A few years ago now Niall and Ana went to an event hosted in The Fumbally. The aim of the event was to introduce Irish bakers to Wildfarmed, a company that was driven by a “grass roots” approach to growing grain. They have a focus on regenerative agriculture, soil health and consideration for biodiversity within farming. To say we were interested was an understatement as at the time we always felt as a bakery we should be trying to have an positive impact where ever possible. What really sealed the deal is that one of the Wildfarmed co-founders is Andy Cato (Niall is a life long Groove Armada fan).

While at the event Niall and Ana got to hear from bakeries already using Wildfarmed and two of the founders. It really reinforced with us that even though we are a small bakery, any positive change we can make, we should embrace. Shortly after the event we put the feelers out to see if we could get our hands on some Wildfarmed Flour to taste and test it in our on kitchen. Unfortunately at the time the only way to get Wildfarmed flour was by the pallet, which in our tiny kitchen just wasn’t realistic.

That was a long time ago and we’d almost given up on the idea of using Wildfarmed until we had the physical space for it but then, at the start of the year we were contacted by Wildfarmed’s new distributor saying that we could order as we go rather than a whole pallet at a time, which worked perfectly for us. As soon as we knew it was true we reached out and were put in touch with our amazing Wildfarmed rep Maeve who got us hooked up with samples to start our testing. We ran tests almost daily to see if we could make it work, initially the results were mixed, the flavour was outstanding but we were struggling to get the most out of the proof on our pastries and the hydration in our doughs seemed to be a little bit off too. When there are issues like this in baking there are so many variables to look at - hydration, gluten development, mixing time and speed, dough temperature, autolyse times, pre-ferment composition etc etc. Luckily Maeve was able to connect us with Bart from the Wildfarmed test bakery, Bart pointed is in the right direction straight away and his advice had an immediate impact on the quality of product our test bakes were producing. Once we were happy with our test bakes we started to use Wildfarmed in our production batches - if you’ve enjoyed any of our Croissant, Brioche or Focaccia products lately they’ve been made using 100% Wildfarmed flour.

Now that we’re “locked in” as the kids these days say, we’re incredibly happy with the flavour and quality of our baked goods containing Wildfarmed and have noticed a huge visual improvement too.

Our goal is and always will be to use Irish grain when and wherever possible. Our rustic pies, pie sales, cookies and specials will always heavily feature Irish grains but what Wildfarmed has allowed us to do is use a flour made from ethically grow grain that have a huge impact on farming practices in the UK and France, rather than rely on grains grown in gigantic monocrop farms “Traditionally” in France, Canada and the UK. It’s a huge step in the right direction for us as a bakery.

Once we knew Wildfarmed flour was a product we were wholeheartedly behind we looked into ways to share it with you all, other than in our baked goodies. So now we can proudly say that WE STOCK WILDFARMED - Online and in our little pantry section at Proper Order. The 1kg bags are always available but orders for 16kg bags might take a day or two to fulfil

If you’re not sure about which flour is best for you, please don’t be afraid to reach out with any questions you may have, we’re happy to share any tips and tricks we’re learned along our journey.

Wildfarmed Project

The Pez Loaf