By Chef Daniel Marciani, Ardent Mills Executive Development Chef, and Lisa Parrish, GMC Editor

Ardent Mills Executive Development Chef Daniel Marciani recently attended the International Baking Industry Exposition where he featured several ancient grain baked items. I asked him how chef educators might include these alternative flours in their classroom instruction. Here is what he had to say:

What is an ancient grain? 
All grains are very old, but ancient grains are considered to have changed very little in recent millennia. They have been cultivated for millennia by civilizations from the Andes to West Africa and beyond and have long been valued for their nutrition and distinctive flavors. Ardent Mills offers amaranth, millet, quinoa, sorghum, teff, buckwheat, organic spelt, rye and triticale individually as whole grain flours, as well as in whole grain multigrain blends, and blends with refined flour.

What breads use which ancient grains and why? 
There really aren’t any hard rules here. I like to match the grain’s origin and history with the bread or baking style of that culture. For example, teff is widely used throughout Africa in sourdough breads such as injera, and it has nutty, almost chocolaty notes that can stand up to strong, aromatic ingredients like cumin, coriander, garlic, mint, and curry. Another example is quinoa. It has a long, rich history in many Latin countries, so I like to experiment with that connection. This work has helped me evolve from being nervous about working with quinoa flour to using it as a flavor booster in everything from pupusas to bread. We want more bakers to broaden their creativity with whole grain usage. Grains are an underutilized ingredient in terms of global flavors and authenticity. Ancient grains are truly global.

Explain the baking differences using gluten-free flours versus flours with gluten.
For gluten free work, experimenting with and learning how each alternative flour takes water and holds water through baking is important for the finished product, in terms of texture and shelf-life. When introducing different flours and grains to dough formulations, it’s important to work with ingredient ratios to find how to maintain the flavors of whole grains without changing the dough structure too much. Adjusting water levels and choosing a coarser milling can avoid gumminess in the dough. Ancient grains, because they don’t contain gluten, also need special considerations in terms of their impact on volume and or crumb structure in finished baked applications. Adding other starches and protein is usually still necessary.

What are the health benefits of using ancient grains?
Ancient wholegrain quinoa, amaranth, millet, teff and sorghum flours are great for their protein and mineral qualities and are also gluten free. Using them allows bakers and product formulators to make multigrain claims, boost nutritional profiles and increase fiber. One easy application we suggest to beginners is to add 5-10 percent of any these flours to conventional bakery items (bread, cookies, crackers, etc.).

What is the benefit of using ancient grains in dough formulations? 
There are so many benefits – to name a few: better health and nutrition; great flavors from their inherent earthy, nutty notes, and interesting textures. Another benefit of ancient grains that we like to emphasize at Ardent Mills is how they support every major food trend of the times. For instance, at the recent International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) show in October, I developed dishes in conjunction with a few of the big themes Dave Sheluga, Ardent Mills director of consumer insights, discovered in his consumer research and market usage data. 

“Healthy Indulgence” is a trend Dave is following and ancient grains can support this trend. When you can take traditional bakery items and develop them with our whole and ancient grain flours, you add better health and boost them a little to make them super tasty as well.  I made Whole Grain Purple Barley and Sustagrain (barley) Blueberry Scones for IBIE. Likewise, adding stone ground wheat or ancient grains into baked items and indulgent breads enhances the nutrition and makes them better-for-you. I also made a Spelt and Stone Ground Wheat Blood Orange Brioche Bun for IBIE.

“Clean Food” and “Clean Labels” are also major trends. “Clean” makes consumers feel a little better about eating that indulgent pastry or cookie, and we can help bakers create cleaner foods by adding whole grains and suggesting clean label ingredients for pairing. Using whole, ancient grains also helps create food labels and descriptions that sounds clean, simple, and wholesome. Some examples of recent recipes I’ve developed are a Double Chocolate Cookie featuring whole grain rye flour and a Blueberry Cookie featuring whole grain gluten free quinoa and millet.  

What are some surprises you discovered in your R&D using ancient grains? 
I’ve learned a lot by taking what we refer to as a “grain up” approach to baking and recipe developing. Once you’ve experimented with different flour ratios and grain formulations, you can start to work with more layers of complexity to bring out more flavors in the doughs. If the flavor isn’t coming through, I pull in other culinary techniques, like toasting seeds and grains or par cooking them in flavorful liquids, like stocks, to bring more flavor into the process.

Using different sweeteners also enhances most grain flavors. For instance, honey enhances the sweetness of whole wheat and also helps the earthy flavors of teff and buckwheat come through. I like to use honey in a toasted buckwheat sourdough I’ve developed with organic bread flour, whole grain dark buckwheat flour, toasted buckwheat groats, salt and yeast.

(For more information about using honey in baking, click here to read Honey’s Natural Sweetness Delivers Diverse Flavor Profiles in Bakery Foods.)