A Guide to Heage Windmill Flour

At Heage Windmill the flour is milled from English wheat grown and harvested in a traditional way, (in a natural environment which is free from synthetic fertilisers and pesticides).

When the grain is passed directly through the millstones what comes through is wholemeal flour (nothing added and nothing taken away).

To obtain our other flour and products the wholemeal has to be sifted by passing it through the flour dresser. Because this involves an extra process the other flours are a little more expensive. All the products are packed by hand.

Heage flour is essentially a bread making flour but can be used for other baking if a raising agent such as baking powder is added to make cakes and scones rise. It can be used successfully for many recipes that require no rise such as crumbles, pastry dishes and pancakes. It is a heavier flour than those milled by more modern methods and has a pleasant old fashioned “nutty” flavour. Heage Flour works very well in bread making machines.

Wheat:

The most effective grain for bread making is wheat, which has a nutty flavour with no bitterness, and performs consistently well. An ear of wheat has starch for bulk to feed the yeast, germ to give essential fats and oils enhancing the breads nutritional value, bran for good digestion and gluten which allows the bread to stretch and rise.

Strong Flour:

To produce a good wheat loaf use a strong bread flour. What makes a bread flour different from that used for cakes and biscuits is the gluten content. Gluten is a protein which occurs in all wheat in varying amounts. Wheat grown in hot dry summers will have a higher gluten content (known as hard or strong). The high gluten content will ensure an even rise and a lighter loaf.

Heage Windmill Flour

Heage Stoneground Wholemeal Wheat Flour (100% Wholewheat):

This is the type that comes directly from the stones at Heage. Stoneground means that it has been milled between two millstones and by no other method. Nothing is added and nothing taken away.

Heage Stoneground Middlings Wheat Flour (80% - 90% extraction Flour):

Between 10% and 20% of the bran has been sifted out to leave a finer, paler and lighter flour than the 100% wholewheat. This is a natural flour that has some finer particles of bran than wholemeal – nothing has been added. A small proportion of flour gets sifted out during the dressing which gives the Middlings Wheat Flour a good bran content.

Heage Stoneground White Wheat Flour (Strong White Flour):

This flour has been sifted in the flour dresser with a very fine mesh to sift out nearly all the bran. The flour is unbleached and has a pale creamy colour. Nothing has been added.

Heage Stoneground Wheat Bran:

Bran is the by product of sifting the wholemeal to make the other flours. It has fewer uses but can be sprinkled on breakfast cereals to increase dietary fibre; there is a recipe for Bran Loaf which is very easy to make. Some people recommend bran as a slug repellent for gardeners to protect their vulnerable plants (the slugs eat the bran instead of the plants), or it can be used as animal/chicken feed.

Heage Wheat Coarse Brown:

This is similar to bran but finer, and can be used in much the same way as bran or as an additive to the other flour for taste and texture in bread making, cakes and pastry.

Heage Windmill does not produce any other types of flour. It has only one pair of working stones and is not working every day of the week. Therefore it is difficult to produce more than the above. We can’t mill if there is not enough wind for which we rely on for power.

The flour can be purchased from Heage Windmill during times when the mill is open to the public (subject to availability). At other times the flour is sold at the Belper Farmers’ Market (2^nd Saturday in each month) and the Bakewell Farmers’ Market (last Saturday in each month), again subject to availability. Free information and recipe leaflets are on hand at these points of sale, or look out for the Heage Windmill Souvenir Recipe Book which is full of alternative recipe ideas, on sale at the mill shop or at the market stalls.