Our creed

True to our Italian roots we revere tradition and the old ways of baking. For us, a truly nourishing food with the richest flavors is prepared in small quantities following traditional methods and using organic whole natural ingredients. Not ingredients that have been genetically modified or altered in any way in order to adapt them for the industrial production of food like modern day wheat.

Whole Grains store a variety of nutrients to feed the future germinating seed and a myriad of phytochemicals for the protection of that seed. By stone grinding Whole Grains at the bakery we preserve every nutrient and health protection substance. But we also include some compounds that decrease the nutritional value of food by making a nutrient unavailable or indigestible. They are known as antinutrients and they have to be neutralized.

The phytochemicals, that function helping plants resist pathogens, are extremely beneficial in protecting humans from cancer and other modern disease, we know them as antioxidants. Whole Grains have antioxidant levels as high as the richest vegetables or fruits but they are tied up in the bran layer and in the germ. They have to be freed to become bio-available to protect our health.

Antinutrients and Gluten in the Whole Grains can be detrimental to our health. Enzyme inhibitors interfere with our digestion, Phytic acid combines with iron, copper, calcium, magnesium and zinc blocking their absorption in the intestinal tract. Gluten intolerance is on the rise worldwide because modern wheat has become so prevalent in the Western diet that humans are actually overdosing on it (scientific research has linked Gluten to a variety of modern diseases like diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and many others).

Making the antioxidants bio-available and neutralizing the potentially harmful substances is accomplished by the action of our fermentation cultures. They in effect predigest the Whole Grains for us. To feed their growth the Lactic Acid Bacteria generate their molecular building blocks breaking down complex substances by enzymatic action. The end result is that the protective antioxidants are released, the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors are neutralized, and the gluten content is minimized reducing it to easy to digest small peptides and amino acids.

Like traditional societies have done for milennia, the doughs for our breads are naturally fermented for a period of more than 24 hours by the microorganisms captured in our Sonoma Cultures. For our Cookies (Wheat Free and Gluten Free) we use the simple traditional practice of soaking the grains for 12 hours. Soaking allows enzymes and microorganisms to neutralize antinutrients and free antioxidants, but Gluten is not as affected as with the long fermentation with the special cultures we use for the breads (the same is true for sprouting).

Grindstone Bakery was founded in 1999 by my friend Tauna. She started experimenting with ancient grains and methods of making bread while working with Alan Scott, one of the most influential masonry oven builders in the country

Tauna had graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in environmental conservation, but the lure of the kitchen prompted her to pursue a different path. She worked for a while as a pastry chef at Millennium, the acclaimed vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco, and then at the Whole Foods bakery. There she discovered her passion for bread making.

When Tauna decided to move away from California, to dedicate more time to her family, she offered me the opportunity of continuing her work. I felt it was life telling me that the search for something believed in and desired was over, that everything I had learned along the way finally made sense.

My father was a partner at a flour mill. I grew up among wheat fields and all kinds of flours and breads. I wanted to be a chemist, so my father thought that the natural path for me was to be the mill’s chemist. But during my studies I was captivated by the world of science and decided that just testing flours was not enough of a life. So, I went on pursuing an elusive career in science.

Today, I am extremely happy that I have found myself again. Baking, being a science, requires the precision and rigor, the experimental and inquisitive skills that are rooted in my scientific background. Baking is also an act of love that now provides meaning to my life.