Salisbury Mill

From paddock to pizza. Brisbane’s first community-scale mill is putting faces to flour

Brisbane bakers and carb-lovers now have access to unique, locally milled flour thanks to the Salisbury Mill - Brisbane’s first artisan flour mill, committed to reconnecting foodies to farmers, and to the lost joys and flavours of fresh wholegrain flour.

With the motto of ‘flour to the people,’ the Mill is a social enterprise to support sustainable grain producers - largely left behind in the farm-to-plate surge of recent years. Grain is sourced directly from independent family farms who use regenerative methods. It’s slowly stoneground in small batches on a custom granite mill (one of only two made from Australian stone this century), before being packed and hand-labelled with the name of both farmer and miller.

80 percent of flour in Australia is made and owned by three large multinational corporations. So much of it is bought cheaply, shipped to central locations, stored in huge siloes, heated, sifted and bleached before it makes its way to the shelf - stripped of flavour, nutrients, and connection to the farmer and land it came from.

There’s an incredible difference between Salisbury Mill's flour that’s freshly milled and only a day or week old, compared to the stuff that’s been in a bag for months. Fresh flour really tastes more alive, and we can’t wait to help Brisbane’s kitchens explore the flavours from different grains and locations - it has real terroir, just like wine or coffee.

The mill itself is made from Australian granite, sourced from a quarry near Mount Alexander in Victoria. It was designed and built on-farm in Berrigan, New South Wales by young farmer Ian Congdon of Woodstock Flour and his brother Hamish, who also supply the wheat currently used at the Mill.

As well as backing local and ecological farmers, the Salisbury Mill is committed to restoring tradition and knowledge around milling and wholegrains, and in partnership with First Nations people, are working on developing a range of flours from native grains - honouring this continent’s (and possibly the world’s) first millers and bakers.

Flour has been at the heart of families and communities for thousands of years, but somewhere along the way it went from a simple, nourishing food to a lifeless, overprocessed commodity.

FCF is proud to be building a new grain economy, and putting the soul back into it - milling the old school way, leaving all the good stuff in, and rebuilding the connection between grower, baker and community.

For more information visit www.salisburymill.com.au

FCF could not have made the Salisbury Mill happen without initially receiving a Qld Government grant, and later, Sustainable Table who provided funds to build a mill room at Food Connect Shed, and funded the development of learning resources for communities to set up their own community-scale mill.