Milling around

Last Friday marked our first class field trip. We visited Les Moulins Bourgeois in Verdelot, which is a bit outside Paris. It was the perfect day for a bus ride and visiting the flour mill, since I was quite under the weather... even though it meant being at school at 6:45 AM.




We got to experience the entire flour mill process, and then some. Most people don't put much thought into where their bread comes from. Heck, most people wouldn't know what to do with a pound of flour, let alone a wheat berry. There's a lot of humidifying, drying, sorting, grinding and sifting going on, and countless machines to accomplish the tasks. And it all starts with a little wheat berry.



I can't even imagine how they used to mill flour back in the day before all these modern machines. It must have taken forever!





Its amazing the volume of wheat they go through every day, and its all stored in huge silos. Its kinda scary walking up by all the silos knowing that if you happen to fall into one, you're pretty much a goner.





And after all the milling, the flour is packaged and ready to be sent off to local artisan bakeries. But alongside the milling process, the flour is tested in a lab for countless things including elasticity, starch content, gluten content, burn rate, etc. Even though it comes from an age old process, the mill constantly tests their flour to make sure that every batch is perfect.



Okay, so I said I can't imagine how it was like to mill flour back in the day, I take it back. Part of our field trip included a visit to the old flour mill that is being restored. Like something out of some pastoral picturesque movie, the old flour mill was powered by a big water wheel.







Interestingly enough, someone mentioned today that we're about halfway through our program at Ferrandi. It makes me a bit sad; I want it to last longer, but I'm also excited and anxious about the stage. I asked for Alain Ducasse at Plaza Athenee, but who knows if Chef thinks I'm qualified enough for it. I would love the opportunity to work with Christophe Michalak... that man can do some amazing things. Though in reality, the probability of me doing slave work and not allowed near the pastries is a whole lot higher.