A Closer Look at Everyday Flour & The Story of the New Minnesota Company, Willow Flour
By MEAGAN STRUCK, CO-FOUNDER OF WILLOW FLOUR
It all began — not with a big idea or a business plan — but with a headache. A daily one.
Thirteen years before we launched Willow Flour, I was living in a body that felt ... off. I had no diagnosis, just a growing list of symptoms that didn’t make sense: fatigue, brain fog, digestive discomfort and anxiety that wouldn’t resolve.
So I began researching. Not just googling symptoms, but diving into how food systems shape our health. One swap at a time, I cleared out synthetic ingredients, simplified our pantry and slowly came to believe something simple but profound: food has the power to harm, but also the power to heal.
And over the years, flour — of all things — became one of the most transformative ingredients in our story.
Wheat is in nearly everything — bread, pancakes, sauces, cakes. But in the U.S., it’s often grown for volume, not vitality. Conventional flour is typically produced with heavy chemical inputs like glyphosate, then bleached, artificially enriched and stored for long periods — stripping it of nutrients and flavor.
It’s no wonder so many people feel unwell after eating it. What’s often labeled as a “gluten sensitivity” may actually be a reaction to how the wheat is grown and processed. When people switch to clean, traditionally cultivated wheat — especially from France — they often find they can enjoy baked goods again. It’s not always the gluten. Sometimes it’s just the kind of wheat we’ve grown used to.
French flour comes from a completely different system — and mindset. French farmers have practiced soil-preserving, small-scale agriculture for generations. French flour typically uses heritage wheat varieties with a lower gluten index, less processing and no bleaching or enrichment.
Many people, even those with gluten sensitivities, say they feel noticeably better after eating French flour. That was true for a friend of ours who enjoyed croissants and baguettes daily while in France — without a single symptom. Back in the U.S., those same foods left her in pain.
That contrast opened our eyes. We started sourcing French flour for our own home and felt the shift immediately. Our kids felt better. The bread rose beautifully. And our kitchen filled with the kind of warm, real-food aroma that reminded us: this is what it’s supposed to be like.
Years before launching Willow Flour, I visited a French family living on a farm. I watched them live the kind of slow, intentional rhythm we were craving. Meals were lingered over. Baking was done with care. The farm-to-table lifestyle wasn’t a trend — it was just life. That trip made something clear: what we eat is about more than nutrition; it’s about culture, pace and presence.
The French understand this deeply. Baking in France is not just a domestic task — it’s a point of national pride. Bread is protected by law, and artisan methods are honored and preserved. It shows in their flour, their recipes and the way meals anchor daily life.
In contrast, our food system in the U.S. is driven by convenience. Fast, shelf-stable and mass-produced too often replaces fresh, nourishing and crafted with care.
We wanted to bring that sense of intention and nourishment back into our own kitchen — and help others do the same.
Shortly before we started Willow Flour, we were working full-time nonprofit jobs and raising young kids. Life was full — but not necessarily full of the right things. We found ourselves chasing more (more house, more hustle, more productivity), while yearning for less: less stress, more time with our children and deeper alignment with our values.
So we made a radical shift. We sold the house we loved, moved into a multigenerational home with my parents, and began carving out space to live more intentionally. That shift gave us the time, flexibility and emotional clarity to start something new.
Why “Willow”?
Nora Willow is the name of our second daughter. She was born during the most emotionally challenging season of our marriage. That year nearly broke us, but it also reshaped us. Through it all, I kept returning to the image of a willow tree — flexible, rooted, able to withstand the fiercest storms without breaking.
That’s the spirit we wanted to embody. And it felt right to name our venture after her — a symbol of resilience, nourishment and quiet strength.
Not Just Flour — A Way of Living
Willow Flour isn’t just about baking bread. It’s about returning to rhythms that heal, foods that nourish and a way of life that values what really matters.
We hear from customers who say, “I haven’t baked in years, and now I can again,” or “My kids can finally eat pancakes without a stomachache.” These aren’t just reviews. They’re reminders that food can be a catalyst for healing.
We’re not perfect eaters. We still live in a modern world. But we’ve found that even small changes — like better flour — can ripple into something much bigger.
At the end of the day, our faith grounds everything we do — as parents, as entrepreneurs and as stewards of a growing community. We believe:
• The best memories are made in the kitchen.
• The body was designed to be nourished with intention.
• Food should support life, not slow it down.
• Family rhythms matter — and baking can be one of them.
So here we are: a family of five in Minnesota, importing French flour to Midwest kitchens. Not because we dreamed of starting a flour business, but because we couldn’t unsee the difference. We couldn’t unfeel the health changes. And we couldn’t keep it to ourselves.
If you’re navigating food sensitivities, curious about cleaner eating or just craving a slower, more intentional way to nourish your family, we hope Willow Flour becomes part of your story too.
FOR THE EVERYDAY MOMENTS THAT MATTER MOST
GRAMMIE'S CHOCOLATE CHIP SCONES
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup ..........................Sour milk = whole milk + 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 1 /4 Cups .......................Willow French all-purpose T55 flour
1/2 Cup ..........................Granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon ................Baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon ...............Pink Himalayan salt
1/2 Cup ..........................Irish grassfed butter, cold and cubed
1 Large ...........................Egg (organic pasture-raised)
1 Teaspoon..................... Vanilla extract
1 Cup ...............................Ghirardelli mini dark chocolate chips
Optional: .......................Coarse sanding sugar for topping
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Combine whole milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Add cold cubed butter to dry ingredients and use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter until pea-sized amounts of butter remain.
4. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add the sour milk, egg and vanilla and combine ingredients until dough has a shaggy texture (save extra sour milk for later). Add and mix in chocolate chips.
5. Knead the mixture in the bowl to make sure ingredients are mixed in, being careful not to overwork the dough and warm up the butter.
6. Turn out mixture onto parchment paper and fold the dough in half, pressing down slightly, then turn the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again. Repeat this lamination process (folding and turning) 4–5 times.
7. Shape dough into 12-inch rounds about 3/4" high and refrigerate dough on the parchment paper for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from the refrigerator and use a pizza cutter to cut scones into 8 equal wedges, then return the scones to the parchment paper and place in freezer for 30 minutes.
9. Remove scones from the freezer and brush the tops with the leftover sour milk and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
10. Bake scones on the parchment paper in a preheated 400-degree oven for 20–26 minutes until lightly golden brown. Allow scones to cool.
- Replace chocolate chips with different types of fruits and chips for a refreshing change.
THESE FLAKY SCONES ARE MADE WITH RICH CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND OUR HIGH-QUALITY WILLOW FLOUR. THEY ARE A SWEET REMINDER THAT THE SIMPLEST MOMENTS ARE OFTEN THE MOST SPECIAL.