December 2023 Cookbook Reviews

 

Southern Ground by Jennifer Lapidus

I recently started milling my own flour from whole wheat and have been looking for books in my public library that have recipes for freshly milled flour and/or talk about freshly milled flour. There have been very few in my library. But one of them is this one - Southern Ground by Jennifer Lapidus. She founded Carolina Ground Mill in Asheville, NC - one of the only stone ground mills that also sources locally grown wheat to mill. I had heard of Carolina Ground before but this book gives the background on how and why Lapidus started this mill and its importance in the NC local food movement. The first half of the book is Lapidus's personal story and how she started Carolina Ground Mill. It also includes features of other local bakers who are part of the mill cooperative and test bake with new types of milled flours and grains. The second half of the book is recipes. My only complaint about the recipes is that most of them cater to sourdough or naturally leavened bread. While she does include a good tutorial on creating a natural leaven, I was personally looking for more recipes that are for freshly milled flour. I do think this is a good book that focuses on the importance of sourcing local food/ingredients. It may be one I purchase in the future since the focus is on NC too.