Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Pillsbury, Gold Medal, KAF, Montana Wheat, etc etc.

Can anyone educate me on why they choose certain brands for certain uses? I am particularly interested in bread flours.

eb

Lynn
I don't know much about flours myself (hopefully someone will educate us) but I always buy KAF...mostly based on reputation.
ilene

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I'll take this as not much brand loyalty in flour, not much interest in flour brands, or maybe I talk too much? I'll go with the first geuss.

I've got Gold Medal in the bread machine right now.

Lynn

Lynn,

Geez, it's only been up for 24 hours!

For people on the West Coast, Butte Creek Mill is (IMHO) unquestionably the best bread flour you can buy. Their water-powered grist mill means that the flour is milled at a much lower temperature than in industrial mills, preserving the flavor and nutrients of the flour a lot better. More importantly, it makes fantastic bread and rises quicker and better than mainstream flour brands:

http://www.buttecreekmill.com/

If you can't get butte creek, ArrowHead Mills and Bob's Red Mill (I think these are both west coast as well) make pretty good flour. I don't generally buy KAF, as it's very expensive, and I don't want my flour to be shipped 3500 miles to reach me.

Supermarket brands like Gold Medal have multiple strikes against them:

• They're bleached, impairing flavor, nutrients and rising;
• They're milled hot, doing the same;
• They're generally weeks or months old by the time you buy them, making them stale;
• They're shipped in thin paper bags, making them stale faster and exposing them to vermin.

Often, if someone tries one of my bread recipes and it won't rise properly, I find out they're using GM or another low-end store brand.

Let's see...

Bread Flour -- KAF -- It was really the first bread flour you could get easily in the K'zoo area, so that's what I bought. Also I had worked as a kid in a bread bakery and they always used KAF, so I just got it into my head that it was high-quality. Of course, it doesn't travel quite so far to get to MI.

All-purpose and White Whole Wheat -- Again with the KAF. In fact, I've only noticed two mills putting out the WWW in this area and I don't like the product from the other one.

Cake Flour -- Whatever, Swan's Down usually. I use so little of it I guess I just don't care.

Whole Wheat Flour -- Hodgson Mills Graham -- This has completely disappeared from the greater Detroit area. I can find a tiny handful of stores which carry the itty-bitty box of it. I stock up whenever I'm on the western side of the state.

Specialty Flours -- Usually Bob's Red Mill. Most stores carry at least some and the higher-end stores and health-food stores carry most of this line. (Except for the dry milk powder -- can't find it for love or money). I do buy Arrowhead Mills corn meal. It's my favorite.

JesBelle,

Can't find Dry Milk? Huh. You should be able to get it from Bob's Red Mill. There's always mail-order.

I can't find the Bob's Red Mill dry milk specifically. Once in a while I can find Hain. I know I can mail-order, but S&H on food items is soooo spendy.

I did notice today how flimsy the paper bag seemed.

Is there a website to use to find local flour mills? Or should I just go to Costco with $400 and get the Vitamix!?

I generally buy KAF bread flour because I have read good things about it - but in all honesty, I haven't noticed much difference between that and, say, Pillsbury bread flour. That could be because 1) I just don't have a sophisticated palate, 2) I don't do side-by-side comparisons, and/or 3) I don't bake enough bread. Probably all three.

As far as unbleached A.P. flour, I've tried some local flours and they were fine - although again, I don't see a dramatic difference. I do like Pillsbury for cookies, though - I did notice a texture difference there (not as chewy/tough as with KAF A.P.).

For cakes, both Soft as Silk and Swan's Down have worked well for me, with SAS perhaps just a touch better. I haven't wanted to spend the $$$ for shipping to get KAF Guinevere (sp?) cake flour.

Darcie,

Where I see a lot of difference is sourdough, and other breads which can be difficult about slow/not rising. Really good flour like Butte Creek I've had pop the lid off the rising bucket; with supermarket flour, I've had stuff fail to rise at all.