Azure Market Organics Heirloom Soft White Wheat, Organic

Description: Our wheat grain also known as wheat berries can be sprouted, cooked as whole grain, or freshly ground into flour. “Soft” White (Pastry) Wheat is low in gluten, so is perfect for making flaky pie crusts, delicate cakes and delicious cookies. The finest pastry flour you can find.  In 1982, David Stelzer was a 16-year-old kid on a quest for better wheat for his family’s organic farm. He wanted something that would grow taller than the standard, hybridized wheat that is still the industry standard. Because taller means more straw in his fields. And more straw means better soil. Even then, David knew that his farm’s success hinged on the soil. So he did his research and found a farmer in Kansas who was still growing tall, ancient wheat. “We took a family trip to Colorado, so I borrowed my uncle’s pickup and drove the rest of the way to Kansas,” David said. “It was a big deal because I just got my driver’s license a month earlier. When I got there, the farmer told me that his family had been growing this same wheat for more than 100 years. His great-grandfather brought it over from Europe. I bought a bag of that, and we’ve been growing it on the Azure farm ever since.” Compared to modern varieties of wheat, Azure Farm Heirloom Soft White Wheat is lower in gluten and higher in protein, micronutrients, minerals and antioxidants. 120 years ago the ancient wheat that David found would have been the standard. These days the typical, commercially-produced wheat in this country has been hybridized for higher yields and easier harvesting, not for nutrition. Modern wheat is dwarf wheat. The plants grow shorter and produce more grain per acre, but as David suggests, it requires a lot of nitrogen and other chemicals that he wasn’t willing to use on the Azure farm. “I wanted more organic matter in the soil – more straw to increase the humus content,” he said. “This heirloom variety is taller and whiskerless. It looks like spelt in the field and you have to harvest it the minute it’s ripe. Otherwise, the wind just shoots all the grain out onto the ground. You can’t grow this type of heirloom wheat on big, corporate-run farms. It’s just not efficient.” When you combine this superior, ancient variety of wheat with Azure’s own Unifine milling process, you get a pastry flour that bakes up brilliantly. “It has a very thin bran layer, so it makes a fantastic, 100% whole grain pastry flour,” David said. “It’s ideal for everything BUT bread… pancakes, muffins, pastries of any sort. And pie dough! This flour makes the best whole grain pie crust you’ll ever get, that’s for sure.” Azure has one of only four Unifine mills in the country. In the Unifine process, the wheat is blown into a high-speed flywheel, which pulverizes the grain against the rough surface of the container. After one pass, the exploded material blows into a sifting system, producing whole grain flour with a very fine particle size. With the Unifine process, the natural oils in the grain are kept intact and do not get hot like in regular grain-milling and stoneground milling. The result has higher protein content, more nutrients, and a longer shelf life. You can grow this ancient grain yourself: Azure sells the grain in 25-lb bags. Unifine pastry flour works magic on a pie pastry. This creates a pie with the perfect flakey pastry that everyone loves! Product meets or exceeds USDA guidelines. While we use the most modern equipment and standards when cleaning, processing, and packing this product, the contents of this bag are a natural product grown in the earth. It is not always possible to remove all foreign material. Please sort and rinse thoroughly before cooking. Azure Market products that are re-packaged by Azure for your convenience are packaged in a Facility that meets the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) – Safe Quality Food (SQF) standards which includes an approved allergen control program. Directions: Perfect Pie Crust: Mix together 2 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Warm 2/3 cup coconut oil and 1/3 cup water to make it pourable. Add wet ingredients and stir until just combined. (Don't overmix or the result will be a tougher pastry.) Divide the dough in half, roll between two pieces of parchment paper. Place in two 9" or 10" pie plates for a single crust pie. Or it makes one double crust pie. Ingredients: organic heirloom soft white wheat berries (CONTAINS WHEAT)