Any Local Flour Mills in Bay Area?

[mrseight]

I've started doing a lot of bread baking and am looking for a source for 25 or 50 lb. bags of unbleached flour. Ideally, I'd like it to be a locally milled flour. And I'm not interested in the bags you can get at Costco or similar. Does anyone know of a local mill that sells to the public? Given the weight I'm looking for, I don't want to add shipping charges on to an online order. Thanks!

[Robert Lauriston]

Eatwell grows hard red wheat, but their flour is whole grain.

http://eatwellfarm.typepad.com/my_web...

[Ruth Lafler]

Locally milled or locally grown? There's a difference. Not much wheat is grown locally, and it's going to be artisan and expensive. What, exactly, are you looking for when you specify "locally milled"? In what way does that suit your needs better than a bag of high-quality flour from Costco?

[Caitlin McGrath]

The locally grown wheat is soft wheat, and the resulting flour (like Full Belly's and Eatwell's which are indeed whole grain) aren't all that good for bread baking anyway.

[wolfe]

From the linked SFChron article.
"Sonora wheat performs differently than hard winter wheat varieties because it is lower in protein. Spiller compensates for that by adding vital wheat gluten to her bread
Whereas Sonora wheat contains about 9 percent protein, Eatwell Farm's hard red winter wheat has been tested at 12.3 percent protein, so it is easier to work into bread."
But, alas,they are whole grain and not what the OP is looking for.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Yes, I misremembered that Eatwell's wheat was also Sonora.

[Murettii]

By buying directly from the mill, you will know exactly how fresh your flour is.

[Robert Lauriston]

I'm pretty sure Full Belly, Eatwell, and Pie Ranch sell only whole-grain flour.

[ML8000]

Pie Ranch in Pescadero uses, mills and sells organic flour from Sonora...but it's expensive and I don't think you can get 25 lbs...although I'm sure they could hook you up somehow.

http://www.pieranch.org/2009/03/bakin...

[wolfe]

Some people think that Acme bakery makes a pretty good bread. I noticed 50 pound bags being unloaded at the Cedar/San Pablo store. They were from Central Milling, organic and unbleached. If it is good enough for Acme it is good enough for me. It is available at Costco, 2 10lb bags for about $12. If that is not satisfactory perhaps you can find out if Full Belly Farms
or Eatwell Farms has any available.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

[Robert Lauriston]

I think Giusto's mill is in South SF:

http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/nc...

Vital Vittles in Berkeley grinds its own flour, but it's whole wheat.

[heidipie]

Giusto's products are very high-quality. I'd say check them out.

[dotMac]

The Giusto flour is excellent.

I purchase it in bulk bags at Andy's Produce in Sebastopol.