Localvore Loaves
Come on Randy, we didn't think the Localvore Loaves were that bad!
Those of you who have been following the Challenge for a few years will remember that bread is always a CHALLENGE for the Challenge. For the first two years that we did the challenge, Red Hen Baking Company made special “Localvore Loaves.” Each loaf came with a full page letter from Red Hen owner Randy GEorge. I called the letter the “Why this bread sucks letter.” Most of us thought the bread was pretty good, but Randy didn’t feel right putting it into a Red Hen bag unless it met his always high standards for what a good loaf of bread should be.
Last year we were thrilled to learn that Red Hen had started sourcing some of its flour from a mill in southern Quebec and that the wheat from the flour came from that area. While the loaves were not totally local, they were getting closer. You can read about last years loaves and Randy’s commentary on Vermont grown wheat/flour here.
Local Flour Background
In 2006 when Localvore groups first started forming throughout Vermont we had several statewide meetings. One of the projects that the statewide group took on was titled Vermont Beans, Grains and Oils. The group was tasked to work with local farmers and producers and come up with some suggestions for how we could get more of these locally scarce ingredients into our food system. I helped the group tabulate the results of a survey they did with bakers throughout Vermont and the results were depressing. As a home baker, I hadn’t given much thought to flour. But, bread bakers are fanatical about their flours and it is because of this that we have so many amazing options for delicious artisan bread in Vermont. I learned that each sack of flour that they use comes with a lengthy statistical analysis; it seemed hopeless that Vermont farmers would ever be able to produce the flour that these discriminating bakers required.
Commitment to Local Flour
Wheat Growing at Aurora Farm on July 1, 2009 from the Nitty Gritty Grains Company Website
But Randy promised us he wanted to use local flour and has work with farmers in Vermont helping them understand what he and other bread bakers need. With each crop Randy and other bread bakers have diligently tested the flours these farmers have been producing and provide with feedback on their results.
Since 2007 Randy has been working with Charlotte farmer Tom Kenyon on this flour project. At the same time, Heather Darby of the University of Vermont has been working with other Vermont grain producers including Ben Gleason and Jack Lazor on parallel projects. Heather’s work has included trips out west with the farmers to meet grain growers and learn about different varieties that might produce better results here in Vermont.
You can imagine the heartache when the test on Tom’s 2007 wheat failed to make the grade. Acres and acres of wheat that was grown throughout the summer would never go into Red Hen bread. The results from 2008 were the same. What is amazing is that Randy and Tom persisted with this project! And, that persistence has paid off!
Persistence Pays Off!
Here is the e-mail that Randy sent to me at 11:12pm on Wednesday night. (It’s OK with Randy that I share this.)
| 9/9/2009Hi Robin,Well, talk about last minute… I just pulled some perfectly good bread from the oven, and it was made ENTIRELY FROM LOCAL WHEAT GROWN AT AURORA FARMS IN CHARLOTTE, VT!!!For the third year running, Tom Kenyon at Aurora attempted to grow wheat for us. The first two years did not produce results that were fit for milling, but this year we struck it rich. His 30 acre plot yielded 1500 bushels of wheat that had promising lab test results. Last week Tom brought 4000 lbs. of this wheat over to Champlain Valley Mills to be milled into white bread flour. I picked the flour up a couple of days ago and, having baked with it, I have to say that I am absolutely giddy!
This opens up a world of possibilities for us. Tom has enough of this wheat to produce about 60,000 lbs. of flour, so I’m beginning to work on what our year-round 100% local bread will be. In the mean time, I want to let all the those taking the localvore challenge know that we’re ready to make bread entirely from Vermont wheat—and this time there will be no disclaimer because there doesn’t need to be one! Tomorrow I will be contacting Hunger Mt. Co-op and City Market, but unlike in the last couple of years, if any localvore groups want to do a special order, we can accommodate that too. Randy |
THIS is What the Challenge is All About
So, the Localvores certainly cannot take credit for all of the hard work that Randy and Tom and the other farmers have put in to get to this point with a local bread flour. But I do believe that the challenges are responsible for raising the awareness about the lack of white flour here in Vermont. In our ignorance we simply asked why the wheat can’t be grown here? Our dedicated Vermont farmers and bakers were encouraged by our questions and set out to fulfill this need.
Of course, much work still needs to be done in this area and there are no guarantees that Tom’s crop in 2010 will make the grade, but this is definitely encouraging. I was also excited to learn that Jeffrey Hammelmann, the head baker at King Arthur, is also testing the flour. Maybe someday King Arthur will sell a true Vermont flour!
The Bottom Line
I need to spend some time on the phone with Tom Kenyon, but as I recall from previous conversations with him, in the past he has sold his wheat on the commodities market. With the breakthrough this year, it sounds like Randy will be buying most of the flour that Tom produces. Will it be cheaper than what Randy gets from the midwest? I don’t know. But, I do know that last year when gas prices were going crazy, the cost of breads and flour based food skyrocketed because it was so expensive to transport it halfway across the country. Who knows what the future holds for us between peak oil, global warming and acts of nature or man made disasters. The more food that we can grow closer to home, the better for everyone! Who can argue with that?
Aurora Farm in the Champlain Valley from the Nitty Gritty Grains Company Website
How Can You Get This Bread?
Given the short time that we have before the Challenge it is difficult to get this special bread into any of the normal sales outlets so we have made a special arrangement with The Green Cup in Waitsfield to sell preordered bread on Tuesday, September 15th. You can also purchase the bread at the Red Hen Cafe in Middlesex next Tuesday and Wednesday (September 15 and 16).
The bread will be $4 a loaf and must be paid for and picked up at The Green Cup by 1:30pm on Tuesday, September 15th or it will be sold to others who have not preordered. The Green Cup closes at 2pm on Tuesday and will be closed Wednesday and Thursday. There may be a very small quantity of bread that is not already spoken for available for sale that day.
Orders must be in by Sunday night – September 13th.
I thought I’d clarify a couple of things: Wheat prices skyrocketed worldwide last year and transportation costs were one of the factors, but not the major one. Among the major reasons that we saw the spike were: wild trading on wheat futures in the commodities market, increased imports from Australia (due to to drought) and China (due to wild growth), a poor harvest in many wheat-growing areas of the world, and a conversion of wheat acreage to corn production for ethanol. In only a year or so, many of these pressures (including the fuel costs that Robin mentioned) are not currently affecting us.
I feel that it is important to explain that the reason that Tom was successful in his harvest this year was largely because we have learned from our Quebecois wheat-growing neighbors that in this wet (and getting wetter, it seems) climate, wheat needs to be harvested early and dried in a storage bin with a propane burner. I don’t know exactly how much fuel Tom had to burn to dry the 1500 bushels of hard red wheat he harvested this year, but it was a considerable amount. The rough estimate he gave me has me thinking that carbon footprint-wise this extra fuel usage puts our local wheat ahead of midwest wheat delivered by truck (as is always done these days) and the same wheat delivered by rail car (which, from a carbon emissions standpoint, we’d like to see done).
In spite of this somewhat unfortunate fuel-usage fact, there is a powerful story behind this bread and the wheat that it was made with. I will always remember the feeling of driving down the road to Aurora Farms, looking out at Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks behind it, pulling in to one of the few remaining farms in Vermont’s “grain belt” and loading by hand, with the farmer who grew it, 3000 lbs. of flour milled from wheat grown right there on that farm. That experience on the farm became more profound in retrospect after baking good bread with this flour. There are lots of reasons to eat food that is grown close to home, but for me as a baker and an eater, the most powerful one is the sense of place that it can bring you. This food has a rich story of place and it is rare as a baker to be able to say as much about your bread.
–Randy
To Randy, Tom Kenyon and all the other folks involved in growing, creating and distributing the newest addition and (I’m guessing) Vermont’s first all local bread:
The bread is delicious! I was lucky enough to get a taste this morning at the Mad River Valley Farmer’s Market (MRV Localvore’s table). It is excellent–as are all of Red Hen’s breads! Same great texture of the crust, inner bread and very flavorful! Many thanks! I look forward to getting my loaves on Tuesday!