Last week I wrote about my encounter last September with retired wheat farmer John Campbell and his girlfriend, Dee Mozingo, at the Painted Hills Festival in Mitchell. I was fascinated with the organic Sonora wheat kernels I bought then ground in my flour mill. The kernels made unusually delicious baked goods so I became curious about these people who grew this wheat on half an acre in their backyard. So the three of us met at the Truck Stop Café in Madras and I peppered them with questions.
John showed me a video of the old-fashioned threshing machine he pulls with a 1937 John Deere model A tractor. Then he showed me a lovely video of the threshing machine being pulled by three plow horses at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Moved, I almost cried (I do the same thing when I see the Budweiser Clydesdales in parades). To know how the wheat was harvested made me appreciate it even more.
I asked John and Dee what they make with their flour and Dee texted me a copy of John’s biscuit recipe. I tweaked the recipe and they turned out like a cross between biscuits and scones (biscones!). The reason this recipe works is because it calls for flour made from soft wheat, like John’s. The buttermilk and soda react to make the texture tender and flaky, too. Don’t forget to freeze the butter or you will end up with dense biscones and then you will think I don’t know how to bake!
Whole Wheat Biscones
1 cup cake or other soft wheat white flour (you can use all-purpose but they won’t be as tender)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ cup unsalted butter (if you use salted butter, decrease the salt to ½ tsp)
¾ cup cold buttermilk
Mix the dry ingredients. Freeze the butter, grate it and mix into the flour until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in the buttermilk and mix with a rubber spatula until the dough sticks together; it will be crumbly. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and fold it over like a letter once or twice; do not over handle. Roll or pat into a circle ½ inch thick. Cut into wedges and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake 12 – 14 minutes at 425⁰.
Next week I will tell you how to get some of this amazing flour and about the upcoming “Plowing Bee” event on April 12 at the Casad Family Farm on the Agency Plains just outside of Madras. If you go, maybe you will meet John and Dee!