The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Ontario Flour, Equipment, and Bakeries

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

Ontario Flour, Equipment, and Bakeries

I thought I'd start a quick thread listing where to get supplies locally in southern Ontario.  Please feel free to comment with your favorite places and I'll add them to this list.

 

Flour / Grains:

A and E Fine Foods, 19811 Woodbine Ave, Queensville, 905-478-1500

Stocks some organic flour

 

Arva Flour Mill, 2042 Elgin Rd, London, 519-660-0199

Mills and sells organic flour directly

 

Bulk Barn, Various locations listed on their website

Usually a good selection of flour and baking ingredients

 

Merrylynd Organics, #3010 Hwy 28 (formerly 134), Lakefield, 705-755-1081

Mills and sells organic grains/flour directly

 

New-Life Mills, Hanover, 1-800-265-5510

Local mill, see Liam's posting

 

Oak Manor Farms, 756907 Oxford County Rd #5, RR#1, Tavinstock, 519-662-2385 (website down?)

Mills and sells organic grain/flour directly

 

Organic Abundance, 3066 Bloor Street West, Toronto, 416-234-5258

Stocks some organic flour

 

Ouderkirk and Taylor, 3 Wyndam St. N, Guelph, 519-827-9378

Stocks some organic flour from La Meunerie and Ontario-grown Red Fife

 

Baking Supplies

Ayres Baking Supplies, 354 King St. N, Waterloo, 519-886-7001

Mostly cakes and decorating but some useful supplies.

 

Golda's Kitchen, 2885 Argentia Road, Unit 6, Mississauga, 1-866-465-3299

Both retail and online stores for kitchen supplies.

 

Harvest Corporation, 249 Watline Avenue, Mississauga, 1-888-925-6644

Baking/Restaurant supplies.

 

McCall's, 1290 Fewster Drive, Mississauga, 1-800-541-3415

Mostly cakes, decorating & chocolate.

 

S.T.O.P. Restaurant Supply, 206 Centennial Crt., Kitchener, 1-800-265-2961

Restaurant supplies with sales to the public.

 

Bakeries

ACE bakery, 1 Hafis Road, Toronto

Altitude Baking, 1346 Queen St. East, Toronto

Bonjour Brioche Bakery, 812 Queen St. East, Toronto

Blak's Backery, 1022 Langlois Ave, Windsor, ON

Brick Street Bakery, 55 Mill Street, Toronto

Cob's, Toronto

Epi Breads, 1526 Bayview Avenue, Toronto

Golden Hearth Baking Co., 343 King St E, Kitchener

Pan Fresco, 414 Locust Street, Burlington

Sproll's Fine German Bakery, 300 Trillium Dr, Kitchener

St. John's, 153 Broadview Ave., Toronto

Thuet, 609 King Street West, Toronto

 

Links

Foodlink lists farms with local produce for sale in Waterloo/Wellington.  There is also a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) directory and a listing of farmer's markets in Ontario for those that are interested in buying and supporting local farmers.

Yumarama's picture
Yumarama

Thanks for putting this list together, it's great to have a few potential equipment suppliers to check out.

Have you used Harvest before? And if so, do they do smaller orders? 

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

I figured it was better to put this stuff here than have it in my browser's bookmarks.

Honestly, I've never had troubles making small purchases from any of the above.  Harvest sells/services large equipment (mixers/folders/stretchers) and small stuff like Bannetons, peels, thermometers, etc.  If I'm looking for something specific, I usually call to check their stock.

ejm's picture
ejm

Thanks for putting this list together.

In my search for rye flour at a decent price, I asked at a Cob's if it might be possible to buy rye flour from them. Alas, the answer was no. (The fellow was very nice about it though.) One of our local health food stores sells organic rye flour for $1/lb (just over $2/kilo).

Another bakery to add:

ACE bakery 1 Hafis Road, Toronto, Ontario (near Keele and Lawrence)

The ACE Bakery [is an] artisan bakery creating handmade, European-style rustic breads. The gentle shaping of each loaf, long periods for slow rising, and a stone-deck oven, all work to create exceptionally flavourful breads. We use only the best, all-natural ingredients, with no preservatives.

Ace has introduced a bake your own version of their bread. I had one of their baguettes the other night at friends; it was very good. For the Ace outlet nearest you: (416) 241-3600, or 1-800-443-7929

-Elizabeth, in West Toronto


P.S. As much as I like Ace bread, I'd still rather eat bread I'd made here at home....

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

Thanks for suggesting ACE... I've added them to the original post. I've seen ACE bread carried at Zehrs and a few local shops but not actually been to their bakery. I have been happy with the rye from from Oak Mannors but it would be a bit of a trek from TO.  Meryland lists a few retailers in York and Markham but I'm not sure if they carry their rye flour. Nevertheless, it might be worth inquiring about.

 

As much as I like Ace bread, I'd still rather eat bread I'd made here at home

 

Agreed

ejm's picture
ejm

Thanks for the link to Merrylynd; I see that rye flour is sold wholesale there. The price is tempting but I don't think we can manage to store 25kg of rye flour at a time. 5kg, yes, but 25kg? It would take us eons to get through that much rye flour. No doubt it would go off before we went through even half a bag.

-Elizabeth

jembola's picture
jembola

Thanks for the Ontario source list! I'm currently waiting for some hard white spring wheat through Merrylynd (note spelling) since they are in my area and I wanted to find a locally grown and processed flour.  The reason I'm waiting is that they told me the quality for their own wheat was poor last year with all the rain and cold and that this particular batch is still local but not from their own farm. It  should be available in the next few days.  Merrylynd does not sell unbleached white, but they carry something called "fine sifted" or "light" wheat flour, which has had the bran sifted out of it.  I'm not sure how well it compares to AP or unbleached bread flour but I like the fact that it still has the wheat germ in it.  (Is anyone out there familiar with this version of wheat flour?) Since I'll be buying a 25 kilo bag I'll be experimenting and will report back!

Bulk Barn does have a good selection of flour (not organic though) but I'd like to know where it comes from. I will try to find out.

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

Thanks for the spelling correction!  I haven't actually bought from Merrylynd but, regarding last year's wheat crop, I've heard similar things from some CSA farmers I've talked with.  I know that Oak Manor gets its organic white unbleached AP milled/sifted  in London (not sure which one) and I've been meaning to write them again and ask more detailed questions.  In terms of getting information, La Milanaise (Quebec) is very quick to send info if you ask for technical details.  At the moment I'm collecting flour for a bake-off sourdough comparison ;)

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

Your best bet might be to ask at a European bakery/deli.  Many will sell you a reasonably sized piece for $1.  A foodie friend living in downtown suggested

   Karpaty Pastry & Deli, 2408 Bloor Street West, (416) 769-2159

but I've not been there myself (yet).  In the tri-cities areay I've found it in natural food stores and, occasionaly, some of the larger supermarkets (check in the cooler near the rolls of cookie dough and ready-made pastry).

At the moment my bakery list needs some work... I've been really into French-style sourdoughs of late and have completely skipped the Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Portugese, (etc) bakeries in town.  If anyone knows of a gem, please post!

CanuckJim's picture
CanuckJim

Just thought to add a southern Ontario source that has not been mentioned as yet.  Grain Process Enterprises, 105 Commander Blvd, Scarborough M1S 3M7; 416-291-3226, is actually a warehouse operation that sells primarily to the baking trade.  However, they do have a smallish retail store, pretty basic, and carry both large bags and small of some of the flours mentioned, including Red Fife, organic bread flour, etc., plus a pretty good selection of bulk instant yeast, seeds, nuts and so on.  The prices are pretty good and the turnover is high.  I've been using their unbleached bread flour for years with consistently good results.

Commander Blvd. runs west off McCowan, something like three or four lights north of the 401.  Grain Process is on the left hand side, just at a pronounced bend in the road and set back quite a bit.  The retail operation does not have a sign, as such, just an Open sign in the door glass at the back of the parking lot.  Not normally open Saturdays, except in summer.

It's also worth mentioning that there are some very good Portuguese bakeries in the west end of the city (north of Bloor).  Don't have any names at the moment, but I'll try to get them and report.  There's nothing quite like a corn flour roll from one of them.  Tried to get the recipe; failed miserably.  Interesting cakes and such, too.

CJ

ejm's picture
ejm

Does the Grain Process Enterprises unbleached flour contain any additives?

We too adore the corn bread that we have bought from the Brazil Bakery on Dundas West (near Dufferin). This recipe for Broa - Portuguese Corn Bread is pretty close to the corn flour rolls.

Elizabeth

CanuckJim's picture
CanuckJim

Simon,

Sorry, I don't have a spec sheet on their "Hard Unbleached White Flour," but you could probably get the info by calling them.  I was told, verbally, that the proteing content runs at about 13.5% and the hard, red spring wheat grain comes from southeaster Saskatchewan.  No info on ash content, though.  About the most complete specs I've seen (right on the bag) comes from LaMilanese in Quebec.

CJ

CanuckJim's picture
CanuckJim

Their bread flour contains government mandated vitamins and minerals: thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron, folic acid, calcium.

CJ

Yolandat's picture
Yolandat

Dover mills supplies most of the flour to  Bulk Barn. I was in contact with Dover mill and was told they do not sell to the public but could get their flour at Bulk Barn.

Yumarama's picture
Yumarama

I noted this in another thread: There's a place in Hamilton called Traynor's who supply the bakery biz but you can walk in and order just one or two bags.

More details in the original post here. And possibly more sources.

Delta_v's picture
Delta_v

Hi folks,

I stumbled on this site and thread when searching online for whole rye flour sources in Ontario; I'm located in Toronto. 

Recently learned about K2 milling in Tottenham (West of HWY 400, a bit South of Alliston) and figured it'd make a good addition to the list. Small mill producing locally sourced, mostly organic flours. 

Their sites are below;

http://www.k2milling.blogspot.com/

https://sites.google.com/site/k2millingltd/home

It's not mentioned on the site but they take cash only. 

Pic currenlty on the top of the blog is of two loaves I made with 50% AP and 50% red fife adapted from the rustic bread recipe from this site. 

I purchased a few different whole grain flours when I visited them last week and so far am happy with the quality and prices were reasonable, IMO. 

Haven't tried their light flour yet as I've still got a few kilos of boring grocery store flour to work through.

ejm's picture
ejm

At last I've found a source for Rogers' Flour (rogersfoods.com) in Toronto. It's not Ontario flour but it is available in Ontario. Their "no additive" all-purpose is available in 10kg bags (smaller ones too) at Highland Farms Grocery Stores (highlandfarms.ca) Also available are smaller bags of Roger's dark rye flour  and 100% whole wheat.

Here's what Rogers website reports about the whole wheat flour:

A high quality flour made from Canadian hard
spring wheat containing the goodness of the
whole wheat kernel.

• No Chemical Additives
• No Bleaching Agents
• No Conditioners
• No Preservatives

 

We've been making bread for the last month with Rogers' flour and are really happy with it. Almost ecstatic, even. My husband had developed a sensitivity to flour with the additive Azodicarbonamide [ADA] (at least we think it was this that was making the skin on his hands peel off). ADA is defined alternately as a bleaching agent or enhancing agent. Unfortunately, both Robin Hood and Five Roses "unbleached" flour have ADA added to them. So does Loblaws No Name so-called unbleached flour. So does Weston's flour. (Note that ADA is forbidden as a flour additive in many parts of Europe - because it's unsafe. Congratulations North America for ignoring the health concerns of many just so profits can stay nice and high!!)

-Elizabeth

P.S. Next time I go to Highland Farms, I'll see if Rogers White Bread Flour is there too. It too is unbleached. And then... bagels!!!

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

Ontario residents

do not forget about CIPM. They produce a range of organic flours. The owner is Patricia Hastings