Originally aired on YPR’s Flavors Under the Big Sky
At Grist Milling and Bakery, breads and pastries are attended to in coordination with the natural processes of Mother Nature. The facility, owned by Dan Venturella and Selden Daume, was recognized by the James Beard Foundation as a semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery. The bakery bakes about 100 to 200 loaves of bread daily along with a selection of pastries such as twice baked croissants and cardamom knots, and burger buns made with 100% organic grain and flour.
At the back of the Quonset hut, they share with Black Coffee Roasting Company, they bake their bread on a three-deck electric oven and mill hard red wheat grown by Arlin Fratzke in Stevensville. Fratzke had been growing hemp but decided to change course and instead, planted wheat. He contacted Venturella and Daume to see if they wanted to buy his wheat. “So we said ‘yes.’ We’ve actually used all of that 15-acre harvest, and now we’re waiting. I think he’s planting 50 acres this year so we will have plenty from him.”…