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French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KAF
http://cookaholics.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2928		 Page 1 of 4
Author:  pepperhead212 [ Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:55 pm ]
Post subject:  French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KAF
Recently, during one of those posts about a certain mill somebody wanted to get polenta at, I started thinking about that really good flour I used to get at KAF - the French Style flour. I used to get it for $2.25/5 lbs - quite a bit, then flour was 49 cents a bag, but it was worth it, the flavor was so good. So I started looking, and found some were even more than 3 lbs for $9.99 - the going price for the KAF French! I found one less than I get KAF for in supermarkets, but it is sold in 50 lb bags! Good thing about it: only $4.49 shipping! What does that tell you about these places that rip us off for S&H? Here is what I got:
Image

The source for the flour is Honeyville Grains. And I got a 15% discount, which expired the day after I ordered, which more than paid for the shipping.

I made an old favorite of mine that combines both poolish and pâte fermentée in one recipe, and it is just flour, water, salt, and yeast - just what I wanted to compare the two flours. Here is a start-to-finish slideshow of the bake-off, showing each step, plus the finished product. The KAF - 50/50 bread and all purpose - came out larger, due to the much better gluten development, but next time I'll have to knead the Honeywell longer, and add a bit more flour, which, if I had been doing this on a normal day, I would have done, as it was a bit too sticky. I was just using identical amounts, times, etc., so the flour was the only variable. 100% KAF all purpose probably would have been about the same gluten and elasticity, and that does require a little more kneading and more flour, when used alone.

The flavor of the Honeywell artisan was like I remember the KAF French. The KAF bread tasted almost bland side by side! I tasted one slice each by themselves, and another with some plugra butter. OMG was that good!! I had to stop at one slice...I could have eaten the entire rest of each loaf!

Now I'll have to make something to eat all that bread with. Hmmmmm...maybe some coq au vin...

P.S. One thing I wanted to add - if this flour makes bread taste so much better, how about pasta? Did anyone ever try that with the KAF French flour? i can't believe I never did, but I am going to, since I have all that flour I have to use for something! :shock:
Author:  Amy [ Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
That would have been my post about the polenta...

Seems I need to buy some bread flour. Thank you for the recommendation!

Amy
Author:  pepperhead212 [ Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
You didn't expect me to remember everything about that post, did you? :mrgreen:
Author:  Paul Kierstead [ Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
Any ideas on why it tastes better? I presume both are pure wheat.
Author:  pepperhead212 [ Sun Jan 27, 2013 9:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
Paul Kierstead wrote:
Any ideas on why it tastes better? I presume both are pure wheat.

Besides the variety of the variety of the wheat, it probably has a lot to do with the soil it is grown in; think of wine grapes. Also, I have read that many of the different flours come from different layers of the endosperm. How these are milled separately, I have no idea. And in that new bread book I got, Jeffrey Hamelman discusses the possibility that the fact that the winter wheat is in the ground much longer may account for the better flavor, and, while it is lower in protein, and spring wheat is the traditional high protein bread flour, the protein seems to be better suited to the breads using preferments. Hard to believe something as simple as white flour can be so complex!
Author:  talanhart [ Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
Dave,
I have been ordering from Honeyville Grain for years. I buy Powdered Egg Whites and Dried Fruit from them for my Smoothies that I drink in the morning. Do you think you will continue to order this and possibly other flour from them in the future? Did the flour come in a box for shipping? I have thought about ordering flour from them but I wasn't sure how it was going to be shipped.
Author:  pepperhead212 [ Tue Jan 29, 2013 5:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
The flour was packed in a box it could not move around much in, so it was in good shape when it got here. I noticed they have a lot of products there, most in 50 lb bags, but a few in smaller ones. And you can't beat their shipping cost.

How are those dried fruits as far as flavor? I assume they have almost all of their moisture removed, unlike the traditional dried fruit, so I'll have to research to see what is equivalent of a pound of fruit or a pound of regular dried fruit. And I noticed the vital wheat gluten was cheaper than other sources I have seen, but then, the price of gluten should be coming down everywhere, given the reduced demand for it. ;)
Author:  phoenix [ Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
Taking this all in... :ugeek:
Author:  pepperhead212 [ Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
Something I overlooked was that Honeyville has two types of Artisan Flours: Alta Artisan, the one I got, which is unbleached, and Summit Artisan, which is bleached, and you probably wouldn't want. Just saw this in the paper catalog I got with the flour, and found out that it was on the second page of the flours, when I checked the link. I wanted to clarify this, though the Alta is the one you see first.
Author:  talanhart [ Wed Jan 30, 2013 6:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: French bread test of Honeywell Artisan Bread flour VS KA
Dave,
I have researched their flours in the past, but couldn't justify buying a 50 lb. bag for myself. My sister uses KAF when she bakes her cookies for Christmas. I have her talked into trying the unbleached Pie and Cookie flour next year. We are going to split the bag. Thanks for letting me know that the bag is shipped inside of a box. As for their dried fruits, I have tried them all, but I like the Strawberries the best. I keep them around for my smoothies. I also have their Smoothie Mixes which are also a back up or when I want something besides my usual Banana and Egg White smoothie for breakfast.
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