“[Farmers] know better than anyone how broken our commodity food system is . . . So, I think we all started from the same place, and it had to be a completely alternative system to succeed.” - Bob Klein

"'Drive-by' stone milling and the fakery that has trashed the concept of whole grain" - Michael Moss, Twitter

“Community Grains, changed just about everything about the way I think about and make bread.” - Mark Bittman

"Bitty's right about this wonderful flour: This True Whole Wheat Changed How I Bake" - Michael Pollan, Twitter

"Community Grains contracts with farmers to grow heritage wheat locally, fairly, and sustainably. With that grain, the company makes flour, breads, and pasta – preserving all of the germ and bran, where a majority of the nutrients reside, most of which are lost in the production of white flour" - Bittman and McCart

"Bread geeks: don't miss this fascinating piece on how a lot of "whole wheat" is anything but. Now we have a test. " - Michael Pollan, Twitter

Ponsford’s Place is part of a new movement in whole grains. Led by groups like the Oakland-based organization Community Grains, the grains are grown locally, and consist of varieties unlike most of the flour available today. The California-grown grains are milled without ever separating the germ, the embryo of a grain kernel, and the bran, the protective outer layer...

First it was produce. Then the local food movement expanded to take on meat. Now it’s all about grains. Nothing proves this point more than the packed room I found myself in last Sunday morning. At the point in the week when most people are unfurling their copy of the New York Times, or making their second leisurely café au lait, I filed in to the back of the dining area at Oliveto, a high-end Italian restaurant in Oakland, to join around 100 people gathered to discuss local grains...

I finally found the magic al dente window in the hard red winter wheat linguine from the San Francisco Bay Area company Community Grains. I don’t know whether it is the wheat itself (California grown and milled), the fact that the whole grain is...

The biggest thing that will attract regular people to eating whole wheat will be the taste. With a variety of different flours, Community Grains is also trying to offer different flavors. And, with high-end chefs and bakers, like Yard and Robertson and Ponsford, using the whole wheat flour to make delicious treats, it’s sure to attract fans...

Today, Community Grains sells its whole-grain pastas and stone-milled flours at places like Whole Foods and Bi-Rite, but Klein has no intention of stopping there. He wants to “rebuild the local grain economy in Northern California” by supporting small farmers who grow different varieties of wheat...

Of course you’ve had whole-grain pasta before, but this is different. In the usual milling of wheat, Klein explains, the germ and bran are separated off, which removes the fatty acids that prevent rancidity.  You can taste the difference  - Community Grains dried pastas...

I tried different proportions of whole-wheat and all-purpose flour, never using less than half whole-wheat, and found that the same overall recipe worked no matter how I varied the proportions. I’m working with a terrific whole-wheat flour produced in California, available online and now carried by Fairway, called Community Grains."