I confess that part of what I love about buying flour from K2 Milling is that the flours are named after birds. Last week I used sparrow spelt flour and raven rye. This week, those two birds will show up again, along with their pal red tail, the red spring wheat.
These birds have personalities. Red tail is red, and dark, a sturdy and reliable wheat. Sparrow is quirkily clumpy, lighter in colour, and high maintenance. Raven is the darkest of all, with fine dark bran, and a mysterious nature. One of these days I will figure you out, raven.
I feel like celebrating this week! Pannier is more than 50% sold out (thanks to you!) and it is soon to be Easter weekend, so there are two special breads on deck. The miche is special because it has a high percentage of white flour compared to my other breads, at 70%. The rest is made up of our friends red tail wheat (18%), sparrow spelt (9%), and raven rye (3%). I grew up baking almost exclusively with white flour because it is easy and because it is a joy to work with in its pillowy softness. Most of the time at Pannier I prefer to keep white flour to a minimum for several reasons, not the least because there is no white flour that is both local and organic, but–it is a special occasion. The miche that I make can be traced back to Gerard Rubaud, a venerable baker in Vermont that I would dearly love to visit one day. I learned it from Shiao Ping who has generously shared the recipe on her blog.
The miche will be paired with my ever-so photogenic little poppy stars and sesame braids. So much fun to make, and to eat! These pretty little buns are made with 60% red tail wheat which makes the cut of being both organic and grown and milled in Ontario, but the rest–the seeds and the white flour will be merely organic. I am looking for local replacements for the seeds, but until then, I will use what I have.
Pannier Bread Company 