How Regenerative Farming is Changing the Face of Flour & Pizza in the UK
Here at Homemade Pizza Club, a question we wrestled with for a long time was: how can we make pizza that’s better for you but still tastes incredible?
After extensive research into farming in the UK, we found the answer! Working with the amazing team at Wildfarmed and using their Wildfarmed flour, we launched our award winning, Wildfarmed pizza dough balls that are not only much healthier and far more sustainable than dough made with conventionally farmed wheat, but make great tasting pizzas.
Featured recently on Season 3 of Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime TV, Wildfarmed are spearheading a mission to grow wheat the right way, making regenerative flour that tastes better and is better for you and the planet. But what is regenerative farming?
At its core, the regenerative system aims to work with nature, rather than against it. Unlike the current large-scale, industrial system that relies on the use of chemical fertilisers and is the leading cause of soil degradation, water pollution, deforestation and loss of wildlife, regenerative farming prioritises soil health and the restoration of eco-systems through crop diversity and, where possible, seeks to eliminate the use of all synthetic fertilisers.
While both crop and biodiversity may not seem important on the surface, the current widespread adoption of intensive ‘monoculture’ systems are hugely detrimental to soil health. Planting the same crop year after year (wheat, for example) depletes soil nutrients, which often leads farmers to apply large amounts of synthetic fertilizers—something that further degrades soil health in the long run. Monoculture also renders the soil prone to rapid erosion, since the practice leaves the soil bare outside of the crop’s growing season.
In response, regenerative farming calls for a diverse mixture of plant families to be grown year-round, that combine different functional traits to drive soil health and increase biodiversity. But, you may be wondering, why is soil health so important? Simply put, plant health begins with soil health, and increasing soil biology by keeping living roots in the ground and promoting plant diversity have been shown to be the best protection against disease. This not only leads to healthier crops, but increasing evidence also shows that food grown in regenerative ways is far more nutritious. And this is important.
Our industrial agriculture systems produce mainly commodity crops, which are then used in a wide variety of inexpensive, calorie-dense foods. Consequently, 60% of all dietary energy is derived from just three cereal crops: rice, maize and wheat. While the widespread availability of these staples has effectively lowered the proportion of people suffering from hunger, this calorie-based approach doesn’t address our nutritional requirements. A food that is twice as nutritious only requires half the calories for us to extract the same benefit so, in short, eating food which is more nutrient dense is a fundamental factor in improving our health.
Here at Homemade Pizza Club, we know that pizza is often made with highly refined flours which contain so little nutrition that, here in the UK, they are legally required to be fortified with additional vitamins. It’s a stark fact that led us on a search for an alternative. And that’s when we found Wildfarmed.
After learning about the horrors of the industrial food system, Wildfarmed’s co-founder Andy Cato (one half of the iconic duo Groove Armada) bought a farm and began developing the farming methods that now underpin the Wildfarmed Regenerative Standards. Currently collaborating with and directly supporting over 50 partner farms who have transitioned to soil focussed farming, Wildfarmed offer agronomic, community and financial support to help ease a farmers transition from industrial to regenerative methods. Each farm adheres to the stringent Wildfarmed Standards that prioritise soil health, welcome back wildlife and reduce emissions, and in return are guaranteed a fair price for their harvests.
But the good news doesn’t stop there. Because the wheat is grown using regenerative methods, the nutrient content of the flour is significantly improved. It's then milled using a traditional stone grinding process that retains much more natural goodness in the flour compared to a large-scale commercial milling process. This means that, when we turn the flour into dough in our bakery, not only is it better for you, but the inherent quality of the flour is reflected in the taste. Awarded a 2-star Great Taste Award in 2023 by the Guild of Fine Foods, our Wildfarmed pizza dough is revolutionising pizza as we know it.
So pick up a pack of our Wildfarmed dough balls and make the best tasting, most nutritious pizza around. You’ll be directly contributing to the success of regenerative farming and helping to shape the future of sustainable farming, one pizza at a time. As Andy Cato says, “If the majority of people don’t realise that there’s a problem and that, with their awareness and help, we can fix it, we’re on a road to nowhere.”
Shop Wildfarmed pizza dough balls:
Wildfarmed Sourdough Pizza Dough Balls - Homemade Pizza Club
