Bob's Red Mill Baking Book

Now eat boys, you look thin.

During the past twenty years or so, artisan bakers have gotten a lot of attention during what has been called an American bread revolution, while millers have received hardly any notice, except from the grateful bakers. What the majority of modern consumers do not realize is how interdependent bakers and millers are, a symbiotic team, the millers being the anonymous, behind-the-scenes players in an intricate drama that begins in the earth and ends in a loaf, a bun, a cake, cookie, muffin, scone, and on and on.

Millers and bakers are an inseparable team who cannot really survive, nor even exist, without the other. The miller is every bit as dedicated to the subtle nuances of transforming grain into flour as the baker is to transforming flour into dough. What Oliver Evans did when he automated his mill was to begin a process that made flour so affordable most people take it for granted and have little appreciation for what it takes for a kernel to grow, be harvested, threshed, tempered, ground, bolted, packaged, and delivered to one's kitchen—all for a few pennies per pound. Who among us truly appreciates how many kernels, precious seeds of life, it takes to make a cup of flour? If we did, we would probably guard every single seed as if our life, and the world, depended on it. And it does.

Of course, we also know that innovation did not begin nor end with Oliver Evans, and that milling advanced into the modern era with all sorts of new toys: huge roller mills and synchronized blowing and sifting systems; climate controlled storage silos; and automated packaging systems all designed to process tons of wheat into flour by the hour. Bakers, too, were presented with new options to increase their productivity via rotating ovens, huge, powerful mixers, conveyer ovens, and additives to speed fermentation and oxidize the dough in the oven to create maximum volume in minimum time. As our population grew and demand for inexpensive baked goods increased, bakers became even more dependent on their mills to supply them with large quantities of quality flour at a reasonable price. And thus were the masses fed.

Toward the end of the twentieth century, the glorious technology revolution spun off its own counter reformation, the artisan movement. We saw it in micro beers, in arts and crafts, in slow food movements, and without a doubt we saw it in bread and milling. There is an implicit assumption in the concept of artisanship that slow is better than fast, and that hand crafted is, in some qualitative manner, superior to mass produced. This is not always objectively provable but more of a subjective intuition, emerging from a basic human need called connectivity.

I cannot speak for everyone when I say this, but I get nervous when things seem to be happening too fast, a fear that I am going to lose touch with what is real and important. A nervous little voice wells up inside me, compels me to slow down, call a time out, or just simply connect with something that grounds me in the here and now. It is a natural impulse and, as such, yearns for natural images that connect me to long-valued traditions, deeply rooted memories, and honorable ways of life. I am drawn to song, dance, festivals, wholesome food, and bread made from freshly milled flour. I imagine the miller as an artisan, tending his turning stone, making sure it does not grind too quickly lest it heat up the kernels of grain and clog. I do not want to do away with technology and big mills and big bakeries that feed the masses, but I want to know that there still exist places that are of a human scale, that grind flour for me, that bake loaves for me, that through hand crafted processes and products I can sense and feel the effort of the earth, of nature, of creation, and of human hands that nourish and sustain me. I do want good products at reasonable prices, but I want even more. I want these products to be transparent, to reveal through themselves their very source, and in so doing, to connect me to it as well. By our very nature we cannot and will not abandon the old stone mill. It is an icon imbedded too deeply in our souls.

Dear Folks,

You may be wondering, as you look at our recognizable Bob's Red Mill logo, whether or not there is, in fact, a real Bob. Well, of course I'm real. See, that's me at the top of the page! How could my wife Charlee and I have created the Red Mill in the first place if I weren't? If you're not convinced I'm real, come on down to the mill and I'll shake your hand and show you around.

Who ever heard of someone collecting grain milling machinery that was built 100 to 200 years ago, refurbishing it, setting it up in a modern sanitary environment, and then seriously going into the business of supplying natural foods to the world? Well, that's what I did! And it's been great fun, the most challenging and fulfilling thing I've ever accomplished, and it all started with my knack for tinkering.

My first love (besides my wife!) has been machinery. Even as a young lad, I loved to take things apart. From Mom's alarm clocks to Dad's cars, I "fixed" things. Charlee's passion was cooking good, wholesome food. From the moment we were married, she introduced me to health food stores where she bought the flours and cereals she used to prepare healthy meals for me, and soon, our three boys. Eventually, we put our two loves together, and in the early 70s, we created a stone-grinding flour mill and wholesale business that provides healthy, delicious foods to people around the world.

Of course, first I had to learn how to work our charming old stone mills. Through the formative years, I received a lot of help and inspiration by visiting more than fifty stone-grinding flour mills around North America and the British Isles. Some were derelict, some were museums, and several were still running. Early on, I discovered a wealth of information from old milling journals and books available at the Bancroft Library near San Francisco.

As an addendum to this story, we recently discovered a company in Denmark that has been manufacturing stone mills throughout the entire twentieth century. We not only have several of these fine machines running at Bob's Red Mill, but have sold a number of them to small bakeries around the United States. Will wonders never cease?

As you look through the recipes we've collected for you in this book, you will find use for many of the great-tasting grains we make and sell throughout the United States and Canada at many fine retail establishments. For years, our customers have brought their out-of-town relatives and guests to our picturesque and fully operating flour mill. They also send our products as gifts for special holidays and occasions. The recipients of these gifts have literally stuffed our letter files full of notes of praise and thanks for our unique, diverse, and nutritious products.

I hope you enjoy this collection of recipes from the family and friends of Bob's Red Mill, and truly enjoy whole grain goodness for every meal of the day. When you are in Portland, Oregon, come to the mill and see for yourself!

At Bob's Red Mill, huge, slow turning, 100-year-old millstones naturally grind together the bran, endosperm, and germ that contains the grain's nutritious oil without overheating it. This cool stone grinding process preserves valuable nutrients that are otherwise lost in conventional high-speed, high-heat milling when the oil in the kernel is exposed to excessive temperature. The heat causes the fat from the germ to oxidize and much of the vitamins to be destroyed. Real stone grinding mixes the germ, its precious oil, and finely ground bran throughout the flour without over-processing or heating it, making for a more easily digested and healthier food.

At Bob's, we mill all common grains (and many unique grains, as well) into the healthy flours and meals (36 different baking flours alone) appearing in the recipes throughout this book, but we also blend a large array of unique cereals, pancake and waffle mixes, bread mixes, and muffin and quick bread mixes. We are continually adding to this list, making our product line of natural, organic, and gluten-free whole grain foods the most varied and complete in the industry.

Bob began a nationwide search for the French-quarried millstones legendary the world over, but only a few of them survived the industrial revolution. In the late 1800s, high-speed steel roller mills had ushered in a new era of mechanized manufacturing, the result of which was the creation of white flour devoid of wheat's important bran and germ. That fast-paced, high-volume process ended the need for the slow-turning stone mills that had, for centuries, supplied the world with whole grain flours. But Bob persisted, and managed to locate a set of 100-year-old millstones from an old water-powered flourmill in North Carolina. Soon after, Bob's first mill commenced grinding in Northern California. Many of Bob's most popular mixes today, like his 10-Grain Pancake Mix and Date Nut Bran Muffin Mix, were created at that time.

After building the Northern California mill into a thriving business, Bob and Charlee sold the mill to their sons and moved to Portland, Oregon, to retire and study at a seminary. But soon after the move, the couple stumbled upon a derelict flour mill near historic Oregon City and Bob decided to come out of retirement. The couple purchased the mill and opened up their business. Their mission: grinding whole grains into flours, meals, and cereals, as well as blending whole grain mixes for sale in the greater Portland, Oregon area.

The story of Bob's Red Mill is one of continuous growth and perseverance. In 1988, the Oregon City mill was destroyed by fire. When asked by firefighters what he most wanted to save, Bob replied, "Save the mill stones." The rescue mission was successful and Bob and Charlee were able to rebuild their mill at a lakeside location in Milwaukie, Oregon using the refurbished millstones saved from the fire. Now utilizing three modern facilities totaling 165,000 square feet on six acres, with 135 employees working around the clock, Bob's Red Mill has become a multimillion-dollar business both milling and marketing whole grain natural foods throughout the USA and Canada. But despite the company's fast and tremendous growth, the product's uniqueness and quality remain the same: wholesome goodness and authentic and highly traditional milling techniques make Bob's Red Mill grains, flours, mixes and cereals simply the best.

A stone mill grinds slowly. When this slower method is coupled with the highest quality wheat, it requires a modest premium price to produce, but the result is worth every penny. Stone mills gradually became obsolete thanks to mechanized steel-roller mills that could grind flour faster and cheaper. Today, there are products claiming to be stone ground whole wheat, and some of these products are offered at a price close to that of high-tech, mass-produced roller milled flour. Some milling companies label their flour as stone ground when they only flush their wheat rapidly through a stone mill and finish the grind on steel rolls. Others mill only a small percentage by stone and then blend it with roller milled flour. Only the flour produced on 100% millstones can rightfully and accurately be called "100% stone ground."

At Bob's Red Mill, huge, slow turning, millstones naturally grind together the bran, endosperm, and germ that contains the grain's nutritious oil without overheating it, thereby causing the fat in the germ to oxidize and become rancid, destroying some of its nutritious value. This cool stone grinding process preserves valuable nutrients that are otherwise lost in conventional high-speed, high-heat milling. Real stone grinding mixes the germ, its precious oil, and finely ground bran throughout the flour without overprocessing it, making for a more easily digested and healthier food.

For years, Bob has traveled the country searching for abandoned mills and successfully turning up stone mills of this age-old craft.

But what, exactly, are grains? Simply, they are the seeds and fruits of cereal grasses, and the most nutritionally valuable of all foods. Cultivated for more than 10,000 years, grains comprise the most widely consumed food group the world over.

Hold a tiny grain in your hand and you'll be looking at a humble yet complex food consisting of many parts: