Why ‘chaos wheat’ may be the future of bread (Michael J. Coren, September 17, 2024, Washinton Post)

Of the 47 million acres of wheat planted across the United States, experts I interviewed said very few have been planted with varieties like those produced by the Breadlab. “I tried to change the commodity system,” admits Jones, who served as director of the Breadlab until earlier this year. “You just can’t.”

So he turned to smaller farmers looking for ways of growing grain, and premium brands that could turn the flour into higher-priced products, as an alternative that’s “replicable, rather than scalable.” While more labor intensive — sometimes it requires years to fine-tune wheat blends for specific environments — a growing number are embracing the approach as part of the regenerative agriculture movement seeking to improve soil health and cut carbon emissions.

King Arthur Baking Company, the employee-owned company that released its Climate Blend Flour last year, is probably the most well known. The blend of wheat varieties, including a perennial capable of growing for years rather than being replanted every season, is part of King Arthur’s push to source 100 percent of its flour from “regeneratively grown wheat” by 2030. The result, says King Arthur, is a rich, nutty flour that can work in any whole-wheat recipe (something I confirmed in my own muffins).

The scale so far is tiny (just 120 acres), and prices are higher: A one-pound bag of Climate Blend Flour sells for $2.98, compared with $1.12 for standard whole wheat. But the company says it hopes to drive down costs as it assesses the climate benefits. “We believe in this work and understand it needs to be a long-term commitment,” Janis Abbingsole, the chief operating officer at King Arthur Baking Company, wrote in an email. “We need to allow time to listen to our growers and support them as they test and learn.”

We’re required to take a few baking classes and in the Education Center they refer to all my bakes as a function of chaos. (Proudly displayed the heaviest cup of flour ever measured, until they explained that’s not the point…)