Central Milling Company
Any artisanal or commercial baker in northern California worth his or her name is now using flour from Central Milling. When I visit a bakery my first question is always, what flour do you use? The answer is invariably, Central Milling.
The company’s mills are in Utah and most of the flour is organic except for Red Rose and Gilt Edge. The history of the company goes like this: The Giusto family owned Guisto’s flour company which was located south San Francisco until they eventually sold it. Unhappy with the product the new owners were turning out, Keith Giusto decided to start up his own company in Petaluma and produce a top-notch product.
On a visit to the company warehouse I was impressed by the wide variety of flours they produce. Each flour has a very specific purpose and Central Milling works closely with bakers to create blends for their needs. Their most recent products are THE One Organic Baguette Mix and Organic Cracked 6 Grain Mix.
Since my visit to Central Milling I have been baking quite a bit. My next blog will report the results.
Central Milling
ngiusto@centralmilling.com
posted by Lora Z at
5:50 PM
5 Comments:
If you think that one week old flour is fresh then you might not have heard of Muehlenbaekerai in Germany. They are bakers who mill their own flour fresh each day. One of the manufacturers of mills for these bakers is Osttiroler Getreidemühlen (East Tyrolean Grain Mills).
http://www.getreidemuehlen.com/en/grain-mills/commercial-mills/commercial-mills.php
Very cool,happy to know about and I want one of the machines. There is no question that milling your wheat as needed is certainly the freshest way to go. I think for our country the idea is still in its infancy, but when Julia Child came back to live in the States after her time abroad she couldn't find a shallot in a grocery store, so who knows, maybe milling your own wheat is the next trend.
You don't want flour that is too fresh ... unless you're talking about whole wheat. The sweet spot for unbleached flour is 10-14 days old. That amount of time give the flour a chance to oxidize naturally.
I would be interested in your opinions of the fine flours produced by Honeyville Farms, also a company with Utah roots and a California presence. I bake bread and have used Honeyville flour a lot (the specs on their packages have good info on falling rates, etc.) I have also used Lehi Roller Mills (a local Utah mill in Lehi, UT).
Here's the Honeyville info which includes WWII internment camp information!. Their story: http://honeyvillegrain.com/about/About.html
Can you tell me if their Organic Artisan Bakers Craft Plus Malted
Blend of hard red wheat, malted, 11.5% is good for baking cookies/ non bread baking too?
Thanks.
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