Grain and Flour Storage

 ( from Huasna Valley Farm's web site)

Whole wheat flour is a perishable product and will eventually oxidize and go rancid. Many people store their flour in the fridge or the freezer to maintain its freshness. We don't know exactly how long our flour will last when stored in different situations but here is a loose guideline: Always try to store in a cool, dark place. Store at room temperature or in the fridge if the flour will be used in 2-4 weeks, and in the freezer if it will be used over the next few months. If your flour deteriorates in quality let us know. We will use this information to provide better storage suggestions in the future.  We store our flour at room temperature and use it within a few weeks and have never had any problem.

Wheat berries on the other hand can last a very long time. Seed can be viable for 20 years after harvested. It is best stored in a cool dark place. If you have room in the fridge or freezer it will certainly last longer, but the pantry is where we store our whole grains.

Protein and Gluten in Wheat

If you are a bread baker remember that the protein content in our wheat and whole wheat flour is 11.9%, a little lower than what is usually sold as bread flour in the market. I like to add some vital wheat gluten (VWG) to the flour in bread making to increase the protein content to 15%, which gives a loftier, lighter loaf. The ratio is 0.8 ounces VWG to 15.2 ounces whole wheat flour. If you don't have a scale you can use 1.5 teaspoon VWG per cup of flour. This amended flour will perform well in your whole wheat bread recipes. We buy VWG from Grande Foods in Arroyo Grande. A 1lb bag is about $3.75 and lasts us several months.

For those of you who don't know what gluten is, I thought it would be an appropriate topic for the start of our wheat-based CSA. Wheat has many proteins in it, and two of those proteins are glutenin and gliadin. These two proteins are referred to as gluten. VWG, which is 75% gluten, is made by isolating gluten from flour. You can try an experiment to do this yourself. If you chew on 10 or 20 wheat berries and try not to swallow what remains, and keep chewing, eventually you will be left with what feels like gum. All of the starches have been washed away and what remains is primarily the gluten proteins. Commercially VWG is made by a similar process, washing away starches and isolating the gluten proteins. The gluten is then dried and milled into gluten flour, also known as VWG.

Gluten plays an important role in making bread rise. When dough is kneaded, the proteins link together and form a network in the bread. Yeast in bread dough eats simple sugars and releases carbon dioxide gas. The gas is then trapped in the bread by the network of gluten. With nowhere to go the gas makes the bread inflate like a balloon. In some cases bread flour doesn't have enough gluten, or the dough isn't kneaded enough to "develop" the gluten into a good matrix, and the gas will escape, the dough will not rise, and the final bread may be dense and flat. So make sure there is enough gluten and that you knead enough to develop it. (See the window pane test in the recipe section.)

However, when making pastries, you don't want to develop the gluten as it will make pastries chewy instead of cake-like and this is undesirable. So make sure not to stir your pancake or muffin batter too much, or you may develop the gluten when you don't want to.

Our job as farmers is to grow wheat that is good food, and performs well in baking. High protein levels means nutritious food and strong gluten levels for bread baking. Protein content has a lot to do with the fertility and nitrogen content of the soil, which is why we are working hard to develop a crop rotation that will maximize soil fertility and protein content. In conventional agriculture, these high protein levels are achieved with lots of chemical fertilizer, but we aim to match them by building healthy, life-filled soil.

Buttermilk Pancakes

These pancakes are simply amazing. Grab some buttermilk from the store and throw together a batch for what many people claim to be the best pancakes they have ever tasted. Makes about 1 dozen pancakes (3 to 4 servings).

2 cups Sonora whole wheat flour from Huasna Valley Farm

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 1/3 cups buttermilk

2 eggs (local, farm-fresh, free-range eggs are best!)

3 tablespoons of your favorite vegetable oil (butter works, we use melted coconut oil)

1.      Mix together dry ingredients in medium bowl. In another bowl whisk together eggs, buttermilk and melted butter or oil. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until incorporated (don't stir more than necessary).