A "Welcome Party" for City Market's Local White Flour

Vermont used to grow wheat – lots and lots of wheat. 40,000 acres of wheat were grown in Vermont each year back in the mid-1800s which is why the state used to be considered the bread basket of New England. If you look closely at the Vermont flag, you’ll even see sheaves of wheat. Cyrus Pringle, widely regarded as the father of modern wheat breading was born in Charlotte and worked at UVM.

 

But then transportation systems improved and farmers started moving west. Land in the mid-west was found more favorable for growing wheat and the transportation infrastructure was able to move grain back east. Farmers largely abandoned growing wheat in Vermont.

 

With the renaissance in local agriculture, grain growing is being revived in Vermont: currently we boast about 800 acres of wheat in Vermont. The new local white flour is grown by Tom Kenyon on Aurora Farm in Charlotte. Given the protein content of our new flour, Randy George of Red Hen Baking recommends using the flour for pizza dough, cakes and cookies. While Red Hen uses the new white flour to bake their ‘Cyrus Pringle’ Bred, bread made only with Vermont grown flour, Randy says that the gluten content is just too low to be easily transformed into bread by the home baker. Below is one of the best uses for the local flour."

 

 

1 ½ lb Vermont White Flour

½ lb Vermont Whole Wheat Bread Flour

¾ Tablespoon Salt

2 ½ Cups 75º Non-Chlorinated Water

1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast

 

Measure 2 1/3 cups of the water into mixing bowl. Add flour to the mixing bowl and combine with a wooden spoon and then your hands until well mixed. Let this sit for 20 minutes. Wet your hands and transfer dough to the counter. Massage the yeast into the dough just enough so that it won’t come back out. Make dimples in the dough and sprinkle the remaining water and all the salt over it. Massage the water and salt into the dough, transitioning to a kneading and scraping method until all the water and salt is absorbed. Dough should be soft and silky. Add more water if necessary.

 

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Fold the dough twice: one half hour after finishing kneading and one half hour after the first fold

 

One and a half to 2 hours after the second fold (when the dough has nearly doubled in size, but not risen so much as to deflate when handled), divide into 2 equal pieces. Loosely round each piece, deflating any large air bubbles, place on a floured board, cover and let sit for 1 hour. 45 minutes after shaping rounds, pre-heat the oven and pizza stone to 500º. Working with just enough dusting flour to prevent the dough from sticking, roll out or hand shape each pizza dough to your desired thickness. Place the dough on a peel (or substitute) lightly dusted with cornmeal.

 

Brush dough with olive oil and top with sauce, pesto, cheese, vegetables, and meats to your liking. Scoot pizza onto pre-heated stone and close the oven door. Bake until the cheese starts to brown and/or the edges of the crust are golden.