Sometimes a place just changes you, and that’s exactly what happened with Les Maîtres de mon Moulin, a mill in the Pyrenees mountains of France. Except it changed me long before I ever set foot there. A few years ago, a friend came over for coffee and brought stories of this mythic little mountain town with an ancient windmill where a group of bakers were reviving old traditions and setting new ones. It seemed this idealistic hippie Arcadia where a band of bakers gathered for the complex love of simple bread. I was already hooked. Not long after, my friend Emily regaled me with stories of the same mill upon her epic return from hanging out in the bakery and making friends with a few of the people nestled up in those hills. I was resolved to go there.
Lo and behold, my dad was traveling through these very mountains this past summer, and in a hunt for old castles, found himself in the same bakery, punching out frantic texts and a museum’s-worth of pictures about how I need to make a pilgrimage! I think he was surprised there were other humans as obsessed with flour as I am. He bought half a dozen pastries and a book written by the head baker that I’ve been eeking my way through with a French-English dictionary to do most of the translation.
So how was it that this place changed me before I even went there? I think just knowing of its existence meant that it was possible to link history with a fresh future of bread that makes sense. There are no compromises, and the people of this village would probably accept any bread, but instead they get the very best bread made with grain from local growers and milled fresh. Everything about this place and its bread is nourishing and tasty.
Emily made it possible for me to visit this magical place sooner rather than later. She brought me to France with her to cook for a writer’s retreat. After several sixteen hour workdays beforehand (long story), she looked past all desire to rest and stowed me away in her rental car, driving the mere hour from Collioure where we’d been cooking and landed us in Cucugnan. I breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in days as we sat under the venerable windmill at a picnic table dotted with five types of bread that we frantically chose, wanting all of them. Alongside the fougasse we tore into was a small wheel of local goat cheese and some kind of fruity, buttery tart. We looked out in the distance past the terra cotta rooftops of the village and out at the craggy mountains that were ashy grey like the rind of the goat cheese. Our deeper senses began whispering, getting louder and louder, telling us how connected we are with the people who lived long before us. They worked this hard, or harder; they took breaks to talk with friends and enjoy these same small pleasures. And sometimes that’s enough.
Emily and I are scheming up a way to bring a group here in the coming year. If you’re interested, please let me know.
Here’s what’s on the menu this month:
Mama Bread
This month’s Mama bread is made with Rouge de Bordeaux wheat from Cairnspring Mill in the Skagit Valley in Washington. While this wheat is grown here in our region, it originated in France. This hard red winter heritage wheat is tall and awnless, and seems to yield well. Some say it is as old as 500 years, but I have yet to confirm. The point that it is very tall tells us that it is probably quite old, coming along before dwarf wheat won the day. At the same time, its lodge tolerance—meaning it doesn’t fall over easily—must have been a useful trait for our industrious ancestors. I love to think of these wheat varieties not only feeding people, but also housing them with thatching and providing small comforts of home, such as broom ends or mattress stuffing. A versatile plant, indeed!
Organic Sandwich Loaves
The sandwich bread this month is made with organic sifted Edison wheat flour from Camas Country Mill. The fact that this flour is sifted after being stone ground makes it a bit lighter, while still containing much of the germ and bran (thus more nutrients) than the typical flours found on grocery store shelves. To these loaves, I’m adding a bit of malted barley flour from Tuality Plains in Forest Grove, Oregon. The barley adds a hint of cereal sweetness and boosts the browning capabilities.
100% Einkorn Loaf
Einkorn is the most ancient wheat that we still cultivate. It’s genetically different than modern wheat because it reflects the time when wheat had a simpler DNA profile. It has a buttery color and a savory flavor with mineral overtones. I’m using grains from Bluebird and milling them at home on my Komo. This bread is a pan loaf and it’s superb as toast dripping with butter and a shaving of parmesan cheese.
Pumpkin Spelt & Sonora Loaves
Amy Halloran taught me to add squash to my bread, and I’m hooked. This seemed the quintessential bread for the Fall season, and so I’m mixing up whole grain spelt from Camas Country Mill with a touch of Sonora white wheat from farmer Sally Fox in California. Sally is a cotton breeder for sustainable farming systems, and she grows Sonora wheat as a cover crop in her rotations. She specializes in cotton that is grown in a palate of interesting colors, and adding this wheat is a nod to the color of her cotton, which is similar to this bread when cooked up with the winter squash.
To place an order, email me to let me know what you want and what day in the coming week you would prefer to get it. You are always welcome to drop by for espresso & morning toast, or we can work out delivery or pick-up via email. I have a limited amount of each item, so the earlier in the week you let me know, the better your chances of getting what you want. For the more spontaneously-minded types, drop me a line whenever and I’ll let you know what I have on hand. Oh, and if you want to pay for the bread on-line, here is the link. Of course, I’m always open to trade…
Savor your month with madcap delight and untamed gratitude,
Other news from the world of grain:
-Cascadia Grains is a conference that brings together farmers, breeders, millers, maltsters, bakers, and grain lovers in Olympia, Washington in January. I’ve been attending this event for the past several years, and I love it! I’m lucky enough to be on the steering committee this year, and I’m already getting excited about the program. They just announced their early bird pricing, and if you know you want to attend, here is where you can sign up for a great price.
-Two of my favorite bakers, Annie Moss and Sarah Owens, are teaching a class together in Portland, Oregon! Whoa, don’t miss this event at Seastar if you’re in town. Sign up here.
-If you haven’t had enough of watching food on television, this series about food science was recently recommended to me, and I’m enthralled.
For information about taking my class through AirBnB, go here.