A lot of us try to eat as much locally grown food as possible. I know I do. Why? Well, often because it tastes better. Give me luscious cherries and blueberries from nearby Michigan please. I’ll skip the ones flown in from halfway around the world. I like my corn on the cob picked that morning, thank you very much. I’ll wait until Illinois corn is ready.

When I can, I will always chose locally grown fruits and vegetables. But I cannot say that I have ever given much thought to where my flour comes from. That is, until I heard about Baker Miller Flour & Grain, a company started by two Chicago-area chefs and restaurant owners who wanted to source organically grown flour and mill it themselves. Yes, flour milled locally in Chicago for a Chicago restaurant. Now that was something new.

When Baker Miller was just starting out, I supported their Kickstarter. I finally collected my reward the other day and I could not wait to get home and start playing around with this amazing, whole-grain, locally milled flour. I had every reason to believe that the Baker Miller flour was good because when I stopped in the restaurant to pick up my reward, I had one of their chicken pot pies for lunch. It was fantastic with moist, shredded chicken, a savory gravy and a nut-brown, flaky crust.  (To learn more about Baker Miller’s bakery and flour milling operation, read this article from last December’s Bon Appétit.)

It has been unseasonably cold this week, more like fall than spring, and I had one last butternut squash leftover from winter that needed to be used before it got any older. I decided to make a savory galette using my Baker Miller flour, that rather sad-looking butternut squash and some kale that I had bought on sale. It definitely sounded like something more suitable for November than April, but again, it is cold here, people.

Baker Miller warns its customers that they may need to add more liquid than the recipe calls for when using their flour because it is a whole grain product. With that in mind, I adapted my typical dough recipe. But once I made that adjustment, it was very easy to work with the Baker Miller all-purpose flour.

As always when working with pastry, a few tips will help you maintain your sanity while still achieving a delectable flaky crust. Use cold, really cold butter. Leave some small, pebble-sized pieces of butter intact. Add liquid sparingly and include some sort of acid — lemon juice, red wine vinegar — as a tenderizer. Do not overwork the dough. Allow plenty of time for the dough to chill before attempting to roll it out.

The Baker Miller whole grain all purpose flour was not harder to work with than my usual flour and the results were revelatory. I cannot express to you the difference that the flour made. My husband, who is not usually a crust kind of a guy, said: “This crust is delicious.” The whole grains added another whole level of flavor to the galette dough. It was nutty and earthy and flavorful, as opposed to just a flaky vessel for the filling like pastry usually is.

You may be experiencing better weather where you are so perhaps a squash and kale galette feels a little heavy. No worries. Try a different filling instead. Use something seasonal like asparagus or spring onion. Savory galettes are infinitely variable. And well worth the effort.

Notice the whole grains and the small pieces of butter in the galette dough.

Yes, the effort. I am not going to lie to you and say this is a thirty-minute meal. A savory galette is an amazing, delicious, impressive one-dish meal. But it does require a fair number of steps. Before you roll your eyes at me — and yes, I know that most of my recipes require a fair number of steps — let me defend the savory galette thusly. You can do many of the steps, even most of the steps, in advance. Want to serve a savory galette on Thursday? You can make the dough on Sunday and keep it well-wrapped in the refrigerator until you need it. Heck, you could make the dough two Sundays before and freeze it.

You can certainly prepare the filling in advance. And, you can even roll out the galette dough, fill it, fold it up and keep the unbaked galette in the refrigerator for several hours. In fact, I often make galettes when I know I will be busy the hour before I plan to serve dinner. I prepare the galette in the afternoon and refrigerate until it is time to bake.

Savory galettes are a terrific option for entertaining — precisely because so much of the prep work can be done in advance — and they make an especially nice entree for vegetarian guests. I like this combination of garlicky kale seasoned with red pepper flakes and roasted butternut squash because it is beautiful to behold and has a little bitter, a little spice and a little sweetness. But I encourage you to find your own combination and certainly do not be put off by my unseasonal choices here. I already explained that it is cold in Chicago!

If you want to try Baker Miller flour, you can order it online. It is not inexpensive and I do not think that I will always buy it myself. I go through a lot of flour in my kitchen. But I tasted a difference in my galette dough and I bet you will notice a difference too. I’m excited to try the bread flour and pastry flour as well. The idea of flour freshly milled to order made me wonder how long ago that bag of white flour that is sitting in my pantry was milled.

But wherever your flour comes from, do promise me that you will try a savory galette soon. Imagine how delicious one would be for a Mother’s Day brunch? With a fruit salad on the side, there is your meal right there. Mom would be very impressed.