King Arthur French Style Flour ... weird or what

Hi, I'm pretty new to this forum but have been baking for years. I started out a pizza fanatic in my teens and have made literally thousands of pizzas from scratch. Then got into savory pies and recently in the last few years bread. The bread fascination comes from the first bite of an authentic baguette in antibes when I was 16 years old and its a lasting memory. So I just received a bag of KA 'French style' flour and just finished a batch of Demi baguettes. My first impression is of disappointment and wondering if anyone else has experience with this flour. For the record, this first batch was a standard poolish to fairly hydrated dough. The result...well the only way I can describe it is like styrofoam. The loaves resemble more of a standard baguette you'd buy in the supermarket in France not a boulangerie traditional baguette and all I can think is that this flour although labelled Artisan, I feel its more a cheat flour for someone who wants to semi decent loaf without too much effort. Its the weirdest thing. Flavor is absent, crumb is really fluffy and dead. The crust reminds me of a supermarket baguette - really light and puffy. In a nutshell these are the lightest loaves I've ever baked - in a bad way. I have a sourdough rising overnight so perhaps tomorrow something better might come of batch 2, but as of now, id rather use their unbleached AP. Usually when I make baguette from a levain I strive for lower density so maybe, just maybe the levain might deliver. Anyone have experience with this flour?

kendalm,

What does the label on the side of the bag show for protein, etc? It it very 'fine' visually? I use KA AP & KA bread all the time and haven't seen or used this one you are talking about.

Have you given thought to maybe a 60%~40% mix of the 'French-Style' and KA all purpose? Or some variation of that?

Oh,,, is your crust thin, crackly, and good color?

How about a photo of the KA bag, label, and your Bag's….

It's always something, huh?

Hi, I just read your reply and wish I read it earlier as I've by now thrown the bag. I did read the ingredients upon receipt but forgot. Suppose I can look it up online. Regarding your question I've tried mixing KA AP/BF in various proportions and to date I really think I enjoy their BF for a baguette. The AP gets a little too delicate and easily get gummy especially if a smidge of malt is added. Regarding you question about the crust with their French style flour - yes it was very golden and overly crackly almost like a styrofoam layer. What I'm most interest in is coaxing more flavor. I'm quite happy with the crust / crumb I get from KA BF (or their AP for that matter) and I was so excited that this specialty flour advertised as having a higher ash content and supposedly closet to the authentic ingredient. There is however even in France a huge gap between baguette 'blanche' and 'tradition'. Either way for the record anyone interested in this flour it seems a gimmick. One thing I do remember written on the bag was something like 'easily make a a French baguette'...um I dont think any flour is going to magically give a person this kind of super power. Now ill likely try to find out the ingredients just for fun. Otherwise I'm back to bread flour and AP with a little experimentation with small amounts of bean flours :)