Maine Grain Alliance Farmer/Baker/Miller Workshops

2013 Annual Report for CNE13-109

Project Type: Sustainable Community Innovation
Funds awarded in 2013: $6,574.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2014
Region: Northeast
State: Maine
Project Leader:
Amber Lambke
Maine Grain Alliance
Co-Leaders:
Dr. Harold Dowse
Maine Grain Alliance

Maine Grain Alliance Farmer/Baker/Miller Workshops

Summary

The Maine Grain Alliance (MGA) has been awarded funding to develop a format for ongoing workshops to establish contacts among farmers, millers and bakers committed to using locally –raised bread grains. Our purpose is to provide instruction and resources to assist growth in these crucial enterprises. The workshops are allied with our overall mission of increasing public awareness of the importance and desirability of Maine-based business and agriculture in a grain-based economy. We offer the Kneading Conference and the Maine Artisan Bread Fair each year to disseminate our message widely. The core of the workshop offerings will consist of formal laboratory tests of grain varieties produced locally to determine their suitability for commercial development by artisan bakers and we intend to assist bakers in implementing products using these varieties to develop strong retail and wholesale markets. Farmers need to know what bakers require, bakers must understand the realities of what farmers face on the face of the earth and millers are obliged to work with both to get adequate supplies of desirable flours through the system.    

Objectives/Performance Targets

We have committed to offering three workshops with the above goals in mind. Owing to technical difficulties with the Spanish-manufactured Tayso steam-injected deck oven, we pushed our schedule back several months. One workshop has been conducted and we shall run two more in the winter and early spring of 2014. Presenters for these two workshops are being recruited and their curricula are under development. Dates will be set early in January and they will be publicized to potential participants soon thereafter.

 

Our specific objectives are summarized as follows:

 

  • To develop techniques for analyzing the behaviors and flavors of varieties of local flours over the course of 3 workshops and conduct and proof-test these techniques in the lab with a wide variety of samples.
  • To lay the groundwork for ongoing collaborations to formulate value-added, grain-based products. We shall assist bakers in developing product lines using local flours that will be acceptable in the marketplace and to assist farmers and bakers in market analysis.
  • To streamline access and acceptance into the wholesale and retail marketplace, and to establish a strong constituency of stakeholders to address infrastructure concerns.
  • To collect and categorize data and performance descriptions.
  • To track acreage devoted to bread grain cultivation in the state, along with amounts of local grains used by bakers. We shall also track growth of use over the course of the duration of the grant with a follow-up survey.
  • To disseminate information widely on our web site and by other means.
  • During the course of the workshops, we will carefully document issues that the participants think are crucial for furthering our aims.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The first workshop was held October 28th and 29th at the Maine Grain & Bread Lab at the Somerset Grist Mill, Skowhegan, Maine. It brought together presenters and participants who have a stake in Maine’s emerging grain economy.

Presenters were:

Dr. Ellen Mallory, Extension Professor at the University of Maine, reported on the research from the Northern New England Bread Wheat Project.

Sam Mudge, grain farmer, described the feedback from bakers and chefs that he needs, and his method for determining which seeds he plants.

Amber Lambke, owner of the Somerset Grist Mill, took participants on a tour of the mill and talked about the decisions that come up in the daily business of milling, along with describing the mill’s current product line.

Jim Amaral, baker and owner of Borealis Bread, conducted bread comparisons using 7 wheat varieties grown and milled in Maine.

Harold Dowse, Baker, Director of Baking Education for MGA and Resident Baking Advisor, assisted with presentations and oven and other equipment operations.

Curriculum development and workshop facilitation:

Wendy Hebb, MGA Program Director

Prof. Harold Dowse, Director of Baking Education for MGA and resident baking advisor.

Participants were:

 

Paula Marcoux, food historian (17th & 18th century production baking), food writer, baker. Her needs were to learn technical language and vocabulary to understand historic descriptions. (Massachusetts)

 

Paul Barese, serious home baker, contemplating opening a bakery, interested in educating himself about using local grains in a professional kitchen. (Washington DC)

 

Gregory Carpenter, baker/owner, Crooked Tree Breadworks. Talked a Michigan farmer into growing wheat and wants to be ready to bake with the first harvest, and wants to rebuild infrastructure in his region. (Michigan)

 

Karl Rau, owner/baker, Good Bread Bakery. He expressed a desire for help acclimating to the unblended local flours. (Skowhegan, Maine)

 

Will Tewksbury, from Good-Will Hinckley, chef for the student agriculture program. Will uses 50% Maine Grains flour for all baked goods and wants to improve his techniques, become knowledgeable about the seed-to-loaf chain of events and add grain crops to GWH’s crop rotations. (Maine)

 

Allen Smith, baker/owner, Forage Market. Currently using Maine Grains flour and interested in learning how to control variables. (Maine)

 

During the two days, the exchange of information among farmers, wheat scientists, millers, bakers and chefs established a bond of mutual support that interested the farmer in planting the wheat variety most favored, and committed the bakers and chef to supporting the network of grain producers by purchasing local flour. Bakers in particular recognized that to increase demand for products made from local flour there needs to be patron education on the value and unique flavors of local grains, and that meeting the farmer and the miller at the workshop, hearing their stories and understanding the risks they take, helps them convince customers to try new products and to stay loyal to products that may vary according to the wheat varietal and season.

Seven wheat varieties were made into bread loaves for comparison; time and space limitations and availability of seed reduced the number of varieties tested. We opted to forego crackers and only make breads for comparison for technical reasons. We compared whole wheat berries freshly milled into flour on site, with flour milled three weeks earlier. Additionally, we compared flours of 100% extraction with 85% extraction. The assumption going into the workshop was that bread flour should be 12 – 14% protein to make good bread with sufficiently developed gluten to provide loft for the heavier whole grain flours. Everyone was surprised that of the 7 flours tested, the one that was favored for flavor, and for loaf loft and crumb texture also had the lowest protein percentage – about 9.5%. At the most practical level, we found that common descriptors that compare flavors are helpful, but limited and subjective. These will require refinement and standardization.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The original plan to bring together wheat scientists, farmers, millers, bakers and chefs turned out to be an essential aspect of the success of the workshop. Connecting the chain of events ending in an artisan loaf of bread, placing value on each link, and emphasizing the importance of direct trade to keep control of resources in the hands of the producers and local communities served by these resources, was an important part of the philosophical shift that participants described: moving away from fear of unfamiliar flours to a commitment to spend the time and energy to learn how best to use the available varieties. Limiting enrollment to 6 – 8 people, in a workshop where both hands-on experience and personal interactions are inextricably intertwined, was ideal. In such a small group, everyone benefited from the questions, suggestions, and concerns of the others.

 

Dissemination of information discovered and developed is paramount. When queried, the participants were in agreement that was that an online resource would be most desirable. Information that needs to be included comprises:

1) Listing the varietals tested together by name, location of field, type (winter, spring), harvest date, and availability either through direct purchase or distributor.

2) Organizing the varieties tested in each workshop by order of overall preference with a description of why each was favored or not.

3) Providing provenance about the farmer or the history of the variety that can contribute to successful marketing.

 

This expands on our original intention of listing strains with descriptions of their flavors and functionalities only.

 

Additional valuable information suggested as useful would include details on the baking protocol:

1)      Mixing technique, machine or hand?

2)      Were preferments used?

3)      Natural leavening or commercial yeast?

4)      Details of the actual baking– steam? Temperature?

5)      What additional grain varieties have bakers and chefs successfully incorporated into their formulas?

 

Collaborators:

Barak Olins

zubakery@gmail.com
Baker
Zu Bakery
PO Box 84
Freeport, ME 04078
Office Phone: 2074090117
Website: http://www.zubakery.com/
Mike Gold

mgold@mainefarmlandtrust.org
Farm Viability
Maine Farmland Trust
PO Box 321
Unity, ME 04988
Office Phone: 2079486575
Website: http://www.mainefarmlandtrust.org/
Garin Smith

grasslandfarm@hotmail.com
Farmer
Grassland Organic Farm
41 Grassland Lane
Skowhegan, ME 04976
Office Phone: 2074746864
Website: http://www.grasslandorganicfarm.com/
Dr. Ellen Mallory

ellen.mallory@maine.edu
Professor
University of Maine
495 College Avenue
Orono, ME 04473
Office Phone: 2075812942
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/localbreadwheatproject/
Dr. Harold Dowse

dustydowse@aol.com
Professor
University of Maine
946 Dexter Rd.
Cambridge, ME 04923
Office Phone: 2077174578
Ann Mefferd

farmers@onedropfarm.com
Farmer
One Drop Farm
300 beckwith road
Cornville, ME 04976
Office Phone: 2078583033