Who: Owner Liesl Malan, Goodness Flour
Where: Harcourt, Mount Alexander Shire, Dja Dja Wurrung Country
What makes your flours different, Liesl?
When most commercial millers make “wholemeal” flour, they remove the germ and bran, mill the starchy endosperm, and then add the bran back. What is missing is the germ, which is packed with healthy and flavoursome oils. Instead, I mill the whole grain with all the nutrients and fibre. There’s a significant difference in flavour.
Where do you get your grains?
I work with amazing farmers who produce organic, biodynamic, or spray-free grains. I’m incredibly lucky to get heritage varieties of wheat from Tanya and Stephen Walter at Burrum Biodynamics in the Wimmera. I make gluten-free chestnut flour from chips of dried chestnut grown and processed in North East Victoria. What is really interesting is that the grains change from paddock to paddock, farmer to farmer, and season to season – it’s like wine in that manner.
What difference do heritage grains make?
Take purple straw, a wheat with a purple stem. It mills to a very fine, fluffy flour but, complete with the bran, makes the most beautiful light and well-textured cakes and biscuits. If you’re baking bread, you can’t go past Yecora. It’s richly flavoured, robust, and has an excellent combination of strength, extensibility, and flavour, making a strong and stretchy dough.
Tell us about your gluten-free range.
I mill brown rice, yellow split peas, sorghum, chestnuts, and chickpeas in two dedicated mills, working in a separate room to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
And your premixes?
I have developed some recipes and made premix flour and other ingredients for wholegrain pancakes, ginger and pear cake, dark chocolate and raisin muffins, and other delicious baked goods.
How do we get your product?
Come and see me at the Woodend, Castlemaine, or Lancefield farmers’ markets or buy online. I don’t do much retail because my flour is made with the germ and that has delicate oils – these oxidise after eight weeks, so I need to make sure the stock is being rotated. That said, I do send my flours and premixes around the country via Australia Post. You can place an order on my website, goodnessflour.com.au.