The Miller

The Miller by sarah kavage

June 1, 2010, 2:49 pm
Filed under: baking, project updates | Tags: all-purpose flour, greenfield mills, industrial harvest, milling, new rinkel flour, pastry flour, wheat, whole wheat

Another crucial link in the long chain of transactions that hold this project together has now officially been forged (actually, this happened awhile ago, it’s just taken me awhile to post):  the miller. 

It took awhile to find a miller, and was much more difficult than I’d expected (although, to be honest, nothing in this project has been easy, I’d erroneously assumed that after figuring out Board of Trade delivery logistics, I’d be home free).  Dealing with 1000 bushels of non-organic wheat posed problems to millers both large and small.  The big guys couldn’t keep “my” lot of grain separate from the rest.  Since this project is all about creating an identity for a generic commodity, once it comes out of the grain elevator, it needs to evolve into something more “special” – and I mean, I just can’t go putting my very special commodity grain in with all that other riffraff.  The small mills were typically either exclusively organic and/or too small to handle that quantity of wheat in a reasonable time frame.  And, you guessed it, there just aren’t a lot of small mills out there anymore.  Smaller grain mills used to be common in the country midwest, but most of them have gone out of business.

So finding the folks at Greenfield Mills was a lucky break.  A fifth generation family operated mill on the Indiana / Michigan border, it’s also hydro-powered (generating power for the mill, plus 11 nearby homes).  Small enough clear out a bin to keep my grain separate, big enough to not be exclusively organic, and run by some very kind, understanding and accomodating people.  Dave Rinkel, who I suppose you could call the patriarch of Greenfield Mills, has been walking me through the miling process with plain talk and good humor.  

They’ll be milling two types of Industrial Harvest flour (and as much as I detest terms like “branding”, well, I’d just like to acknowledge that creating this “brand” has been a very satisfying part of this process):  a whole wheat pastry flour, and an all-purpose unbleached white flour.   Here are the labels that will go on the bags of flour.  Bonus points for folks who can identify the origins of the label symbology…

All purpose Industrial Harvest flour label

Industrial Harvest Whole Wheat Pastry Flour Label

This project has been a little bit like starting several businesses at once; I’ve been continually polling the bakers I talk to:  what kind of flour should I make?  Because soft red winter wheat  – the type traded on the Chicago Board of Trade and commonly grown in the lower midwest – Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri – is lower in protein, it’s better suited to pastry flour.  Although I’m not opposed to pastry flour, it’s used more for baked goods (cookies, crackers), biscuits and pie crusts – all delicious food items, but it’s not quite as versatile as I’d like – and I really wanted folks to be able to make bread with this flour.  After further discussion with Dave Rinkel, I decided that it would be worth mixing in a bit of hard wheat to bump up the protein content of the soft wheat and get an all-purpose flour.  This will make it better for breads, which need that protein to develop that great chewy texture.  At this point, I get a little bit less uptight about letting other wheat mingle with my special batch; in life, practical considerations create inconsistencies that we must live with, and more than anything else I want this flour to be a useful product for the people that receive it.

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