Don't give me 10% more in quantity, give me 10% more in quality.

George Schenk of American Flatbread in response to the food marketing gimmick of "Now you get 10% More for the same price!"

A Note about Red Hen Localvore Loaves and the sources of our grains

~from Randy George, owner of Red Hen Baking Company 

(Skip to the part that tells me which bread is local.)

(Skip to order bread for pick up at the Sept 13th Farmers' Market.)

Given the difficulties that we have had in the past making bread with 100% Vermont flour that met our quality standards, we have explored other sources of currently available flour that is milled from wheat grown closer to Vermont.  There is a mill just across the border in Quebec La Meunerie Milanaise, doing a nice job of working with their local farmers to produce good flour for bread-baking.  They source 80% of their wheat from farmers in their area (the mill is located 120 miles from Montpelier).  Since the beginning of this year, when we began using this flour from Quebec, we have been using this in many of our breads.  We continue to use Vermont-grown wheat as much as possible, wherever we can. 

Consequently, we have decided not to make a bread with 100% Vermont wheat this year as we have in the past for the Localvore challenge. There are positives and negatives to this decision.

On the negative side, we won't be making anything for people who want to adhere to a strict Localvore diet during the challenge.  

On the positive side, we are (and have been since last winter) making some bread that is available year-round that consists almost entirely (about 80 to 85 percent) of ingredients that were grown close to Vermont.  

Because of the efforts of the people at Milanaise, we are able to pull this off and still make a loaf of bread that we are entirely satisfied with. It is important to us to do what we can to source flour as locally as possible.  Given the challenges involved in doing that, we're proud to be able to say that we are doing that every day of the year for anyone who eats our bread (whether they are taking the Localvore challenge or not).  Although I know that this doesn't satisfy the needs of those taking the challenge, we see this as an improvement over where we were in previous years in that, rather than providing a few dedicated Localvores with bread for a week or a month, we are providing all of our customers with some mostly local bread options all year long.  

The Future of Vermont Wheat

Meanwhile, we are continuing to work with Vermont wheat-growers Ben Gleason and Tom Kenyon in a quest to see if they are able to grow wheat that is better suited to our needs as bread bakers.  Some of Tom's recent harvest is at a lab for preliminary testing and Ben will be sending us some samples of a new variety he grew this year for us to try in a bake test.  Such an undertaking is a multi-year process, but we are excited about the prospect of someday having a larger supply of Vermont wheat suitable for bread baking.   

The following is a breakdown, by percentage, of the sources of the ingredients in our bread.  “Other” usually indicates flour from Heartland Mills in Kansas, a small, exclusively organic mill in western Kansas that was started by a group of farmers and consults closely with bakers.

I think it is also worth mentioning that my favorite thing to do with Ben Gleason's wheat (other than using it in bread at a rate of up to 20%) is to make waffles with it.  Click here for the recipe.  

Thanks,  Randy George

Red Hen Baking Co.