ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, U.S. — Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. has installed a handcrafted mill near the bakery inside its store in Pittsford, New York, U.S. Wegmans said it is likely the first mill inside a supermarket in the U.S.
Nick Greco, Wegmans’ bread artisan, helped the supermarket chain find the mill, which was built by a family-owned company based in Austria. The mill is 10 by 4 by 7 feet, and made with Alpine pine with a stone grinder inside.
For now, the mill will be used to make flour only for Einkorn Rye bread, Wegmans said, but once the supermarket chain’s bakers are familiar with producing that loaf the mill will be used to make other stone-ground, local, organic flours for other varieties of bread.
A loaf of Einkorn Rye will retail for about $5.50.
“Baking with flour made from locally-sourced grains, right out of the mill, is a very special experience,” Greco said. “There are flavor notes, and a subtle sweetness you can taste in a really fresh loaf that aren’t there if a few weeks have passed since the flour was milled. I compare it to the difference between tasting an apple that’s been in cold storage to a ripe apple you pick from the tree.”
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is an 88-store supermarket chain with stores in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
