Flour is in short supply at many groceries now (not just here on the Big Island of Hawaii) ... and when we can find it, it may be bleached AP, or whole-wheat pastry flour.
Would love to hear how folks are making do with what a bread baker is able to find right now, and any tips.
I am luckier than most -- was able to buy a 25-lb. bag of bleached AP flour, and today found a small bag of Bob's Red Mill vital wheat gluten. Tin Shack bakery in Pahoa had some 3-lb. bags of whole-wheat flour for sale, and kindly gave me a 1-oz. cup of starter. I'm feeding my starter now (it looks great). Going to try augmenting my white flour with a little vital wheat gluten and whole-wheat flour to make some of my favorite Jeffrey Hamelman levain breads.
Stay safe and bake on!
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I fed the starter I got from the nearby Tin Shack Bakery in Pahoa and made the liquid levain for Hamelman's Golden Raisin Bread. (Look at those bubbles):
COVID-19 and Hawaii-based improvisations: using bleached AP flour instead of bread flour, and a reduced amount of regular raisins.
My starter yielded two nice light loaves (should have soaked the raisins):
(Note improvised cooling rack.) And inside:
Thanks to Tin Shack Bakery in Pahoa for giving out some of their great starter to local bakers, and to The Kitchen Whisperer for a formula for using vital wheat gluten to turn bleached AP flour into something closer to bread flour.
Next up: using a bit of lean dough I have in the fridge to try and make Hamelman's Whole-Wheat bread with Pâte Fermentée. (Will let you know how it comes out.)
If you have vital wheat gluten, then you can use any gluten free flour as long as you don't give it to someone who needs GF. My favorite combination is rice and buckwheat, which I grind myself, but in the past I've enjoyed the taste of quinoa flour in bread also. Warning that the water absorption rate of these flours is different. You may end up with a much thicker result at normal hydrations. Try going for around 90-110% hydration. Even if you use gluten in it, the flours will absorb more water than you're used to.
get over to a park and pick up candlenuts to grate into flour or grate some macadamian nuts too! Oooo that would be buttery!
In UK flour yeast and bread have been hard to find in the last month.
I was lucky... despite the local bakery being closed they sold me a 55lb bag of Extra Strong premium quality 'Black Label' flour from a rather upmarket local mill. Cost me £18. Whats that, about $22?
Ive managed to acquire several yeast varieties. Even supermarket bakeries will sell you some fresh yeast if you ask nicely.
I almost ordered a wholesale batch of 320kg of ADM Golden Seal... thats the extent of difficulty in acquiring bread during march and april.
With a family of 7 and shops restricting items to 1 or 2 per person I found myself going to the shop daily and often returning with nothing. Had to get creative!