The Charlottesville 29

Photo by Hannah Sions

“People have forgotten the taste of wheat.”

Joseph Kim is on a mission to change that.

Wine lovers know their grapes. Beer geeks know hops. But, when it comes to bread, Kim says, most of us have no idea what wheat it is made from. “People view flour as a vessel,” said Kim. “Their expectation of flour is that it’s okay to be flavorless.”

What they’re missing, says Kim, is the world of flavor that grains offer. Grain Story Bakery, launched out of Kim’s Staunton home last year, is his way to help.

Kim has long had a passion to discover the best grains for baking. Part of that involves research – scouring books and articles, traveling the country, and studying farmers’ methods to see which bring out the best flavor of the grain.

The other part is test-baking. A common problem with grains is that those with the most genetic potential for flavor are not always the easiest to bake with. There’s science to it. Test-bakers help solve this, and Kim has become renowned for his skill in running trials of flavorful new grains and assessing ways to bake with them. Millers like Deep Roots Milling send new grains or flour blends to Kim, who runs baking tests and provides a report.

Last October, Kim’s expertise and work culminated in his own bakery, where he now bakes breads out of his home and sells them at farmers’ markets. He sources grains directly from farmers and millers, mills grains on site as finely as he can, and bakes within 24-48 hours of milling for optimal flavor. Kim uses favorite grains from his research: Turkey Red, Red Fife, Abruzzi Rye, Oberkulmer Spelt, Khorasan, “Blond” Einkorn, and Pennol. (You can read about them on his website.)

A Dark Bake

For the bake itself, Kim prefers a hard, dark bake. Kim’s goal is to bring out the flavor of each grain. “I really want the grain to be the main character and hope that customers can differentiate the flavor of the bread by the taste of the grain,” said Kim. To maximize grain flavor, Kim hydrates its protein and starch as much as possible. All that water needs to be baked off, which requires a longer bake.

The darkness from doing so also adds flavor through caramelization. Caramelized sugar has a more complex flavor than raw sugar. The darkness of the crust of Kim’s bread comes in part from caramelization and hence flavor.

Kim’s breads are available Saturday mornings at the Farmers Market at IX, and sometimes directly from his Staunton bakery. Follow along on Instagram to learn when and where to find it.