White Sonora Wheat
I'm a sucker for heritage or heirloom wheats. I wanted to get 25 lbs of soft wheat berries and had started an order for them at Azure Standard ($10.50, organic) but then I remembered there's a farm nearby named Full Belly [1] that I know sells Sonora wheat [2] flour at farmer's markets in the San Francisco Bay Area.
So I emailed them and they sell Sonora berries (25lbs @ $37.50, organic). That price is up there in the foodie stratosphere, but what the heck. After all, you can't get Sonora at your neighborhood grocery! I drove over the hill and picked it up at their farm in Guinda, California.
This morning I milled some up in my little Retsel mill and used stone wheels. I usually sift my flour through #30 and #50 sieves and then put the stuff caught in the #50 back through the mill again for a more finer flour, then use the stuff caught in the #30 for that rough whole wheat texture. I was surprised that almost all of the stuff left on top of the #30 was bran and almost none of the stuff left on top of the #50 was pure endosperm. I had unintentionally ended up with classic bolted white flour in the sifting tray on the first grind! I decided that I might as well have white refined flour for the first go-round with this Sonora, so I milled some more to bring up the quantity of flour I needed for the formula.
It tasted great, of course. Maybe I'll try it again and let the white flour age a couple of weeks, maybe not. It made some very nice scones.