All this talk about olive oil has gotten me thinking, naturally, about sopping it up with hot, fresh bread. Thinking about bread, in turn, has led me to flour.
Flour, of course, is made by grinding wheat. And Texas just happens to be the country’s #3 producer of wheat, with an annual harvest of 3.4 million acres. Buying flour made from Texas wheat, though, isn’t as straightforward as buying most other Texas-made products. Jim Sharp at C.H. Guenther & Son, parent company of the Pioneer, White Wings, and Morrison brands, explained to me that wheat’s qualities vary depending on the conditions in which it was grown. “We’ve found in order to make the best product,” he said, “it’s best to blend” wheat from different locations. The best product is characterized by a variety of qualities like its rising potential, protein content, and ability to absorb water. Currently, he said, the company is using a blend of wheats coming from Texas, Kansas, and Colorado. “We would prefer to use 100% Texas wheat,” he says, but the quality just wouldn’t be as good without the variety. Why should we care about flour made from Texas wheat? Bread is such an essential staple in our diets that, to me, it’s nice to know we can get its main ingredient close to home.
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