Waves of Grain: The Miller

Oops, another cookbook giveaway!

Oct 18, 2024

Welcome to part three of our four-part series on grains! This series was inspired by research for an article that’s in this month’s issue of Richmond Magazine, which you can check out here.

First, I want to say thank you to everyone who commented last week with a grain they are interested in getting to know better. Oats, einkorn, rye, sorghum, and teff all made the list. And without further ado, congratulations to Zack Simoncelli, the winner of the Mother Grains cookbook giveaway! Zack said he’s interested in trying his hand at baking with spelt and rye, and he’s doubly lucky because, in addition to his new cookbook, there’s a link to a great rye recipe in this very post! (If you didn’t win this time, scroll on down because there’s a new giveaway this week.)

This week is all about the miller, and here in Virginia, one of the biggest names in milling is Deep Roots. Charlie Wade started Deep Roots Milling in a garage in Roanoke in 2018. (It being my hometown, I know of several other things that began in garages in Roanoke, mostly ska bands, and I have to say this is a huge step up.) In 2020, Wade moved the operation to its current home at Woodson’s Mill, a water-powered mill that dates back to the 1790s, and millers Ian Gamble and Aaron Grigsby joined the band.

Since then, the business has grown to be one of the most prolific suppliers to bakeries in the region. They source their grains from Mid-Atlantic (mostly Virginia) farms, most of whom are part of the Common Grain Alliance. Wade says, while Deep Roots is known for their stone-ground grains, he still finds value in more refined flour and has been experimenting with offering a roller-milled product for bakers who need more consistency than the often variable stone-milled flours can provide.

deeprootsmilling

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In Their Words: Ian Gamble and Charlie Wade of Deep Roots Millling

Miller as middle man…

Charlie Wade: Our connection with farmers has really grown over the years, and that's a very important element for our business, as we depend on them as millers and bakers are dependent on us for quality flours. So as millers, we play that intermediary role between the farmer and the baker, and we've developed these relationships with different farmers, and in a way, have been helping to fuel the green economy.

The fresher the better…

Ian Gamble: When bakers work with us, they have a direct relationship with us. We communicate a lot with our customers regularly every month. I think another really big difference between our flour and a lot of flour available on the commodity market is it’s freshly-milled. So, we mill to order every month, as Charlie stated in the beginning. So for all of our bakeries, everyone's working with flour that's been milled, literally five days before they got it, and I think that is a big makes a big difference.

Get the Grains 🌾

Yes, flour should be part of your market haul!

If you’re in Virginia, you can find Deep Roots flour at the IX Market in Charlottesville, the Birdhouse Farmers Market in Richmond, the monthly Saturday Pizza Bones Market (Malintha from Ballerino Creamery brings it!), and the Grandin Village Market in Roanoke, as well as Deep Roots’ own Mill Race Market right on-site at Woodson’s Mill in Lowesville. Beyond the Commonwealth, you can shop Deep Roots Milling online.

You can also find Deep Roots flour in my current bread obsession, the seeded sourdough from Janey’s Bread. Bread angel Janey Gioiosa starts bagging up a loaf of this delicious bread as soon as she sees me stroll into the Birdhouse market. I love it with soup, and at the end of the week, I take whatever’s left over and make the (objectively) world’s best panzanella.

Bake the Book 🍪

If you’re looking for another great cookbook for working with grains, check out The Miller’s Daughter, not the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem you’re probably thinking of, but rather a James Beard Award nominated cookbook by Emma Zimmerman, co-founder of Hayden Flour Mills. I got to know Emma and her dad, Jeff when they came on as sponsors of Fire, Flour & Fork in 2018, and I’ve been a huge fan of their products ever since. HFM has a dazzling array of stone-milled flours and I’m also really fond of their crackers.

I borrowed a copy of The Miller’s Daughter from my friend Susan of the Eels, and I instantly fell in love with this recipe for rye gougeres. I was already a big fan of gougeres because they’re basically a baked good for cooks (read: non-bakers). Even though they are eventually baked in the oven, something about cooking the dough on the stovetop first feels very familiar and approachable to me, and this recipe, with its hints of caraway, is a Certified Keeper.

🚨 GIVEAWAY ALERT! 🚨

Since we’re almost finished with the grain series, I’ve decided to offer one more giveaway! Comment with your favorite baking recipe (a link would be nice), and you’ll be entered to win a copy of The Miller’s Daughter. I’ll announce the winner next week!