Wheat Tasting – A First Step Towards Creating A Vocabulary

On January 10, we hosted a wheat tasting in the Oliveto dining room. Our plan wast to begin establishing some basic vocabulary for how to talk about the flavor components of wheat and flour as well as discern how those components vary between different varieties. In attendance were some of the most highly-tuned palates we know…

Some Loaf

Starting this Monday, August 8th, Acme is going into official production mode, meaning we will have whole grain bread in our bread basket during dinner service every night! Initially, it will also be served…

From Fencerow To Fencerow

After a couple of years of dilly-dallying with our beloved Red Flint ‘Floriani’ corn (growing one acre in 2009, then five acres last year) we’re finally taking the plunge with a much larger crop for 2011. Eighteen acres were planted in Woodland, CA along with another ten acres in Lodi, CA.
Also in the mix are…

Toasted Durum Wheat Pasta

The predominant explanation for toasted pasta from Puglia, is that after the wheat fields are harvested and burned to remove the chaff and weeds, gleaners would come and pick through the ashes for the remaining charred kernels of wheat, which they would then mill and make into pasta. Chef Jonah found…

Red Flint Corn Seed Selection

We love our Floriani Red Flint corn, we think it makes the very best polenta. So, when we started to ask farmers to grow it for us several years ago, we found that the Rominger Brothers were up for the adventure. Their first crop, about an acre and a half, yielded 2,300 lbs pr acre, but we thought…

Ponsford’s Place

Craig Ponsford has been a great friend to Oliveto over the past year. As we have become increasing interested in locally grown wheat and the use of whole grain flour for our pizzas and pastas, Craig has been providing us with all the necessary instruction & guidance as only a master baker can do. As a direct result of this friendship and…

Red Flint ‘Floriani’ Polenta Recipe

1) 3 parts water: 1 part Red Flint ‘floriani’ polenta* 2) Bring water to a boil, whisk polenta in, lower to slow simmer 3) Cook for around 3 hours 4) Add…

Community Grains

If you’ve been follow the Oliveto Grain Project, you know that over the last two years we’ve been enmeshed in the pursuit of locally grown corn and wheat. This has evolved from a simple query into a full-blown cause and now finally the creation, in partnership with our farmers and miller, of Community Grains….

Red Corn Harvest 2010

On Wednesday we drove up to Winters, CA to help with the harvest of our Red Flint corn. First, we did some hand-picking in hopes of selecting some quality seed for next year’s planting. Lesson learned: hand-harvesting corn is hard (and itchy) work! Thankfully, the John Deere 9600 Combine showed up and…

Pizza Gufo

After perfecting our whole-grain pizza dough, Chef Canales decided to take it one step further & concocted the geniusness that is Pizza Gufo. Simple and fresh, we’ll be serving…