Best baking flours?

Will do THANKS.

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Np at all, let us know how you go.

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I buy flour from ‘The source Bulk Food’ I buy by weight. it’s all fresh because it moves fast.

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Hi, I bake a couple of times a week and although it may cost a little more, I don’t know the price of the Aldi flour, I find that White Wings always gives a great consistency and flavour. I hope this helps.

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Once opened I keep flours and grains in glass containers plus a bay leaf which keeps moths and other crawlies away.

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This will exclude some insects such as moths that have larvae that can bite through paper bags etc but it will not do much for weevils whose eggs are in the flour when you buy it.

The bay leaf is a common remedy but I wonder if anyone has any evidence that it actually works. Assuming that the glass container is impervious you don’t need a bay leaf to keep insects out. If they are already inside unless the bay leaf kills them I don’t see how it helps as even if they don’t like bay leaf oils they are trapped and cannot get out,

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Prior to using bay leaves I did have the odd ‘bug’ appearance even in glass jars.

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If it isn’t organic, then the various sprays applied should have killed most critters before you buy it, so excluding them would be the main aim. Organic flours often come eggs in them, which hatch and populate the jar with moths or beetles, freezing stops them hatching. Extra protein from the eggs! :wink:

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I have found all the different brands of flour I have tried are like this
Don’t know what has happened
My husband says the wheat he feeds his pigeons is not hard like it used to be and can’t buy any more
Are the farmers growing this wheat and this is why our flour is so awful?
It is the same with gravy - it gets horrid lumps in it too
Makes no difference sifting either
the oldies didn’t have to go through all this to cook & what good cooks they were

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Storage conditions after the flour leaves the grain mill can affect it badly: moisture at any point can make it lumpy. Siftting the flour more than once can help.

FWIW. I used to get small lumps when I started to make bechamel sauce, and I used to push it through a fine sieve until all of the granules were gone. :wink:

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We grow some of the “hardest” high protein wheats in the World. A lot of it is sold overseas as it is preferred for pasta etc. For storage wheat is best at 10% or less moisture, farmers are penalised if their wheat is above 10% and if it is above that percentage it is dried to get it below that. Sometimes we don’t get dry thus hard wheat and because it is higher than 10% moisture it can feel soft, it will also grow moulds quickly if too much above 10%.

Flour like wheat is best kept below 10% moisture so airtight storage is important, if you have them adding food grade desiccant sachets to the stored flour may help as well (just don’t eat the sachet :slightly_smiling_face:).

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Flour contains weevils (usually eggs, larva or adults) and we store our flour in the freezer. This kills weevils or prevents their development/growth.

There is some science behind bay leaves repelling weevils, and it is the leaf’s oil which appears to be the effective agent. Adding a whole leaf to flour may not have much benefit unless the oil can be released throughout the flour. Maybe this could be done by grinding bay leaf into a powder and mixing it through the flour. Alternatively, distilling the oil and spraying aersols into the flour while it is say sifted. A downside would be it would not be possible to remove the bayleaf/oil and anything made with the flour would be tainted with bayleaf flavour.

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The taste would be very herbal indeed :slightly_smiling_face: Freezing or chilling are much better options I think, Pantry Moth traps work pretty well against the moths and their larvae, weevils it is just best to freeze or near freeze to stifle their efforts at improving the crunch factor :smile:

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I use Lauke brand flour and bread mixes. Excellent.

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That is certainly very interesting! Thanks a lot for that. Mea non culpa!

Strangely the flour is not at all lumpy in the pack and it is always pretty fresh with my regular weekly bake 1 kg packs lasting me just over 1 bake. I also keep it well wrapped in double plastic bags in the fridge. Maybe we don’t get the best stuff which is exported.

Tried the extra bp today and no change. They rise beautifully then sink back down upon cooling. So, seems the flour is now not structurally strong enough to keep its cell structure around the air pockets? ‘Material failure’ as respondee syncretic said? (What is PEBKAC excuse my ignorance).

PEBKAC is the user or operator.

Often used in tongue and check when a problem is identified and the exact reason is unknown.

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Ty for reporting your efforts. The baking powder may have risen the product too far, and sorry that they fell back. Adjusting the baking powder down by a 1/2 of what you used would be the next step. It can be just trial and error until you hit the right amount if the amount of aeration is the issue.

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Actually it was doing the same without the extra bp. Must be climate change effect. :-)) but will keep on baking and trying the different flours as respondees suggestions refer.

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