Why We Mill

Miller and Baker

We are part of a small but growing contingent of bakers that are reviving the time- honored tradition of milling our own flour. At Madruga, we have a 26 inch stone mill, built by Fulton Forde of New American Stone Mills. With natural granite and all-American parts, it is the workhorse of our bakery. Bread enthusiasts say that a mill turns a farmer’s crop into a baker’s ingredient; ours allows us to experiment and delve deep into our craft, connecting us to a heritage of how bread was once made.

One ingredient: infinite flavor profiles

Flour, water, salt. It only takes three ingredients to make delicious, rustic bread. Since flour is the most important ingredient, we choose to grind ours fresh, hours before it’s used. As millers, we are able to test and taste a wide range of heirloom grains from select sustainable farms. We then experiment with those grains to influence the flavor nuances in our hearth loaves.

Wholesome and Nutritious

When a wheat berry is ground into flour and exposed to air, it rapidly begins to lose its vitamin content. Most commercially available flour is stripped of the wheat’s germ and bran, in order to have a longer shelf life. We use our freshly-milled flour within a few hours of being ground in order to retain more of the original minerals, protein, vitamins and healthy oils. Which in turn, produces a more wholesome, nutritious loaf of bread.

Currently Milling:

White Sonora Heirloom Wheat: Organically grown in Arizona by BKW Farms, this soft white grain, introduced in the 17th century, offers a light yet rich flavor with lower gluten.

Hard ‘Red Turkey’ Winter Heirloom Wheat: Organically grown in Kansas by Heartland Mill, this wheat, once dominant in the U.S. Breadbasket, is now being revived on organic farms, offering a robust and traditional flavor.