Australia produces more than 20 million tonnes of wheat every year, but with most of it sent overseas or mass processed, local bakers struggle to get their hands on it.

Baker Jordan Walls from Bacchus Marsh in western Victoria is trying to change that. He and local farmer Chris Sharkey have teamed up to mill their own wheat.

"There are four products in it and it's the grain, the water, the culture and the salt. There are no E numbers [food additives], just time and skill," Mr Walls said.

But despite the simplicity of the recipe, Mr Walls said learning how to mill the wheat wasn't so easy.

"It's been extremely difficult and testing at the start. I understand why there hasn't been anyone embarking [on the process] or there's a select few," he said.

The majority of Australia's wheat is exported overseas. ( ABC Rural: Jess Davis )

Mr Sharkey, a fourth generation wheat farmer, said he didn't know where most of his wheat ended up.

"We grow the wheat, put it in the truck, send it into town and it disappears, so it could end up in someone's flour in bread in Melbourne, somewhere overseas, you don't know," he said.

"To be able to see what you produce turned into something so good and taste really nice too, is fantastic.

"At the moment it's just a small percentage [of what we produce] but into the future up to 50 per cent of our wheat production will go through the mill."

Chris Sharkey says he doesn't know where most of his wheat goes. ( ABC Rural: Jess Davis )

Local flour revolution

Trentham baker John Reid said he hoped to turn local milling into a bigger movement, by starting a co-op of farmers and bakers.

"Re-localising grain economies so that bakers get to have direct relationships with millers and farmers, rather than relying on the grain industry," he said.

"I don't want the farmers to take the brunt of market fluctuations on an international level because they have no control."

Baker John Reid wants to re-localise grain economies and connect farmers with bakers. ( ABC: Margaret Burin )

The growing popularity of local food may have farmers and bakers excited, but market analyst Andrew Whitelaw said it was unlikely projects like this one would make a dent in the commodity market.

"Overall the majority of farmers are still going to be producing what we could say is commodity wheat," he said.

"If suddenly a lot of bigger farmers did switch to these varieties, the market for artisanal wheats would collapse, because there's only so much demand for high cost, high quality bread," Mr Whitelaw said.

Learning how to mill the wheat was a difficult process for the farmer and baker. ( ABC Rural: Jess Davis )

But baker Jordan Walls said he believed there was an opportunity to turn bread into a product like wine or cheese, marketed according to the region in which it is produced.

"It'd be really nice to see if we could refine the milling process and then we might be able to purchase wheat from certain areas and make a prospective loaf from that area," he said.

Mr Walls said it could help raise the profile of bread.

"If you think of cheese and ham and all that stuff it's nothing until you put it between two pieces of bread."