The Kneads Process

  • Our flour begins with careful sourcing and farming practices. We proudly work with northeast farms for all of our grains.

  • Milling is an art in and of itself; dialing in on all the variables and understanding the process is important to generate a flour that is extremely fine. Grinding your own flour starts with a quality mill, therefore, we reached out to Andrew Heyn and Blair Marvin - Bakers/Co-Owners of Elmore Mountain Breads along with their partner company New American Stone Mills in Elmore, VT and asked them about how their businesses began.

    With his knowledge of milling and baking, Andrew felt he could improve on commercial mills, so he designed and created a mill from a baker’s perspective. Word spread, and now New American Stone Mills can be found intermittently throughout Europe, as well as across the United States, Canada, Australia. Visiting the bakery and learning about their process and the mills confirmed our desire to join the community of bakers to work directly with farmers and bring freshly milled flour to customers.

  • Flavor, nutrition, and tradition – Fresh stone milling gives you the ability to enjoy the grains at their full potential. While milling the grain, kernel is cracked into three parts: the endosperm, bran, and germ, releasing all its vitamins, minerals, and oils. During this process, you can smell the nuttiness of the grain which only enhances when mixed with water, fermented, and baked into a crusty loaf or rich brioche roll. Most commercial flours are sifted, thus, stripping the grain of the bran and germ to create white flour only to chemically bleach it later to manufacture a whiter, finer, and softer texture. While the purpose of this process is to create a product that can be milled, shipped globally, and sit on a shelf for weeks, months, or even years; the flour itself becomes unrecognizable and, in turn, loses all its identity and flavor along the way.
    While obtaining a deeper flavor is certainly a goal of ours, we can also appreciate the benefits of fresh whole grain milling. The endosperm makes up the largest portion of the milled flour, but it is the bran and the endosperm that provide the most nutrition.  After the grains are milled, the degeneration of the nutrients begins, as the bran protects the grain from oxidation. Enzymes and fiber in the bran help slow digestion, boost metabolism, and steady blood sugar levels.  By controlling the milling, we preserve the nutritional integrity of the grains. 
    At Kneads we intend to bring back the flavor and capture the grain at its peak moment.  Our hope is to share and continue the tradition of bringing together farmers and bakers through milling.

  • A person holding a handful of white or light beige flour over a surface covered with more flour.

    Enjoy flour at the peak of freshness as you would freshly ground coffee.

  • A person holding a cross-section of a flaky, golden-brown pastry with a dark filling inside.

    Whole grains can also be tasty.

  • Raw pizza dough on a wooden surface with two bakers in aprons and hats smiling in the background.

    Slow, natural fermentation. The way bread used to be made.

  • Unbaked baguettes covered with flour on a floured towel and linen cloth.

    Baguettes shaped by hand

A person smiling happily while sprinkling salt onto chocolate chip cookie dough in a gray plastic container in a bakery or commercial kitchen setting.
Two people preparing bread dough in a bakery or kitchen, with racks of woven baskets nearby.
Top-down view of a wooden container filled with wheat grains, with a container of flour partially visible below.
Several spiral-shaped raw ingredients on a wooden surface, likely frozen truffles or a similar root vegetable.
A man drilling into a large, circular stone or concrete surface with a textured pattern, using a power tool in a workshop.
A tractor pulling a seed planter with four people riding on it across a field on a cloudy day.
Close-up of a grinding stone or wheel with colored abrasive surface, featuring radial lines and a central hole with a mechanical part.
Person wearing a striped apron pounding dough on a wooden surface, dusting flour in a well-lit kitchen with a window and houses outside.
Person shaping dough on a wooden table in a bakery or kitchen, with stacked woven bread baskets nearby.
Person holding a cross-section of a chocolate-filled croissant.
Person in a striped apron is shaping pizza dough on a wooden table with a knife in one hand and the dough in the other. A piece of folded pizza with toppings is on the table.
A cloth bread bag with a drawstring, labeled "Kneads Bakery Café Mill," sitting on a wooden surface near a window, with a tag that reads "Lange Wheat."
A vintage cream-colored ice cream or gelato maker with a metal churning tub and a large funnel on top, situated in a storage room.
Uncut gingerbread dough cut into rectangular pieces with diagonal slashes on a wooden countertop, ready for baking.
A close-up of a food display case with a metal and wood frame, showing a metal sign with the text "New American Stone Mills Elm.ore Vermont USA Est. 2015".
Baking bread rolls in an oven with warm lighting.
Chocolate chip cookies baking inside an oven, with cookies on a baking sheet.
Person holding two halves of a sliced loaf of bread with a striped shirt in the background.
Close-up of freshly baked French baguettes with a dusting of flour resting on a wire rack.
Assorted muffins and crumb-topped coffee cakes on a tray.
Close-up view of freshly baked round bread rolls with a crusty, golden-brown exterior.
A person holding a halved loaf of bread with a golden-brown crust and soft, airy interior.
A young woman in a red tank top and denim shorts standing in a wheat field, holding a handful of wheat stalks and examining them.
Close-up of a green wheat stalk against a background of a grassy field, trees, and a greenhouse under an overcast sky.