Sunny Boy Flour

I first heard about Sunny Boy flour from Cheryl of Backseat Gourmet. Sunny Boy is a company in Camrose, Alberta that mills its own all-purpose and whole-wheat flour. It also makes the apparently-famous Sunny Boy cereal.

Since we decided to eat more locally, we’ve also been trying to eat mainly gluten-free, so at first I wasn’t too worried about finding local wheat flour. But lately I started thinking about it more. I thought I remembered seeing some bags of the flour at Planet Organic.

So on a recent trip there I picked some up. I was actually really excited about it. The thought of local flour was extremely enticing. I daydreamed about making pasta, layer cakes, biscuits … all with local flour. After reading The 100-Mile Diet, where authors James and Alisa spent seven months looking for a flour producer near their home in Vancouver, I felt all the more grateful.

As soon as I got home from Planet Organic I cut open the bag of flour and dumped two cups into a bowl. The flour wasn’t pure white, it was more of a pale tan colour. I took a whiff of the it. It smelled … different than other flours. Almost yeasty and briney. But maybe I was imagining things. I mixed the flour with a little sugar and a little salt, then cut in cubes of butter with a pastry cutter. I sprinkled cold water over the top until the dough came together in a ball, then stuck it in the fridge.

I went to work, and when I got home that night, there was a beautifully burnished leek and goat cheese galette coming out of the oven. Here is the delicious first product made with our Sunny Boy flour.

This is a Deborah Madison recipe that is absolutely brilliant. Although, to be honest, I think that you could stick any type of tasty filling into this deliciously buttery galette dough and it would result in a bang-up supper. I’ve made a butternut squash galette and a nectarine galette with the same dough, and ev  ery one is a smash hit. This combination of leeks and goat cheese, simmered with cream and white wine, is a winner. The leeks get very soft and tender and the cheese melts in your mouth.

I used Fairwinds Farm goat cheese – another local product that we just started eating. It is delicious – very soft, smooth and tangy. And I appreciate that it comes in little tubs rather than the plastic-wrapped logs that I’ve always bought goat cheese in. It’s much easier to store this way.

Leek and Goat Cheese Galette from
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

Galette Dough: see this recipe

for the filling:
6 large leeks, including inch of green
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp chopped thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream
salt + pepper
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp. chopped parsley
4 oz goat cheese, less or more to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Thinly slice and wash the leeks. You should have about 6 cups.

2. Melt butter in medium skillet. Add leeks, thyme, and 1/2 cup water. Stew over medium heat, stirring frequently, until leeks are tender, about 12 minutes. Add wine and continue cooking until reduced; then add the crème and cook until it coats the leeks and little liquid remains. Season with salt and plenty of pepper. Let cool 10 minutes, then stir in all but 1 tbsp of the beaten egg and 2 tbsp of the parsley.

3. Roll the galette dough out to about 1/8 of an inch thick. You can either make one large galette or six small galettes. Spread leek mixture on top of rolled galette dough, leaving a 2 inch border around the edge. crumble the goat cheese on top, then fold the dough over the filling (fold it over a little or a lot, up to you). Brush with reserved egg and bake until crust is browned, 25-30 minutes. Garnish with remaining parsley.