K2 Milling is one of the best flour mills in Ontario and where 100km Foods sources all of our local flours and grains from. The mill is owned and operated by Mark Hayhoe, who has a long and storied family history of milling.
Mark, AKA "Kaptain Flour" (pictured below), has been milling for over 29 years but this is not where his family history with milling stops.
The Hayhoe family has a 129 year history milling in Ontario dating back to 1891! This has resulted in Mark being incredibly passionate and insanely informative about all things milling and grains!
How K2 Milling Processes Ontario Grains
K2 Milling is different than the larger scale, industrial mills in a few fundamentally important ways. For starters, large scale mill operations process up to 50 tonnes of grains an hour, whereas Mark and his head miller, Steve, process up to 1 tonne an hour.
Since they mill much smaller batches, they have a lot of freedom to play around and innovate with incredibly unique flours. Mark mills everything from AP flour, bread flours, rye flours and quinoa flour, to grape, cranberry and blueberry flours made from dehydrated grapes, cranberry, and blueberries!
Mark sources his grains from a variety of farmers throughout Ontario, from both conventional and organic farms. After decades of milling experience, Mark can actually smell a bag of flour and determine right away if it’s conventional or organic. Talk about a cool party trick!
Mark is also often even able to pinpoint the field or region where it was grown! You may notice that the smell of our flours from K2 Milling is quite pronounced and each unique. Because Mark's flours are minimally processed, the terroir of the flour is really pronounced. Go ahead, give your flour a smell!
K2 Milling’s smaller scale, lower heat milling process not only ensures the quality of the flour but also preserves the integrity of the nutritional value of the flour.
Mark acknowledged his products can occasionally present a challenge for chefs and bakers who haven’t used them before. Sometimes, adjustments will need to be made to your recipe and process to receive the best result. Not to worry though, any recipes we've shared have been tried and tested with K2 Milling flour!
K2 Milling Must-Tries!
K2 Milling's Viking AP Flour is milled from conventional hard red winter wheat from Nielson Family Farms in Alliston, Ontario. This flour is full of flavour and extremely versatile making it great for baking pastry, flat breads and muffins. This flour should be your go-to to swap for regular all purpose flour in your favourite recipes!
"Red Fife" Artisanal Organic Flour Another great flour to use in bread making is K2's "Red Fife" Organic artisanal flour. "Red Fife" is dense, heavy and nutty and guaranteed to deliver a flavourful loaf of fresh bread.
"Kardinal" Bread Flour K2 Milling's "Kardinal" Bread Flour is made with conventional grains and has a high protein content that is great gluten development. This flour is particularly well suited to bread-making! Make sure to give it a try next time you're making a loaf of fresh bread!
"Loftus" Bread Flour K2 Milling's "Loftus" Bread Flour is an organic bread flour that, similar to "Kardinal", has a high protein content that is great gluten development. If you're looking for a great organic flour for bread-making, give "Loftus" a try!
"Dark Rye" Artisanal Organic Flour This Dark Rye flour is made with organic grains and has a sightly sour flavour profile. It is particularly great for making rye and sourdough breads, buns and crisp breads.
Organic Cornmeal This organic cornmeal has a sweet, robust flavour and is delicious in breads, muffins, cookies, tortillas and polenta!
Granola "Ovenbird" Oats K2 Milling are full of delicious oat flavour and perfect for making granola, muesli, or for baking!
Shop our complete collection of K2 Milling products available at The Market at 100km Foods.
