When we ask someone what their favorite thing is about our pizza, we can expect a variety of answers; from the wood-fired taste, to the extensive list of local and imported toppings, to the authentic, old-world style free-form shape of the pie. One of the most popular answers though, is the crust; the kind of nutty, kind of crispy, kind of chewy, all delicious crust. It is a commonly known fact that all great things start with a good, solid foundations. If you build a house made of the strongest materials known to man right on the beach, it will probably collapse as soon as the tide pulls in. However, if you build the same house on a dry, solid foundation, the outcome will be much better. At Michael Anthony's, we have a similar way of doing things, which is why we chose
Bear's Mill spelt wheat as the primary ingredient for the foundation of our wood-fired pizzas.
Bear's Mill was built in 1849 by Gabriel Baer in Greenville, Ohio. One third of Farmer, Miller, Baker (along with Bakehouse Breads in Troy and E.A.T. Food For Life Farm in Yorkshire) Bear's Mill is one of the few remaining in the state that still rely on traditional water powered mills. The spelt used in Farmer, Miller, Baker products is ground into flour on French Buhr millstones that are over one hundred years old. The stones are powered by nothing more than water from the millrace located below the stones. This process has been used for thousands of years, and helps to retain the nutrients that are naturally found in the grain. Bear's Mill is a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping the story of old-world milling techniques alive and active in the production of today's consumables. Aside from the production of milled goods, Bear's Mill is quite a popular tourist attraction, hosting exhibits for local artists, guided tours, and an on-site store where their products can be purchased. At this point, you may be thinking "that sounds like a cool place to visit, (it is and you should) but what in the **** is spelt?"
Spelt wheat has actually been around for much longer than any of us (since around 5,000 BC), but it dropped off the scene for awhile, being replaced by high-gluten flours, as to increase the volume and rapidity of the production of commercial baked goods (spelt grows in a tougher husk than most wheat, making it more time consuming to extract). Now that we as Americans are finally starting to make a conscious effort to incorporate healthy, more traditional, minimally processed foods into our diets, we are discovering a great deal of food allergies that didn't really seem to be a problem ten years ago. As a server, I encounter somebody with either a soy or gluten allergy at least once a week. The good news is, manufacturers are now starting to discover ways to make foods so that people with allergies can still enjoy their favorite things. This is possible due to the fact that we are beginning to realize that our ancestors were doing in the right way all along, and Bear's Mill is so awesome because they refrain from using all of the newfangled, high processing technologies, and they do it the way that it was done in the beginning. Consequently, the product is more like it was in 5,000 BC, and much better for you.
To cut to the chase, Spelt (also known as Farro in Italy and Dinkle in Germany), is simply a grain, like wheat or oat. The thing that makes spelt so special is its' outrageous nutritional value. Spelt is super high in protein, fiber, and vitamin B, as well as simple and complex carbohydrates. As previously mentioned, spelt grows in a tough husk. Though this makes it more difficult to process than modern wheat varieties, it also naturally preserves the important nutrients and freshness, and protects it from pollutants and insects, which drastically decrease the need for the use of pesticides. All of these factors play a vital role in the retention of nutritional value and delicious taste of spelt wheat products. Bear's Mill spelt flour is an organically grown, heirloom, and non-genetically modified product that can be used in place of white flour in a variety of baking recipes.
Now that you know all about spelt wheat, hopefully you can enjoy our wood-fired pizza free of guilt! As I have mentioned before, some of our ingredients are local, and others are imported, but they all have one thing in common; they are as close to their original state as possible, and that makes for a much more innocent pizza.
