
Lizzie Parle, head baker at E5 Bakehouse in Hackney, London, explains, ‘The starch and gluten you need for baking is in the endosperm, but the nutrients and flavour are in the bran and wheatgerm.’ She, and her team, started their baking journey ‘believing flour is just flour. But, the more we learned about baking and sourdough, the more we realised how much flour and grains vary.’ Their quest was simple: ‘We wanted to make the simplest, most delicious sourdough. The bread we bake is about celebrating the flavour of flour.’
HOW TO USE IT
The best flavour comes from flour that’s been freshly milled, which is why tabletop mills are also taking off. ‘It’s like coffee – as soon as you mill it, it starts oxidising,’ says Parle, who mills for E5 in a bespoke stone mill next to the bakery. ‘A tabletop mill opens up a world of flavours and means you can support your local grain farmer.’ But, you don’t need to go as far as procuring your own farmer and stone mill to reap the rewards of heritage grain.
You don’t even need to be an expert baker. Before August last year, economist Susie Symes had never baked a single loaf. ‘Until then, I’d made a cake maybe once a decade,’ she says. Her lockdown search for something ‘fun, calm and sustaining’ to do led her to baking bread, and from there, curiosity prompted experimention with rye and spelt flours in her weekly sourdough boule. ‘They add depth of flavour,’ she says.
Summer Ryland, a freelance editor and enthusiastic home baker, reports a similar experience: ‘I reached for a bag of spelt flour one day in a bid to incorporate more interesting flours into my bakes, and quickly realised I love the pleasing chew and subtle nuttiness.’
SAVOUR THE FLAVOUR
Not every flour has a pronounced flavour. While ancient varieties – einkorn, emmer and spelt – are distinct in taste, the flavour notes of more recent heritage grains, which are descended from them, are less discernible. British heritage grains have wonderful names – April Bearded, Red Fife and Devon Orange Blue Rough Chaff, to name just a few – ‘but the differences between them are nuanced, like that of grapes from the same vineyard,’ explains Shipton Mill’s John Lister. What draws him and his customers toward these grains is their environmental credentials and the stories and people behind them.
‘In some remote areas in Europe, you’ll find farmers who are still growing old heritage grains, so we’ve started stocking them on rotation,’ he continues. ‘Most recently, we’ve brought over Solina and Faragolla from the Abruzzi Apennines in Italy – medieval varieties grown on small family farms in the mountains.’
Lister’s comparison with wine is apt. Many of the bakers and millers I speak to hope flour will follow in the footsteps of cheese, wine and beer in becoming slower, more natural and more environmentally conscious. As Parle points out, ‘the reason you get such rich flavours from old vines and organic vineyards is partly because the vines have longer roots to dig deep into the soil and bring up trace minerals, as well as more time to do so. Those minerals are concentrated in a smaller amount of fruit.’
BEYOND BREAD
‘I love to incorporate ancient grains into my general baking,’ says Desmazery. ‘Rye flour makes cookies really chewy, and gives bun doughs more complexity. Spelt flour gives savoury pastries a nutty flavour.’
The best way to incorporate heritage grains into your daily bakes is through experimentation: add them gradually to plain flour and increase the proportions as you feel comfortable. ‘Ancient grain flours are different to work with as they have a lower gluten content, but if you simply swap them for 20 per cent of the wheat flour in a recipe, you still get the flavour without having to change the recipe too much,’ Desmazery adds.
Anna Higham, executive pastry chef at the River Café in west London, recommends starting with pancakes. ‘They’re a brilliant way to experiment and see how different flours react – they’re a good base for detecting the different flavours and textures.’
‘We’ve become so accustomed to using strong, stable, high-gluten flour from Canada or Kazakhstan,’ says Rosy Benson of Field Bakery, a farm-based bakery in Somerset. Heritage grains demands ‘a bit more attention,’ she says. ‘Feel how the flour absorbs the water and look for signs of fermentation. It’s more trial and error, but that’s how it should be.’
Differences between grains are nuanced, like grapes from the same vineyard