Kneading Conference 2021

Presented By: The Heritage House

Flour is where farmer, miller, and baker meet. As we refocus on local growing and small-scale milling, we have an opportunity to revisit flour production based on a largely forgotten history. The purpose of this hands-on workshop is to introduce you to ideas and techniques from the history of bread. Whether you are a farmer, miller, or baker, there will be something in this workshop for you.

Our ideas about flour are shaped by the roller mill. Historically, flour was understood as a more dynamic product than it is today. This workshop introduces different ways of thinking about flour, and practical techniques for millers to produce flours that will inspire bakers to be creative and inventive.

I will show videos of water mills and artisan mills at work. The center of the demonstrations, however, will be live. I will demonstrate milling using my 8” stone Meadows Mill, and sieving and bolting using metal and cloth sieves that enable us to recreate historic flours, as well as invent new flours. An optional materials list will be provided before the workshop.

The workshop covers the systems the French called mouture rustique and mouture economique. We will work with both the “throughs” - the flour that falls through the sieves — and the “overtails” — the flour that stays behind. These techniques include conditioning grain before milling, and selective re-milling of sifted product, which are then sifted a second time. I will provide historic recipes to match the historic flours we make, and will offer a few recipes for flours that are entirely novel. This workshop is about finding inspiration in the past to feed our passion for grains, milling, and bread.