This biscuit may look simple, maybe even a little boring. But believe me, it is not. It was made at a wonderful place called Granarium, located in the countryside in Umbria. Their tag line is “dove il grano diventa pane”, or “where wheat becomes bread”. This amazing place is not just a bakery, it is also a mill. Work further backwards with me…it’s a farm. Yes, they can truly say “from wheat to bread” because they grow the grain, harvest it, mill it into flour, bake it into countless delicious products and sell it….all in the same place.
Granarium is the brainchild of Gian Piero Lucarelli, a man so passionate about his end product, he decided he needed to control every aspect of its production. He explained to me he wanted to sell bakery products that were the best, and the only way to do that was to begin with growing the grain. Gian Piero is no stranger to farming. He hails from an agricultural family, so tending the fields is what he grew up doing. He took me and some friends of mine on a little tour of his facility. I say “little” because physically, it’s a small space; not a giant production factory. But in this small space, every step of the production is carefully tended and watched over; from the grinding of grains, to the cleanliness of the kitchen, to the giant wood-fired oven, to the lovely counter space where the bakery products are sold to the public. It is a dream come true for Gian Piero, and luckily for the rest of us as well.
The harvested grains are stored in these silos which are attached to the Granarium building. Wheat grains enter the building through tubes, and go through various stages of machinery to separate the wheat from the chaff, and remove stones and dust, before beginning the grinding process.
Below you see the various stages of cleaning the wheat. In the third picture, Gian Piero shows us the clean wheat ready to be ground.
Below you see the various stages of cleaning the wheat. In the third picture, Gian Piero shows us the clean wheat ready to be ground.
After being ground, the wheat goes through a three part sifting process. The sifter separates the wheat germ from the flour from the bran. Each separate entity has its different uses when baking a wide variety of products.
As we move from the factory area into the kitchen area, Gian Piero snags a scoop of flour and asks me to taste a pinch. Raw flour? I am not excited about this, but not to offend, I take a goodly pinch and pop it in my mouth. I am amazed. I expected it to become gluey in my mouth and have no flavor. Quite the opposite, this flour maintains its texture and is actually full of wheat flavor. It’s flour, and it’s delicious!
Next, he shows us racks of biscuits that are cooling from the ovens. He offers us each one. This time no one hesitates, and we each happily take a bite. These unadorned, simple biscuits have four ingredients he explains. They contain freshly ground whole wheat flour, sugar, butter and organic eggs. They are so incredibly, simply delicious….not too sweet, not too buttery, filled with the flavor of whole wheat like I’ve never had before.
Moving into the next room, he shows us the wood burning oven. Yes, singular oven. There is only one, but it’s a mighty big one. In the back corner of the interior of the oven is a walled off area, where a wood fire is built. Beech wood is fed into it to maintain its constant heat. And because the wood fire is behind its little brick wall, there are no ashes all over the floor of the oven. The baked goods don’t get blackened by ash, but appear to have been baked in a regular oven. The wood maintains a constant heat, and gives off a nice aroma to the baked products.
I'm sorry my photo of the oven did not turn out. Instead, I offer you a peek at the wooden paddles used to take things in and out of the oven.
I'm sorry my photo of the oven did not turn out. Instead, I offer you a peek at the wooden paddles used to take things in and out of the oven.
Back to the little storefront, we have polished off our delicious biscuits, but our eyes are big for all the other goodies to be found behind the counter. Tiziana is there to offer us more tastes and to wrap up our purchases. We buy all manner of cookies while munching on wedges of jammy tarts she’s insisted we try. We also buy squares of “pizza” crust topped with cherry tomatoes. In addition to all the baked goods on offer, there are bags of flour to buy as well as sacks of lentils and beans that are also grown by the Lucarelli family. Purchases in hand, and so grateful for their time, knowledge and skills, we say goodbye with hopes to see them again soon. Gian Piero, the Lucarelli family and Granarium are the very definition of the farm-to-table movement. This is truly “slow food” at its best.
One of my purchases was a big bag of the very same biscuits we’d been lucky enough to taste on our tour. They were quite heavy, but I only gave a momentary, fleeting thought to the weight of my luggage as I needed to have these biscuits. Today is a sad day. I have eaten my last biscuit. I am trying not to cry. They have been a morning staple with my first coffee of the day….and now they are all gone. I am trying not to cry.
One of my purchases was a big bag of the very same biscuits we’d been lucky enough to taste on our tour. They were quite heavy, but I only gave a momentary, fleeting thought to the weight of my luggage as I needed to have these biscuits. Today is a sad day. I have eaten my last biscuit. I am trying not to cry. They have been a morning staple with my first coffee of the day….and now they are all gone. I am trying not to cry.
Dear readers, you should think about stopping my tears. Join me in 2014. Let’s visit Granarium together and munch our way through the Umbrian countryside. PS: And just beyond Granarium is a quite lovely winery I’d like to take you to as well :)
Drop me a line at:
irene@bellagiornatatours.com
Drop me a line at:
irene@bellagiornatatours.com
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