r e gio nal events
By MC Fa rin e
photos: (center and right) pete smith
Gui l d Me m be r an d Food Wr ite r, Aptos , CA
The
Grain
Gathering
photos: mc farine unless otherwise noted
2015
Clockwise from top left: Wood-fired pizza by Mark Doxtader, Tastebud Farm, Portland, OR. Scott Mangold (foreground) and Cliff Leir
mark the places to cut grooves in the millstone. The angle and depth of the grooves determine how the grain moves across the surface of the
stone. Dressed millstone. Breads by Graison Gill, Bellegarde Bakery, New Orleans. Josey Baker and Jonathan Bethony performing their whole
grain baking dance. Local tomatoes. Bagels by Mark Doxtader, Tastebud Farm. Dawn Woodward and Natalie Duguid’s “starting a whole grain
bakery” workshop. OPPOSITE PAGE: Custom-made Grain Gathering cookies from Pâtisserie Seventy Four in Kansas City.
{ 32 } the bread bakers guild of america
r eg ion a l e v e n ts
This year’s Grain Gathering, held
as usual at Washington State
University Extension Center in
Mount Vernon, Washington, was
the fifth. It was also the best.
It felt as if tethers and moorings had
been cast off and a ship had launched. As
one of the 250 eager participants who
went from keynote address to roundtable
and from workshop to field tour, I found
myself plugged into a powerful current of
energy, watching all the milling, mixing,
shaping, and baking going on, and
hearing accents from all over the United
States and Canada, as well as Europe and
Latin America.
Part of it was the sheer excitement
of being there, but chiefly, it was the
growing realization that the successive
Gatherings form a continuum, that today
is built on yesterday, and that, with a bit
of luck and a lot of dedicated hard work,
tomorrow could take us even further. For
instance, I remember that in 2011 at the
first Kneading Conference West (as the
Grain Gathering was called its first three
years), farmers and bakers decried the
lack of regional milling infrastructures,
which made it difficult to grow, sell, and
use local grains.
traveler, Naomi Duguid, taught a class
on whole-grain pastries that included a
beautifully layered whole-spelt kouignamann. Jeffrey Hamelman, Director
of King Arthur Bakery in Norwich, VT,
incorporated high-extraction flour in
his flatbread workshop; Jim Williams
of Seven Stars Bakery in Providence, RI,
confided he had replaced some of the
white flour in his regular offerings with
white whole-wheat flour and added a mill
to his bakery to expand his whole-grain
line. Of course, bakers like Dave Miller
of Miller’s Bakehouse in Yankee Hill, CA,
went over to the “dark side” long ago,
baking almost exclusively whole-grain
breads and milling their own flours.
Jonathan Bethony taught a workshop
laying down the fundamental principles
of successful whole grain home baking:
“whole, wild, wet, slow, and bold,” and they
performed an hilarious pas de deux to
illustrate their points.
Those are only the workshops, events,
and demos I attended. There were many
more, including classes on fruit desserts,
shortbreads, tortillas, soba noodles,
food from the tandoori oven, and global
culinary grains; talks on school lunches,
milling, the quest for the perfect loaf, and
plant-breeding for flavor, functionality,
and nutrition; orchard tours, field trips,
and guided walks through experimental
fields of wheat. It was enough to make you
Today many more are planning to follow
wish you had been graced with the gift of
in their footsteps: the workshop on freshly ubiquity.
As seductive as they might seem, though,
the amber waves of grain don’t make for
smooth sailing: a tide of misinformation
is still rocking the boat. Andrew Ross,
a cereal scientist at Oregon State
University, debunked the myths and laid
down the facts. Small bakeries have an
increasingly hard time competing with
supermarkets, frozen doughs or parbaked goods are taking their toll, culinary
schools have yet to adjust their curricula.
Marie-Louise Risgaard of Skaertoft Mølle
in Sønderborg, Denmark, whose family
mill first brought organic, stoneground
Then, Cliff Leir of Fol Épi in Victoria,
flour
to Danish supermarkets, described
BC, had described the mill he had built
the
challenge
of operating a small
inside his bakery. He had come laden
milled 100% whole-grain bread that Miller
business in a global economy. Lot Loca
with loaves baked from his freshly milled taught with Jonathan Bethony, the Bread
Enrich
of Harinera Roca in Agramunt,
flours. Everybody had oohed and aahed,
Lab’s resident baker, was literally mobbed.
Catalonia,
alluded to the added hardship
but he had seemed like the odd man out,
Jeff Yankellow, Bakery Flour Sales
of
being
a
woman
at the helm of a milling
a lone pioneer on a distant frontier. This
Manager for King Arthur Flour, devoted
business
in
male-centric
Spain.
year, the very same Cliff Leir could be
a whole class to the lamination of wholefound under a tent helping Scott Mangold grain doughs.
But nobody ever expected the way
of Breadfarm in nearby Edison assemble
forward to be obstacle-free or easy. And
his own mill and dress his own millstones. Justin Dissmore, Pasta Chef at Café Lago
that’s where yearly events like the Grain
in Seattle, demonstrated the making of
Rustic loaves boldly played at center
Gathering come in: they stimulate the
whole wheat pasta and revealed he had
stage, while baguettes were nowhere to
exchange of skills, information, and
switched to whole grain as soon as the
be seen.
ideas, they reinvigorate networking, and
restaurant managed to secure access to a
more importantly, they encourage us to
Flavor remains a top priority, but
reasonably steady supply of Edison wheat.
dare.
In Proust’s words, “the real voyage
nutrition has become an important
Customers didn’t necessarily know they
of
discovery
consists not in seeking new
concern. A growing number of bakers
were eating more healthfully (the menu relandscapes,
but
in having new eyes.”
(and chefs) now see it as their mission
mains purposefully vague), but they were
to coax their customers into liking the
ordering the pasta dishes again and again. I believe that this year again, many of us
flavors and aromas of whole grains.
Grain Gatherers went home with a new
The home baker wasn’t forgotten. Josey
Dawn Woodward of Evelyn’s Crackers
outlook and a renewed sense of purpose. ✹
Baker of The Mill in San Francisco and
in Toronto, ON, and author and worldb r e a d l i n e s – fa l l 2 0 1 5 { 33 }