july | august 2019 66
The Whole Flour
Champion
JOANNE CHANG
Chef & Co-Owner of
Flour Bakery + Café
Boston, Massachusetts
fl ourbakery.com
Follow on Instagram:
@fl ourbakeryandcafe & @joannebchang
One of the most infl uential bakers in the country,
Flour Bakery + Café co-owner Joanne Chang
is spearheading a movement she’s dubbed the
WHOLEfl our campaign. For Joanne, who opened
the fi rst Flour in 2000, and her team, the campaign
serves as a call to action to bake with wholesome
ingredients and grains that our bodies naturally
crave. Here’s the kicker: this initiative isn’t just
about the health benefi ts. Once Joanne, the winner
of a James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker,
started experimenting with ancient whole-grain
fl ours, she quickly discovered that some of her
baked goods, originally made with traditional fl our,
had noticeably better texture and taste.
Today, Joanne and her team, who run nine Flour
locations in the Boston area, have incorporated
whole-grain fl our into 20 of the bakery’s preexisting
recipes. Every item was tested and compared to
the original in both blind and nonblind taste tests.
Khorasan fl our, an ancient grain that’s easier to digest
and has more protein than all-purpose fl our, brings a
deep, rich fl avor to the Apple Snacking Spice Cake
and crowd-favorite Carrot Cake. Because of its
slightly nutty fl avor, Joanne uses rye fl our in the
double-chocolate cookies and Midnight Chocolate
Cake, which are even more rich and fudgy with the
whole-grain fl our. Flour’s brownie is now made with
spelt fl our, and people can’t get enough of the tender
Currant Spelt Oat Scone. Joanne’s fourth cookbook,
Pastry Love, available in November 2019, features many
of Flour’s WHOLEfl our (and traditional) recipes.
Joanne will continue searching for ways to evolve her
baking for the better.