FLOUR –THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT
Baking is more than just following a recipe. Anyone beginning home baking should start with one type of flour and ensure that you gain consistency rather than trying every flour you can get your hands on!. White flour is easier to begin with but even white flour varies enormously, so again try flour from one mill first and if it gives good results, you can move on to other flours and begin to experiment!
Flour – what is in a name?
Take a close look at the label and for bread making as you need the following
“STRONG” – a high protein content for bread making
“STONE GROUND”- milled traditionally it will have a slightly coarser texture but really suits hand bread making
“ORGANIC” - Your guarantee that the wheat has been grown organically and meets specific standards
The two main bodies involved in certification/licensing are …
Organic Farmers and Growers www.organicfarmers.org.uk.
Soil Association www.soilassociation.org
We always support local mills, and recommend flour from wind or water powered mills. Slower milling speeds give the flour more “character” and in general the flour has a texture which suits the home baker who mixes ingredients, shapes, and kneads by hand.
The miller at a local mill can tell you the source of their wheat and exactly what they have done with it. . Some mills even have recipe books for their products. Make a day out of a visit to your local windmills and watermills and support the small producer.
We use flour from Whissendine Windmill, near Oakham,
Types of Strong Flour
There are many varieties of wheat and blends of grains to try out!. In addition to organic stone ground white, we use the following on our various courses. These and other variants are available form most mills.
SPELT (WHOLEMEAL) – an old variety dating back to Roman times. Lovely nutty flavour.
WHOLEMEAL - The whole wheat grain flour – try blending with white if you find all wholemeal loaves too “heavy”
MULTIGRAIN – a mixture of flours for more flavour and texture .
MASLIN – a mixture of wheat (possibly spelt) and rye.
Try something different!
Triticale; Triticale is a hybrid between wheat and rye. The protein levels are quite low, in part due to poor growing weather in 2007.This year we have been able to try some organic TRITICALE grown by a local farm and milled by Tuxford Windmill.
We tried milling on French Burr Stone which produces a fine creamy wholemeal flour, and also using Derbyshire Millstone Grit which makes a coarser wholemeal flour. Currently we have tried a variety of experimental bakes using this flour bread and we will keep you posted about our results with this flour.
Bread; Best results are by blending half and half with strong white flour and has a strong distinctive flavour and forms a dark crunchy crust.
Crumble; Use as the flour for the crumble mix. Jennie Penfold reports ”I found it did not crisp up, not necessarily the flour. I usually eat my crumbles hot but I found this one better cold. I liked the flavour better”