The Naturesave Trust has contributed towards the purchase of a Zentrofan cyclone mill to make flour from Scottish grain for home and community bakers. Scotland The Bread is a collaborative project to establish a Scottish flour and bread supply that is healthy, equitable, locally controlled and sustainable. It is an innovative social business, owned by its members.
Scotland The Bread aims to grow nutritious wheat and to keep all of the nourishment in it throughout milling and to bake it close to home. Their hunt for resilient, mineral-rich wheats began in 2012 when they sourced rare grains, grew them organically on Scottish farms and used the expertise of molecular scientists to offer nutritional guidance.
Unlike industrial roller mills that waste about 25% of the grain, or traditional stone mills that tend to heat the flour, the Zentrofan mills whole grains into cool, very fine wholemeal flour. It conserves all the important minerals (iron, magnesium, zinc, calcium etc), vitamins (especially the B vitamins such as folate) and phenolic compounds that are found in the outer bran layers of the grain. The wheat grains are milled so finely that the resulting wholemeal flour feels as soft as white flour and is easy to bake with.
The cyclone milling system only grinds about 20 kg per hour, so the Zentrofan is perfect for small on-farm mills and community bakeries. Fresh milling needs to be done as near to the bakery as possible. Local control and reducing food miles (and carbon emissions) go hand in hand. In the future, the organisation hopes to enable community-supported bakeries to acquire their own Zentrofan mills so that everyone can access the tastiest and most nutritious bread made from freshly milled, locally-grown, heritage wheat.
Read more about this innovative social bakery