April 27, 2020 - 9:13am
researching flour brands
In this day and age, finding the flour I typically use for my home baking is becoming hard. I usually use GM AP unbleached flour. But, several stores are carrying brands I don't know anything about, including store brands. My one and only attempt with a store brand, I ended up throwing it out (I couldn't even make a decent roux), so I'm leery of store brands. Where can I research these different brands and see if they are worth buying? (These are not GM, Pillsbury, King Arthur, Bob's).
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Your trouble is you are in the belief that mass produced generic white from the supermarket is all thats available to you. Try contacting your local bakery. More often then not they will sell you a 25kg bag of premium grade for peanuts.
I got 25kg of Clarkes Wantage (Wessex Mill Strongest) for £18. Delicious bargain. Yeasts such as starters and raisin water eliminate the need for dry yeasts and are easy to produce. Save your dry yeast for backup in these times of pandemic.
Consider wholesale.
You can literally make bread from any flour if you know how. With low gluten flours use a wetter mix to begin and mix it very very vigorously. Add the remaining flour to stiffen and then knead as normal. This method builds plenty of gluten and with it you can make a nice loaf even with plain or even self raising flour. Tried and tested.
The biggest difference with store bought is their hydration levels. Realise that most of these flours are just rebranded flours from the same old mills. Ive used a few and they seem to perform differently but the results are near enough the same.
Deleted my post.
See post below by Rube Goldberg
Sorry about the formatting info and blank space. I copied it to a Word document and then copied it to post it here.
I should have previewed it before I posted it.
Thanks Puck Luck, that list is a great resource to have as we bake with what we can find right now!
Sometimes, the label will indicate the mill, or at least the location of the mill, which will let you determine what product it is. I am curious that you had that much trouble with an AP, unless it was rancid (and your nose would have told you that). Where are you geographically? Regional mills in the south often use lower protein wheat for their AP, which affects its behavior somewhat, but not to a degree that would lead you to discard. Some mills also mill more finely than others, which can take adjustment.
To add to the list:
Central Milling in Utah. They sell 5 lb and 50 lb bags online to individuals. When I ordered last week, they had most products in stock in 50 lb bags and many in 5 lb. They don't sell at retail stores under their own label, but they mill for many brands. Reliable sources say that they mill at least some products for Whole Foods and Costco. They also tell you to check bags on store brands for milling location to find their products in other retail stores. They have a huge range of products.
Wheat Montana in Montana. Available at retail chains nationwide as well as their store in Montana. They buy all of their grain locally. They offer 3 products: AP, whole wheat, and white whole wheat. All are on the higher end of the protein range - their white whole wheat is the highest protein white wheat I have found. Both whole wheat products are finely ground.
Shawnee Mills in Oklahoma. Available regionally. They buy all of their grain from farmers within about 100 miles of the mill, and they treat farmers well (based on personal experience). Southern plains grain means lower protein flour.
I don't know who mills for HEB in Texas, but it is also a southern low-protein flour. Their whole wheat is relatively coarsely ground.
Jul 10 2013 - 4:50pmFLOUR PROTEIN BY TYPES AND BRANDS (retail flour):
I did a lot of Googling to put this list together.
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FLOUR PROTEIN BY TYPES AND BRANDS (retail flour):
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CAKE FLOUR - 7% to 9.4% protein
Best Use: cakes, blending with national brands all-purpose flour to make pastry flour or Southern flour substitute.
-King Arthur Queen Guinevere Cake Flour, 7.0%
-King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour Blend, 9.4%
-Pillsbury Softasilk Bleached Cake Flour, 6.9%
-Presto Self Rising Cake Flour, 7.4%
-Swans Down Bleached Cake Flour, 7.1%
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PASTRY FLOUR - 8 to 9% protein
Best Use: biscuits, cookies, pastries, pancakes, pie crusts, waffles.
-King Arthur Unbleached Pastry Flour, 8%
-King Arthur Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 9%
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ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, SOUTHERN - 8 to 9% protein
Best Use: biscuits, cookies, muffins, pancakes, pie crusts, quick breads, waffles.
-Martha White Bleached All-Purpose Flour, 9%
-White Lily Bleached All-Purpose Flour, 8 to 9%
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SELF-RISING FLOUR (flour, baking powder, salt) - 8 to 10.5% protein
Best Use: biscuits, cookies, pancakes, muffins, quick breads, waffles.
-Gold Medal Bleached Self-Rising Flour, 10.5%
-King Arthur Unbleached Self-Rising Flour, 8.5%
-Martha White Bleached Self-Rising Flour, 9.4%
-Pillsbury Best Bleached Self-Rising Flour, 9.7%
-Presto Self Rising Cake Flour, 7.4%
-White Lily Bleached Self-Rising Flour, 8 to 9%
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ALL PURPOSE BAKING MIXES (flour, shortening, baking powder, sugar, salt) - 6.25 to 12.5% protien
Best Use: biscuits, cookies, coffee cakes, pancakes, quick breads, pastry, waffles
-Arrowhead Mills All Purpose Baking Mix, 12.5%
-Bisquick Original Baking Mix, 7.5%
-Jiffy All Purpose Baking Mix, 6.25%
-King Arthur Flour All Purpose Baking Mix, 10%
-Pioneer Original Baking Mix, 7.5%
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INSTANT FLOUR 10.5 to 12.6% protein
Best Use: thicken gravies, sauces, and soups without lumps.
-Gold Medal Wondra Quick Mixing Flour, 10.5%
-Pillsbury Best Shake & Blend Flour, 12.6%
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ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, BLEACHED & UNBLEACHED, NATIONAL BRANDS - 10 to 11.5% protein
Best Use: makes average biscuits, cookies, muffins, pancakes, pie crusts, pizza crusts, quick breads, waffles, yeast breads.
-Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour, 10.5%
-Pillsbury Best All-Purpose Flour, 10 to 11.5%
-Pioneer All-Purpose Flour, 10%
-White Wings All-Purpose Flour, 10%
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ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, NORTHERN, BLEACHED & UNBLEACHED - 11.5 to 12% protein
Best Use: cream puffs, puff pastry, yeast breads, pizza crusts.
-Heckers and Ceresota All-Purpose Flour, 11.5 to 11.9 %
-King Arthur All-Purpose Flour, 11.7%
-Robin Hood All-Purpose Flour, 12.0%
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BREAD FLOUR - 12 to 13.3% protein
Best Use: traditional yeast breads, bread machine, pizza crusts, pasta.
-Gold Medal Better For Bread, 12%
-King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour, 12.7%
-Pillsbury Best Bread Flour, 12.9%
-White Lily Unbleached Bread Flour, 11.7%
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DURUM WHEAT (Semolina) 13 to 13.5% protein
Best Use: Pasta.
-Hodgson Mill Golden Semolina & Extra Fancy Durum Pasta Flour, 13.3%
-King Arthur Extra Fancy Durum Flour, 13.3%
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WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR - 12.9 to 14% protein
Best Use: hearth breads, blending with other flours.
-Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour, 13.3%
-King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat Flour, 14%
-King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour, 14%
-Pillsbury Best Whole Wheat Flour, 12.9%
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HIGH-GLUTEN FLOUR 14 to 15% protein
Best Use: bagels, pizza crusts, blending with other flours.
-King Arthur Organic Hi-Gluten Flour, 14%
-King Arthur Sir Lancelot Unbleached Hi-Gluten Flour, 14.2%
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VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN FLOUR, Breadmaking Supplement - 65 to 77% protein
Best Use: Added to raise gluten. Adds extra gluten to low-gluten whole grain flours, such as rye, oat, teff, spelt, or buckwheat.
-Arrowhead Mills Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 65.0%
-Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 75.0%
-Gillco Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 75.0%
-Hodgson Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 66.6%
-King Arthur Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 77.8%
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Retail Flour Companies - Brands:
-Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, Milwaukie, Oregon -Bob's Red Mill
-C.H. Guenther & Son Inc, San Antonio, Texas - Pioneer Flour, Pioneer Baking Mix, White Wings Flour
-General Mills Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota - Bisquick, Gold Medal Flour, (sold US Pillsbury Flour , retains Pillsbury frozen goods)
-Hain Celestial Group Inc, Boulder, Colorado - Arrowhead Mills
-J.M. Smucker Company, Orrville, Ohio - Martha White Flour, Pillsbury Flour, Robin Hood Flour, White Lily Flour
-King Arthur Flour Company, Norwich, Vermont - King Arthur Flour
-Reily Foods Company, New Orleans, Louisiana - Swan's Down Cake Flour, Presto Self Rising Cake Flour
-Uhlmann Company, Kansas City, Missouri - Heckers Flour, Ceresota Flour
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http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17045/protein-content-flour
Sorry, I missed the rest of the thread after the blank space.
Reading the labels and learning what the additives are and what they do is helpful but the best test is to bake with it. You can make good looking bread with most of ithem but some just don't have much taste. Bromate added to flour which helps with oven spring is only allowed here in the US, most countries have banned it.