Music and Cats

On a Sunday morning last summer, Paul drove us to the farmers’ market early, so that I could indulge my obsession with photographing produce before going to stand in line for a dozen of Skagit River Ranch’s magnificent eggs. As I wandered along the rows of stalls, camera affixed to my face, Paul scouted ahead. I had just pulled my lens out of a flat of strawberries when he called to me, “Sweetie, someone’s selling grains over here.”

Grains? Grains?!? Several bakers sell their goods at the Ballard market, but I’d never seen anyone selling grains. Perhaps he meant granolas?

No, he meant grains. Organically grown grains and — be still my heart — freshly milled flours. When I read Bluebird Grain Farms‘ sign, I squealed and jumped up and down a little.

And then I descended on the woman setting up the stall. I wanted to know all about their products, and Lisa was happy to fill me in. (The folks who sell their produce/meat/eggs/cheese at farmers’ markets are thrilled when someone is interested enough to ask questions about their life’s work.) The farm is in the Methow Valley, east of the Cascades in Okanagan County. Sam and Brooke Lucy raise farro, rye, flax, and several types of wheat. They sell their grain whole, cracked for cereals, and milled into whole grain flours.

I had been looking for a local source for grains and flour for almost two years. The Palouse of eastern Washington and northern Idaho produces an abundance of grains; as with beans, I just had to find a source. The most local option I’d found before was Fairhaven Flour Mill in Bellingham, but while Fairhaven’s whole wheat pastry flour is milled in Bellingham from Washington wheat, their AP flour is milled in Utah.

We bought whole wheat bread flour and emmer flour from Bluebird Grain, but, as I can’t make good 100% whole grain baked goods, we continued to buy Fairhaven AP flour. Then, this spring, we found that Stone-Buhr is selling AP flour milled in Spokane from wheat grown by Shepherd’s Grain, a cooperative of Pacific Northwest family farms. Some of the wheat is grown outside of Washington, but it’s more local than other flour I can buy.

This summer, I’ve been baking the Cook’s Illustrated version of
no-knead bread. To the standard mixture of flour, yeast, salt and water, the CI recipe adds lager and white vinegar to improve the flavor. I’ve been using a blend of Stone Buhr AP and Bluebird Grain emmer flours, with Red Hook Blonde Ale (made in Woodinville), and Asian pear vinegar (a very light fruit vinegar) from Rockridge Orchards.

This bread has the crisp, crackling crust and open crumb of the original no-knead recipe. I don’t notice much difference in flavor from the Blonde Ale and vinegar; perhaps it would be more noticeable in a loaf made entirely from white flour.

This morning, I mixed up what I hope will grow into a sourdough starter. I used emmer flour that I ground fresh from Bluebird Grain Farms’ farro, and apple cider from Rockridge Orchards. If I’m lucky, in a few weeks I may be able to bake bread that’s even more local than this loaf. (I will not, however, attempt to extract salt for our bread from the waters of Puget Sound!)

But wait, I imagine you’re wondering, where’s the OLS meal? This week, I wouldn’t know how to choose one meal. With a few exceptions, we’ve eaten locally at home all week: fish, pork, eggs, dairy, vegetables, fruit and, yes, bread. And I haven’t taken pictures of any of those meals. (Even this bread photo is from a few weeks ago.) I’ll try to do better with documentation next week.

Stone-Buhr: AP flour from Shepherd’s Grain
Bluebird Grain Farms: emmer flour
Red Hook Brewery: Blonde Ale
Rockridge Orchards: Asian pear vinegar
Non-local: yeast, salt

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