January 15, 2012 - 9:00am
Hello from North Carolina
I was searching the internet for help with a stand mixer issue when I stumbled on this site. I can tell what I'm going to be reading for the next several hours! I love bread and making bread, so I am very happy to have found this!
Alison
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Welcome to the forum.
Dan
Welcome to the group, there are many very experienced people here, unlike me who is a newbie to bread making, would are very kind and generous with their help. I have posted many questions and always received help from here. From one NC'er to another, welcome.
Lola
The asheville bread festival is coming up soon. I've missed it the last few years, but I hear it's great and I'm planning on being there this year. Lots of workshops - this years theme is local grains. Lots of exciting stuff in that regards going on in nc. Nc is also about the best place in the country for flour - if you haven't heard of Lindley mills yet, is in graham nc. They mill king Arthur, but also mill a house label as well.
Thank you for the tips. I have not heard of the bread festival nor the mill in Graham. Can people buy direct from them at a store front in town, I will be in Graham this week as I stop at the Woodworkers Supply just off I-40 store just about every trip west. I'll google them today and see if I can get a call out on tuesday. Thanks for the great new resource. I will have to look into the dates of the bread festival, it soons like a great little get a way. We spent a week last fall at the "demo days" at Biltmore trying our hand at dutch oven cooking on the open fire, bringing in the flock of sheep with the help of three dogs so we could get enough milk for cheese making, and some darn good eats at the end of the day from all the classes on baking, cooking, cheese making, and wine making. I don't think the bread fesival is going on at the same time, but you never know. The event we did was in the fall for a week and it looks like the bread festival is only one day in the spring. Maybe see y'all there.
We are in Emerald Isle NC, on the coast and the minerals in the water make baking very difficult here. I've had to install a reverse osmosis water treatment unit to help, but that takes out all the minerals and so much of the taste from my breads. Currently using bottled water that has no chlorine, and is not a city water supply that has been run through a reverse osmosis (Sam's and several other brands). Natural spring water with no treatment is not as easy to find down here as I expected.
Keep those hands covered in flour 'cause that means your're having fun !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you all for the welcome!
I live in Graham and have not heard of Lindley Mills, but I will be checking it out. I posted in another section about recently having problems with the kneading function on my stand mixer, and the post about the bad water on the coast made me think that our well water may be part of the problem.
Thank you also for the information on the bread festival...it's on my calendar!
I didn't know it was an actual place - thought it was more of a name on the map. I'm near Johnson City, TN. I was driving over to the mill to get flour, but thankfully got in touch with their NC bakery distributor so now I only have to go to Asheville.
Lindley is huge - you'll see more flour on the loading dock there than a home baker could use in 10 lifetimes. Not sure if they sell bags smaller than 25lbs, but 25 lb bags are under $20 - just call and let them know you're a home baker and would like to get some flour a few days before you want to pick it up.
As an aside- Lindley's flours aren't malted. I didn't have any complaints about it, but have started adding malt @ 1% and am think my bread is better for it.
I live in Hickory, but I'm in Asheville all the time. What was the name of that flour distributor you found? I've been to Lindley Mills once, but I'd love to save myself a drive if I can pick it up from someone in Asheville.
-daniel
tn gabe, I live in Asheville and would love to know who the local distributor is.
Thanks,
Alan
I bake to sell at Farmers Markets and buy 500lbs or 1/2 ton at a time and buy from a bakery distributor.
I'm not baking much right now and doubt I'll buy more before March, but if there are some Asheville folks who want to save a drive and the schedule works out, I'd be happy to get a few extra bags.
Other option is for the many Asheville area bakers on here to exchange info and take turns driving over.
please remove
Graham is the home of the Graham Cinema, with Tim Bob's famous joke line! Give it a call sometime when you need a smile -- 336-226-1488. It's usually funny stuff mixed in with the showtimes.
For those of you in NC who may travel close to Wake Forest, the following company has excellent prices:
http://www.thegrainmillwf.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=king+arthur+flour
Imagine King Arthur flour at 50 cents or less per pound!?
You can also save if you pick your order up in Wake Forest:
http://www.thegrainmillwf.com/about-us/freight-shipping.html
Read this post and with the "woodworker" reference, wondered if you are Alison from Chapel Hill whose Granddad wrote "Unto these Hills?"