WSU Breadlab

Grain Gathering 2026 ticketing will go live on Tuesday, May 19, at 10am pacific time. We have two ticket options for this year’s Grain Gathering: Full Event (July 19 afternoon, July 20 full day+, July 21 morning) and Community Party (July 20 evening). The Full Event ticket option costs $375/person and includes all the demonstrations, panels, keynotes, and meals over the three days, the Community Party, and participation in one Masterclass, an immersive workshop with 20 or fewer people. The Community Party costs $40/person, takes place on the evening of July 20th, and will include a keynote, live music, and a tasting-style meal with chefs from across the Pacific Northwest. (The Community Party is free for kids 12 and under.) Each Full Event ticket is tied to a Masterclass, which are sessions ranging from 1.5 hours to 3 hours where you will learn in a more intimate, immersive setting with 20 or fewer people. When ticket sales go live on breadlab.wsu.edu May 19, you will select your Masterclass from the seven options and click on the associated link. This will take you to the Grain Gathering store where you will purchase your ticket. Completing your sale will register you for the full, 3-day event and your chosen Masterclass. There will be 20 tickets available for each Masterclass. Once a Masterclass has reached 20 participants, that ticket option will be closed out and you must try another Masterclass. There is a limit of 4 Full Event tickets per order. For the list of Masterclasses, a look at our keynote speakers, and info on accommodations in our area please go to our website, link in bio. We look forward to gathering with you!

Over the past century, the cultivation and processing of wheat has led to strains of grain that are less nutritious, less flavorful, and more vulnerable to climate change. The researchers at Breadlab, at Washington State University, are trying to breed varieties of whole grains that are better for farmers, consumers – and taste buds.

We have received a HUGE amount of interest in our 100% Buckwheat Approachable Loaf that we serve at our Toast Bars. We were inspired to develop this bread by two Toast Bar regulars who love all kinds of bread and wanted to learn about gluten free possibilities. We've gotten very comfortable with buckwheat since putting it in pretty much everything for about a year now, so we decided to try subbing in Chimacum Grainery Lightly Sifted Buckwheat flour for the whole wheat flour in our Approachable Loaf formula and... It worked! We tweaked the method a bit, but the ingredients (except the flour) and amounts remain the same. If you want to try this delicious, gluten-free 100% buckwheat bread, come join us at Toast Bar this Friday, March 6 from 9a-11:30a at the Breadlab. 11768 Westar Lane, Burlington WA 98233. $10 (cash only) for DIY all-you-can-eat toast and drip coffee from Camber. OR You can bake your own 100% Buckwheat Approachable Loaves at home using the recipe on our website, link in bio. Let us know how the bake goes and we hope to see you at Toast Bar! @chimacumgrain @cambercoffee

After 8 years, The Grain Gathering is back at the Breadlab! We are going to have so much to catch up on... Join us for hands-on workshops, a diverse lineup of presentations and demonstrations, amazing food from bakers and chefs across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, and many opportunities to connect with grain enthusiasts from around the world. Save the Date: July 19-21 WSU Breadlab, Skagit Valley, WA This event is open to the public. There will be two ticket levels, one for the full 3-day event and one for the Community Party on the evening of Monday, July 20th. We will have more information for you before tickets go on sale this spring. We look forward to hosting our grain community here at the lab for three days of learning, sharing and discovery. See you this summer!

Back by popular demand... TOAST BAR! On the first Fridays of February, March, and April, the Breadlab will collaborate with King Arthur Baking School for Market Mornings from 9a-12p. Come shop the King Arthur classroom store, meet instructors, learn about classes, ask your baking questions, and try a variety of King Arthur products. Next door, WSU Breadlab will host our popular TOAST BAR. For $10 (cash only!), enjoy DIY all-you-can-eat whole grain toast with an assortment of spreads and drip coffee from Camber. Kids under 10 are free. Come say hello, relax with friends, and stock up on something delicious! 11768 Westar Lane Burlington, WA 98233 Put the following date and times on your calendar so you don't miss out: Friday, February 6 Friday, March 6 Friday, April 3 No reservation is required for this special event. See you soon! @kingarthurbaking

We celebrated the retirement of our colleague and friend Steve Lyon in December. Steve's career spanned over 30 years at WSU, the last 15 spent at the Breadlab. When anyone asked him about his job at the lab, Steve would say, "Oh, I'm just the guy in the field," or, "I get my boots dirty all day," or, "I'm the farmer." And he did spend a lot of time in the field getting his boots dirty and running farm equipment. He also ran the Breadlab plant breeding program. Steve saw our program through the long days of planting and harvest. He taught us all how to make crosses, take meticulous notes, run equipment, clean grain, and organize our work. He was an incredibly kind and patient mentor to the many rounds of graduate students. Steve never missed an event, always there to answer questions, move heavy tables, wash dishes. Anything that needed doing, Steve did it. We will miss our unwavering, humble colleague here at the lab. Steve, we wish you the very best in your retirement wherever it takes you.

Sharing food is central to holidays across cultures and continents. At the WSU Breadlab, holidays mean whole grains. In this case, 100% whole spelt butter cookies, 100% made by very excited kids. All of us at the Breadlab wish you a happy holiday season. And we look forward to sharing whole grains with you in the coming year. (The recipe is Holiday Butter Cookies from the King Arthur Baking Company website, with a direct sub of 100% whole Elwha River Spelt flour for the AP.)

Approachable Loaf: Quinoa Edition 100% quinoa bread with quinoa sourdough starter We have a limited supply of Breadlab-grown quinoa varieties, so we decided to pick some up from the store for this r&d project. This is the Approachable Loaf recipe from our website with a direct substitution of quinoa flour milled with a KoMo tabletop stone mill. We completed a thorough hand mix and let it sit for about a half hour, then straight into the pan for proofing. No gluten means no folding. Got a nice rise in the 45 minutes in the proofing cabinet. Got a nice browning in the 40 minutes in the oven. Reviews were... mixed. Out of 6 tasters we had one "heck no," one confused expression, an "I actually kind of like it," an "I can't tell if I like it or hate it," an "I like it. It's better than many gluten free breads I've eaten," and, an "It's delicious. So good." Guess we are just getting started... time to find more tasters. #quinoa @komo.bio @komo_usa

WSU Breadlab is part of something BIG… a group of people and organizations working together to make healthy whole grains more accessible to more people in our communities. And our big goal just got a big boost. Breadlab director Kevin Murphy is the lead researcher on the newly awarded $10 million Bioinnovation Grant (BIG) from Washington Research Foundation, a private, independent organization that supports the development of technologies for public benefit at nonprofit research institutions in Washington state. With $9 million in matching funds from partner organizations, this public-private partnership will enable the creation of WSU’s planned Center for Health, Environment, Food and Farming (CHEFF) to build and sustain its activities. The WRF funding will help continue, and grow, the Soil to Society work that Kevin Murphy has been building for 12 years. For our part, the Breadlab will continue to develop new and novel grain varieties for farmers, create delicious and nutritious whole grain food products, and establish pathways to get these products into our homes and schools… in a big way. Along with several WSU programs, partners on the Bioinnovation Grant include: The University of Washington @uofwa The Washington Grain Commission @washingtongrain The American Heart Association @american_heart WSU Graduate School @gradschoolwsu WA Pulse Crop Commission @usapulses The Land Institute @thelandinstitute The Port of Skagit The Meter Group @meter_group Brabender/Anton Paar @antonpaar MGP Ingredients A HUGE thank you to The Washington Research Foundation for this opportunity. For more information about this grant, please check out the WSU Insider article linked in our bio.

One formula, two very different grains. Here is the Approachable Loaf two ways, one baked with Breadlab stone-milled 100% whole hard red spring wheat and the other with Chimacum Grainery's lightly sifted buckwheat flour. Incredibly satisfying bake. The wheat loaves are reliably as good as ever, light and springy with a delicate sourdough flavor. The buckwheat loaves are dense but not heavy. The honey comes through and there's the mildest tang from the buckwheat sourdough levain. And it makes darn good toast. It's about time we have a gluten-free option for our friends with wheat allergies and sensitivities. #buckwheat @chimacumgrain

Toast Bar was a resounding success!! We were so busy chatting, toasting and eating that we didn't get many photos. But here is a pic of the coolest needlepoint gifted to us by our friends at King Arthur Baking School in honor of the inaugural Toast Bar. You have three more chances to come toast with us and shop at King Arthur's Market Mornings: Nov. 7, 9a-12p Dec. 5, 9a-12p Dec. 13, 9a-12p Come be in community, have a cup of coffee and maybe make some avocado toast. $10 cash gets you unlimited toast and coffee, kids under 10 eat for free. 11768 Westar Ln., Burlington, WA 98233 @kingarthurbaking

Have you had enough buckwheat? Great, us either. Here are some photos, taken during a morning walk through the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) trial, that show an amazing diversity of flowering and seed set across varieties. Our newest Breadlab faculty member is Micaela Colley, Assistant Professor of Participatory Plant Breeding, and she is focusing her efforts on buckwheat. The following are her words: Buckwheat is an incredibly diverse and adaptable crop. Originally from SE China, buckwheat holds a long history of cultivation. It has spread across the globe with selection by diverse farming communities under a wide variation of altitudes and latitudes. It is this genetic diversity stewarded by generations of farmers that enables us to adapt and adopt buckwheat as a staple crop in our own foodshed. Our relatively mild climate of Western Washington, with variable, often wet, fall conditions makes it critical for buckwheat to mature early enough and dry down quickly for quality seed harvest. Not all varieties work well in our conditions. That is why we are starting our More Bang for Your Buckwheat breeding efforts by observing how the diversity of seed accessions from our public seed bank, the National Plant Germplasm System, to see how they grow in our climate. In this year’s trials we’ve observe wide variation in timing of flowering and seed set, floral abundance, amount of seed set, and color and structure of the plants. Based on these results we will form new populations that may be further adapted through natural and intentional selection on participating farms and in our ongoing breeding efforts at the BreadLab. Stay tuned and eat more buckwheat.