Suppliers: Unblended Flour from Mills Grinding With Stones
A field of wheat tilled with horses, harvested by hand: Lithuania, 2002
As a rule — though there were exceptions to the rule — European country breads were made with flour ground between stones from the grain the family grew, or from grain from nearby regions. In most of Europe, and in the English settlements in America, wheat was the preferred bread grain. In practice, well into the nineteenth century, European country breads were often made with a mixture of flours — wheat and rye was a common mix. In America, wheat and corn (maize) flour, or wheat, rye and corn flour were common mixes well into the 19th century.
Modern wheat flour purchased in bags or in bulk from big mills are always blends of several wheat cultivars. A typical flour is a blend of six or more wheat varieties. Millers don’t blend grains out of perversity. They do it for us. As the quality of wheat changes with the growing season, modern mills reformulate their blend as needed to maintain consistent quality. As so often in modern life, we have made our life easier, more consistent, but also blander.
When you make bread from a single variety of wheat your bread will have all the strengths — and all the weaknesses — of that particular variety. You will have to work with the flour to create a bread that suits it. This is the challenge that was faced by bakers up until the modern era.
I am assembling links to sources of single strains of wheat in the form of flour or whole grain. The mills listed here are all small producers — with some smaller than others. Please order from these companies — and also please be gentle with them. In many cases the miller is also the shipper.
As corn (maize) is an important grain in America, most of the American mills produce cornmeal in addition to flour from bread grains. As many of these producers — both in the US and in the UK — sell to local markets you will notice regional products matching the location of the mill. For example, oats from mills in Northern England, grits from mills in the Southern United States.
All of the mills listed here grind with stones — and many of them are open to the public. There is such an exciting array of flour offered by these mills that I know you will have a wonderful time browsing these links — and baking through these mills’ offerings. Whole grain flour should be consumed as soon as possible after milling, so bake within a few days of receiving shipments of whole grain flour. Alternatively, flour can be frozen to preserve freshness.
Regarding cost — the flour offered from these mills costs more than flour sold by big mills. When you buy this flour you are buying a product that is different from the one offered by big mills — so there is not an exact comparison — and you are supporting the millers — and preserving a valuable craft. Even the most expensive flour is less expensive per pound than steak. If you need to, make trade-offs in your own life so that you can, at least occasionally, buy hand crafted flour.