People continue to ask how two retired people with no background in baking started a garage business that outgrew the garage and has nearly outgrown our current building.

Our story began with a quest for a good loaf of bread, the crusty, artisan type we had eaten in Europe. Unable to find it, Darrold began baking, seeking to make that loaf we couldn’t find.

For the first six months we saw most of the bread go in the trash as hard, tasteless inedible door stops. We discovered how important quality flour is in bread making and Darrold began milling his own flour in a table top mill.

Darrold studied bread baking, and worked on developing a pizza flour, while we were selling organic conventional wheat flour at a local farmers market.

While Darrold was developing this pizza flour, we were baking and eating a lot of bread and pizza. As we ate more and more bread and pizza, Darrold became increasingly achy and lethargic with new symptoms every few months. He had sinus problems, headaches and myriad intestinal issues including gastric reflux so bad he slept nearly sitting upright for a year.

He saw numerous doctors who prescribed and suggested a variety of pills, but to no avail. Darrold’s symptoms became so debilitating that he was spending most of his time in bed. We reached out to specialists, but gained no further understanding of his illness.

It wasn’t until after an evening out gorging on family-sized Italian pasta dishes that Darrold’s symptoms hit a peak and we began to consider that gluten sensitivity might be the culprit.

We went gluten-free that day and within two days Darrold felt better, and within two months he was back to his old self.

However, after becoming so accustomed to fresh baked goods, we struggled to eat gluten-free substitutes. To paraphrase our favorite Julia Child quote, it tasted like… Kleenex. The more we ate gluten-free, the more we noted the long list of ingredients: added sugar, gums, and other additives that seemed very unhealthy.

As Darrold delved into the issue of gluten sensitivity, he discovered that modern wheat is very different from the heritage wheat we ate growing up. During the Green Revolution of the 1950’s, high-yielding, modern wheat was developed.

This modern wheat has a different chromosome structure and less digestible gluten. Additionally, modern wheat requires more insecticides, herbicides, and other chemicals to grow..

It became obvious to us that we needed to go back to the wheat we ate growing up, the pre-1950’s heritage wheat.

We quickly learned that heritage wheat flour was easy to bake with and tasted delicious. Best of all Darrold could eat it without symptoms.

Even for me, who never suspected I was gluten sensitive, benefited from heritage wheat. I found that within a few weeks of making the change, my joint pain subsided and I was able to stop taking medication. After five years of not being able to knit due to thumb joint pain, I was again able to make my needles fly.

So began our new mission to bring heritage wheat to the everyday home baker. It has been a long journey to make Sunrise Flour Mill a reality. Along the way we have met some wonderful bakers and bread lovers who have become like family.

Over the years we have been astounded at how many other gluten sensitive people have found they are able to enjoy heritage wheat without symptoms.

We are passionate about flour… something many people find boring. It’s not sexy like truffles or fine wine. Wheat is fascinating though. There is so much to discover and we are not only continually learning from other industry professionals, but also from our customers who use our products

Wheat is the foundation of almost every baked good, and better flour makes you a better baker.

If you find yourself struggling through gluten sensitivity and miss the flavor and comfort of home baked goods, we ask you to consider heritage wheat. Feel confident that with Sunrise Flour Mill you get the very best.