Communications
Walking into the Washington State University Bread Lab evokes feelings of both the comfortable familiar and wonder of the strange and unusual.
Baking bread, of
course
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| PhD Student, Robin Morgan from Italy, sets out loaves to cool. |
As one might expect when walking into a bread lab, you are
greeted by the intoxicating smell of fresh-baked bread – whether being whipped
up in the professional kitchen by PhD students or in the on-site King Arthur
Flour Baking School.
On a visit to the lab while Washington Grown was shooting a piece
for their television show, the crew experienced three types of bread. First,
the baking school was packed with attendees from the public learning how to
make a traditional French baguette. In the bread lab’s kitchen, PhD student
Laura Valli from Estonia shared a fresh-baked rye spice bread. And trials of an
“approachable loaf” came hot out of the oven.
Creating an “approachable loaf” is one of the current Bread
Lab projects. The goal: to create an affordable, nutrient-dense whole-wheat
loaf of bread with simple ingredients that Americans will enjoy. The object is
to offer an alternative to the standard white loaves sold in most grocery
stores which, while popular and well-known, are nutritionally inferior.
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| "Approachable loaf" trial |
Keeping the past
alive, literally
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| "Miracle" wheat variety |
But baking the best bread starts with breeding the best grain.
As you enter the Bread Lab, one of the things you notice even at the entrance
are the displays of various types of wheat – many of which most people have
never seen.
Take for example the “Miracle” variety of wheat, which has
been around for centuries, but is scarcely known now. Rather than the single-branched head
of wheat on a stalk, this variety is multi-branched. Gracing the hallway are mounted
wheat varieties developed by WSU. And in a back room of the lab, over 1,000
varieties of wheat and hundreds of other varieties of grain are stored and
maintained for breeding purposes.
This “wall of wheat” provides the genetic material used in
traditional breeding programs to evaluate existing grain varieties and breed
new ones that will benefit farmers, processors, and consumers. Varieties are
grown and evaluated for qualities such as flavor, color, baking quality, disease resistance, and
nutrition.
Reinvigorating a
local grain culture
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| Wheat variety trial fields. Photo credit: WSU Bread Lab |
With an emphasis on developing publicly available grain
varieties that thrive in Washington’s climate, the WSU Bread Lab is helping to
reestablish a unique culture around local grains. From small grain growers to
mills to baking or even brewing, the program is restoring a grain-centered
culture that faded from American memory once milling became a larger industry
and white flour became the norm.
The WSU Bread Lab is creating not only healthier bread but
reviving a craft-grain culture that has nearly been lost in the United States. We'll drink - and eat - to that.
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| After touring the WSU Bread Lab, fresh-baked bread, local strawberries, and cheese seem like the perfect dinner. |
