More Ploetziade 2 ingredients
I go out to the Tohono O'Odham, Pima, Gila River Indian Reservation now and again to find some unusual gifts - for like...Mother’s day this Sunday. Usually I am looking for baskets, jewelry, etc but this time I ran into a lady named Ramona Button. She and husband Terry farm their 10 acre reservation allotment (and several others from family and friends that would go fallow otherwise) and mainly grow heirloom beans, some corn and ....wheat! When she mentioned wheat I asked what kind and she said Pima Club and Sonoran White. I got both in whole berries for $5.40 for 1 1/2 pounds each. Both are white wheat, low in gluten and perfect for tortillas .....they would fantastic for baguettes.
I've never heard of Pima Club but she said her grandfather, (an O'Odham and her mother was a Pima) used to grow it on the same original 10 acre allotment of land and that Pima cvlubs were fierce weapons to be feared in their day . She said she might be the only one growing this wheat today.
There are no nutrition or ingredient labels on Indian products since they don't have to comply with any US standards being their own nation and all. For pale faces, she said the wheat is considered all natural and organic - perfect for Ploetziade 2.
What an exciting find! I'm sure we'll be hearing about them again before too long. Does your baking apprentice 2nd class have any thoughts on how to play with them yet?
a shot at it...... the first set of slap and folds are done - a 25% whole grain Pima Club, 25% whole grain White Sonoran mixed with 50% AP so the gluten should be pretty weak. Will have to see how the gluten firms up. We cut the water back to 75% to try to compensate for the lack of gluten. Will retard it for 12 hours with the other 85% extraction 9 grain we also have going at 80% hydration. Will know how it all turns out tomorrow at lunch. She also said she has a variety of Indian Durum she planted this year too but donlt have any handy to sell.
Happy Baking
Can't wait to see how it turns out!
after the 2nd 1 minute of slap and folds - surprise, surprise! Probably won't have to do any stretch and folds after the last minute of slap and folds. It is such fun using a new grain saved by an Indian woman. You probably wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley if she had her Pima Club:-) Now I have to get her to make one of the those clubs for Lucy's tomahawk collection.
It is really sad that there are so many wheats n food are heading toward extinction as ppl are more into fast food, refined food and simply dun care.
Its great to have someone who's willing to go an extra mile to save some of our ancient grains!
But ain't they low in protein It's interesting to know it firms up without extra s&f
are they hitting the oven tomo morning?
I envy you. I searched for heirloom grains in Maine, but couldn't find anything but the white buckwheat - and that doesn't count as "the right kind" of ancient grains (same as amaranth and quinoa), as I just saw when I looked at the comments and questions to the Plötziade post.
So I defaulted to Einkorn, and my 100% Einkorn dough (with yogurt and walnuts) is slumbering in the fridge.
I'm eager to see your bread, DBM.
Karin
in AZ! and Desert Durum and Farro from the Hayden Mills. Now Sonoran White and the totally unknown, at least to me, Pima Club. Without Ploetziade I never would have looked around for out of favor heirloom grain but bumping into Ramona was also totally strange. Now I know where o go to get some other grains growing again if I can find an Indian link since she isn't interested in growing anything that doesn't have an heirloom Indian heritage. Just the thought of Indians growing grains on their land for so long is really stunning since their heritage is so corn and squash based.
That is why these fun Olympics bakes are so important - you never know what will happen. Local Maine grain will be hard since it is so cold there.
There is certainly grain grown in Maine as these millers can attest to - http://www.mainegrains.com/
Cold weather is not so much of an issue when growing wheat as can be seen by the prevalence of wheat being grown in places like Montana. It even grows fine in places with cool summer temperatures. I used to purchase local wheat from a farm near on the coast of California near the border with Oregon where dampness and the lack of a really cold winter were more of an issue for wheat (barley grows really well in 65 degree weather with fog). But, the local conditions just required finding the right type of wheat to grow as historically the area had three grain mills that supplied the community with flour.
Whether or not "ancient" grains or heirloom varieties are being grown in North America today has very much to do with the interest and motivation of farmers and whether or not they think can sell it for enough money to make a living.
wheat is grown circa 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Winter_Wheat_2009_Planted_by_County.png
Maine and AZ have virtually no wheat grown in the state even though some is obviously grown. There re many hybrids that can tolerate cold well like the one grown in Canada but few if any will tolerate the damp and cold - the damp is what hurts grain production in Maine the most. There were some varieties but the production in bushels per acre were, and are, pretty small compared to Kansas driving the price sky high.
The big problem I see with these products is that that they will have to be niche ones since few people, only the 1%, can afford to pay 10 - 20 times the price for what can be a lower quality flour - even if locally grown.
Still it is good that some farmers and mills like Hayden are giving it a go - but it will be a tough slog no doubt.