As our palates become more refined, so does our affinity for quality ingredient sourcing. Today, we see companies such as Sfoglini Pasta, a New York state artisanal pasta company, vow to make pasta the way it would be made in Italy: using regional flours to bring vitality and flavor to the humble noodle.Â
The type and integrity of flour matters, whether in pasta or breads and pastries, and a growing number of farmers and millers are making high-quality, small-batch flours available to home cooks as well as chefs and makers like Sfoglini.
âFlour ambassador,â Amy Halloran of Troy, New York, is a grains expert and the author of âThe New Bread Basket: How the New Crop of Grain Growers, Plant Breeders, Millers, Maltsters, Bakers, Brewers, and Local Food Activists Are Redefining Our Daily Loaf.â She says that more people have become interested in regional grains, as seen in the doubling of granite mills sold by New American Stone Mills out of Vermont in 2020. Their designs appeal to bakeries, mills and even breweries seeking to incorporate fresh, stone-ground grains into their products to yield more complex, aromatic and nutritious results.