bake - January 2020 - 25

SOURCE: WHOLE GRAINS COUNCIL, PHOTO BY: ©ANAUMENKO - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

about the bread lab

Director and wheat breeder Dr.
Stephen Jones of the Washington
State University Bread Lab Plant
Breeding Program oversees
research on thousands of lines
of wheat, barley, buckwheat and
other small grains to identify those
that perform well for farmers, and
that are most suitable for craft
baking, cooking, malting, brewing,
and distilling. Selecting for ﬂavor,
nutrition, and distinctive characteristics, samples of the most
promising varieties are brought
into the Bread Lab for analysis
to determine the product that
best utilizes and manifests their
unique characteristics.
The Bread Lab began in 2011 in a
small laboratory in the Washington
State University Mount Vernon
Research Center. Today it occupies 12,000 square feet at the Port
of Skagit and includes the Bread
Lab research and baking kitchen,
a cytology lab, the King Arthur
Flour Baking School at the Bread
Lab, a milling laboratory and a
professional kitchen.
While making a difference in the
local community is a priority, the

Bread Lab is trending toward a
greater impact across the country,
and Dr. Jones is looking for new
ways to incorporate specialty
grains into everyday  bread.
"We are working more on the
accessibility of what we do," he
says, adding that he is working
with rye and buckwheat for soft
sandwich-style bread. Dr. Jones
breeds wheat to be used at 100%
extraction, as opposed to those
designed for white ﬂour.
"We breed the lines of buckwheat and wheat to improve the
environment by requiring fewer
inputs in diverse organic systems
while capturing carbon and being
high-yielding, nutritious and
ﬂavorful," he explains.
To better understand the
emerging grain revolution, it is
worthwhile to note there are
ancient grains (like einkorn and
teff that trace back to the dawn
of civilization), heritage or heirloom grains (like Turkey Red, the
predominant variety in Kansas,
first planted in the 1870s) and
local, modern grains that offer
improved disease resistance and

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higher yield potential. Following
the progression of wine, beer,
cheese and other craft industries,
American bakers are busy introducing craft breads baked with
organic ﬂour from local wheats.
Varieties with names like Red,
Red Fife, Rouge de Bourdeaux,
Warthog, Elgin and Expresso are
part of the new language spoken
between local farmers and craft
bakers seeking to differentiate.
Some wheats are heritage, others
are modern varieties - grown
locally. Each brings a distinct
ﬂavor.
US farmers harvested 38.1
million acres of wheat in 2019,
according to the US Department
of Agriculture, accounting for 1.96
billion bushels. Make no mistake,
this is massive, and the local grain
movement accounts for less than
1% of it. "We work with thousands
of acres. We're not going to feed
the world," says Dr. Jones. "We
have no illusion that things are
going to change on a grand scale.
We just want to help communities.
And these little grain communities
are starting all over the country."

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