PROVIDENCE – Seven Stars Bakery has begun selling the first loaves of bread in decades made from start to finish in Rhode Island.
The rye bread is the fruit of the R.I. Rye Project, a partnership between Seven Stars, Schartner Farms in Exeter and Kenyon’s Grist Mill in South Kingstown to farm, mill and bake bread in Rhode Island.
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The new bread – described as dark, intense and complex – has only four ingredients: rye flour, rye berries, water and salt. The salt is the only ingredient not from Rhode Island. It is based on Vollkornbrot, a dense German bread often eaten with strong cheeses, cured meats and whole-grain mustard.
The project has come to fruition amid something of a farming revival in Rhode Island. The number of farms in the state grew 42 percent between 2002 and 2007, and the state’s crop and livestock sales increased 18 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The project got started last September, when Rich Schartner listed rye seed for sale on the Market Mobile, a wholesale delivery system created by Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a six-year-old nonprofit that promotes local agriculture.
That got Noah Fulmer, the group’s executive director, and Hannah Mellion, its markets coordinator, thinking about the possibility of getting rye bread made here, said Mellion, who is working for Farm Fresh through AmeriCorps VISTA.
“Thousands of Rhode Islanders will have the chance to eat locally grown bread that is incredibly fresh and supports the local economy through every step of its production,” she said. “This story was created by simply linking neighboring small businesses. There are so many opportunities for local partnerships like this one.”
Schartner is borrowing special combines and thrashing machines from a neighboring North Kingstown company, Sodco Inc., a large sod producer, to harvest grain on a commercial level.
“Without such machines, it simply isn’t commercially viable to grow and harvest grain today,” Mellion said in an e-mail. “There are very few farms that I know of in Rhode Island that grow grains anymore.”
“This wasn’t always the case,” she added. “There are quite a few grist mills that are still functioning today that speak to the history of grain production in this region.”
Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts and R.I. Department of Environmental Management Division of Agriculture chief Ken Ayars recently broke bread with the three companies to celebrate the rye’s debut.
“The R.I. Rye Project is an outstanding example of local businesses working together to create an all-Rhode Island, all-local product from start to finish,” Roberts said. “[It is] an innovative way to bring Rhode Islanders the first locally-grown, locally-ground, locally-baked and locally sold bread we’ve seen in generations.”
The bread is available at Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s Springtime Farmers Market in Pawtucket and on Saturdays at Seven Stars’ stores in Providence and Rumford, as well as its five farmer’s market locations.
Seven Stars said it plans to use the R.I. Rye flour in other types of loaves starting this fall. In addition, Schartner Farms will begin growing wheat for the bakery this summer.
Additional information is available at farmfreshri.org.
