In the recipes we share from the book (see all of them below), you can try blondes with malty, grain-milk-like barley flour. Make the easiest shortbread ever with wheat-like historical einkorn. Muesli scones: self-explanatory. Ricotta cornmeal pound cake, heavenly. I baked the appropriately named trouble cookies with sweet sorghum flour, pieces of heather, coconut and cashews and took them to the campsite with me to eat. (Make sure, however, that you keep any newly purchased whole wheat flours in the refrigerator or freezer as they will go rancid if used infrequently. Jullapat stores them in zip lock bags. I’m digging a pile Cambro.)
But say you are not me and you find my insistence on spelled flour a little annoying or ask a little much. I’ll have Roxana reply, “You have all these spices. You have two or three options for breakfast cereals. Yogurt, you could have two or three flavors. It is the same with grains. And with more raw materials, there is more potential. “These grains are also healthier than all-purpose industrial flour. They are full of vitamins and minerals and everyone’s favorite – fiber.
These blueberry spelled muffins are repeated.
Photographs by Jenny Huang, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio
As much fun as it is to bake nut grains through, it is also instructive and empowering. “I was impressed by the fact that our conventional, global flour supply only reflects a handful of wheat varieties,” writes Jullapat on the opening pages. Before dealing with the recipes, she tells the story of the grain in each chapter and explains its nutritional and ecological benefits.
If you Buy heritage heritage grainsSmall producers in particular not only support the local economy, but also Advocate for agricultural biodiversity and more sustainable farming methods. Like Maine Grains in Skowhegan, Maine, which grinds certified organic and heritage grains “that are grown alternately with plants that balance the nutrients in the soil,” says founder Amber Lambke. Buckwheat is one of those surge crops that feeds the soil after other plants have used it up (use this as an excuse to make the buckwheat chocolate cake below). Sorghum can grow in hot, dry conditions and requires much less water and land than other grains. “Restoring cereal crops in the northeast serves bakers, brewers and cooks,” notes Lambke, “and is a step towards restoring balanced farming practices that are leaving the earth better than we found them.”
But perhaps the most compelling argument for baking with these whole wheat flours is that they are delicious. “The first steps are very non-binding: just buy a bag of flour,” says Jullapat. We’ll help you figure out what to do with it.
