Flour / Grain Talk

Why protein amount in bread flour is irrelevant

October 5, 2012
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I’ve been using the same rollermill white flour for a year and a half, and pretty much every batch I’ve received has been consistent as I would expect from a large mill with all the whistles and bells of test bakers and  Farinograph machines.  However all of this consistency changed with my last arrival of the […]

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Baking by Numbers – that’s what bakers do

October 4, 2012
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I’ve heard and read professional bakers claim they’re good bakers because they’ve been baking for ‘x’ amount of years.  Oh really?  How does following a recipe make you a good baker?   The flour you buy whether you’re a homebaker through a supermarket or if you’re a professional baker buying direct from the miller is […]

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English Durum Wheat Loaf

July 15, 2012
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I’ve been told by three different reliable sources that various attempts have been tried in the past in this country to grow durum wheat for making British pasta but one attempt after another have seen these experiments fail, the bottom line being, ‘you can’t grow good enough quality durum wheat in this country, it doesn’t […]

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A handmade loaf the perfect Thank You present

July 14, 2012
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It’s the end of the school year and instead of the usual box of chocolate, pot plant, or my preferred gift of a bottle of wine to my kid’s school teachers it seemed fitting I gave them a handmade sourdough.  And in my case not forgetting the receptionist who’s had  to listen to my constant […]

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Tybalt Loaves for the Prince of Wales at Felin Ganol

July 12, 2012
Tybalt Loaves for the Prince of Wales

On Tuesday I posted to Anne and Andy Parry at Felin Ganol watermill these 4 sourdough loaves made with Tybalt flour, a Welsh flour, for the royal visit to the mill by the Prince of Wales.  Anne had a display of various baked goods using her flour and apparently Prince Charles made a bee-line for my […]

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If This Is Artisan Baking Give Me Supermarket Bread

July 5, 2012
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The selection of breads above and below came from a stoneground mill bakery.  I apologise now for the poor quality of the photos, it’s not my intent to make this bread appear inferior to prove a point, originally I didn’t plan to write about it and the camera photos were only for record keeping.  I […]

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Writing an ebook on Sourdough, part one: Starters

June 27, 2012
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It’s not news I’m writing an ebook on Sourdough, for a while I’ve been twitting, and posting photos on twitter and facebook sharing my frustrations with my research and most recently my biochemistry lessons. Not so quietly I sit here banging my head on the table exasperated by my dimness. Ask me to make something, […]

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Felin Ganol Watermill in Wales, beautiful place with excellent flour

June 22, 2012
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Two weeks ago I spent the weekend with Anne and Andy Parry and their lovely large family, at Felin Ganol.  If you look over my Stone Milling category on this site you’ll see I’ve mentioned their flour often, Anne has been my miller since we met virtually last year.  The Parrys are the loveliest down […]

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Killing a Loaf by 30 minutes

June 3, 2012
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Last week in the dizzy temperature heights of 27˚C (80F) the dough was out of control.  Normally there are a few days, weeks even of adjustment in handling the doughs from cool to hot temperatures but this crazy weather went from the cool 19˚C to the high twenties overnight. Suddenly you realise what a fine […]

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Fermentation The New Sexy, Microorganisms The Next Taste Frontier

April 15, 2012

Two years ago I can’t imagine I would be as excited  as I was yesterday about watching David Chang’s Harvard Lecture on “Microbiology: An Overlooked Frontier”  he made in 2011, David is the chef at Momofuku.  This lecture on microbes and their flavour profile is interesting for me personally on two different levels, one because […]

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Debra Wink & Pineapple Juice Sourdough Starter

March 29, 2012
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Debra Wink is a microbiologist who’s work I’ve used before on this site when explaining what’s happening inside a Sourdough Starter here.  Without Debra’s work I would still be in the Dark Ages, continuing to think incorrect facts about starters such as establishing a starter is a battlefield between good and bad bacteria or that […]

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Heritage Wholemeal Buns & Gloria’s Rhubarb Ketchup

March 19, 2012
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I made these wholemeal buns yesterday, made 12 with the intent of using them this week for oldest kid’s pack lunch for school but today I have three left.  Father-in-law and Bikerboy had a couple still warm out of the oven, one with just butter melting and the other with bacon, father-in-law took some home. […]

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John Letts Heritage Wheat Loaf

March 14, 2012
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These two loaves are made with John Letts 85% stoneground flour (85% extraction), a mixed variety of Heritage wheat.  John doesn’t know exactly how many varieties there are in this mix but he thinks something in the region of hundred and fifty.  These wheat kernels are special, they’re from varieties you can no longer buy, […]

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The Broken Relationship Between Farmer, Miller & Baker

March 11, 2012
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It appears the relationship between farmer, miller and baker is somewhat broken and I feel this relationship should be intrinsically bound. Reading last night the book Dan Lepard  recommended to me a month ago, Breads White And Brown – Their Place In History, by R A McCance and E M Widdowson,  the author mentions in early […]

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Shipton Mill No. 4 Flour Organic

March 4, 2012
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The white roller mill flour I like and use regularly from Shipton Mill is their organic number 4, 12% protein.  I use it for all sorts, to mix with stoneground flour like the loaf below or making the kids loaves, whenever I want a roller white texture. What I like about no. 4 is that […]

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