In episode 32 of the Root Simple Podcast I talk with Nan Kohler, owner and miller at Grist & Toll, a mill in Pasadena, California–and the first mill to operate in the L.A. area in the last one hundred years. We discuss varieties of wheat, the health benefits of whole grains, how to work with them and why flavor is important. Kelly is not on this episode but will return to the podcast next week.
Links
Ruth Reichl visits baker Richard Bertinet in England
White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf
If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.
Thanks for a great podcast. I sure wish we had a Grist and Toll in the SF Bay Area.
Love this episode! I laughed when you (Erik) said you looked in the back of a bakery to see what flour they use. I live around the corner from Tartine here in San Francisco and did the same thing. 😉 I buy wheat in fifty pound sacks and grind my own flour. It tastes much better with a sweet nutty flavor as Ms. Kohler said. For me wheat is part of my long term food storage rotation. The wheat will last for a very long time compared to flour And home made bread warm from the oven is so much better than anything from the supermarket – even when the loaves are a little football shaped… Too bad I don’t live in LA or I’d be at Grist and Toll in a jiffy.
Keep up the great podcasts.
Finally listened to this.Very interesting to hear about doing a 100% hydration on an all whole wheat bread.I have been working with Peter Reinharts Whole Wheat Hearth bread.He does a soaker and a biga over night and then proceeds to put together the dough.While he is big teacher of bakers math I have not gotten it down yet.But generally the WWH bread seems much less hydrated.
Also very interested to learn about the Joaquin Oro. I think it might be worth doing a few beds of it in the garden.See how it might adapt to the Owens Valley.
I have been working with home ground wheat for a few years now but the bags I can get are rather generic.Like just Hard Red Winter or Hard Red Spring.It would be nice to get a little more personal with my wheat.And they are full of other un-identifyable seeds.Thank you for the interesting discussion.
Pingback: 045 Whole Grain Baking | Root Simple