Is there a taste difference between the three or four commercial brands of yeasts available at local supermarkets.  My local supermarket carries only one or two different brands of yeast at a time and keeps switching off and on among the three or four top brands.  My sister in law (a wonderful baker) swears that she can tell the difference when she makes her signature parker house rolls.  She doesn't like Red Star.  So it got me to thinking that among the many bakers here there might be some who have had experience with this.

Hi there -- I'm new to artisan bread baking, and really enjoying this new hobby!

My trouble is that I cannot track down high-quality ingredients, or specialty items, here in Ontario (I live a 2-hour drive from Toronto). I can get basic white-bread flour and whole wheat, and some dark rye, but that's the extent of it. Nothing organic (for bread), or high-protein bread flours. I also cannot find things like malt powder to make bagels and such.

Wondering if any fellow Canucks know where I might find some of these products? Or if I can order them online from somewhere?

Thanks a bunch!

I purchased some Malt Powder at an Indian Market at our local Farmers Market.  Is there a difference between Malt Flour and Malt Powder. The Malt Powder has some bits of the hull in it.  It also doesn't say whether it is diastatic or non-diastatic.  I have used it in my bagel recipe (Montreal Bagels from TFL). They are most delicious.  

Hi, I am roasting some beautiful cloves of garlic (the house smells wonderful) and I am also in the process of warming up my starter for a couple of loaves. I was thinking of crushing the roasted cloves and adding them to my bread during the last few minutes of kneading. Does this sound like a good plan?

Thanks, Maggie

The recipe for Struan bread includes polenta.  Does this mean a particular grain/dry ingredient, or the polenta I've seen described as "cornmeal mush" which is wet?  Where can I buy it?  Sorry, I'm clueless :(

I have a box of organic whole wheat cous cous. The ingredients say: 100% Whole Wheat Durum Semolina". 

Can I grind this with my home mill and make my own durum flour? 

I've made croissant dough the classic way a couple of times and never had problems with the end products.  Today, I made puff pastry and used a portion to make peach tart tatin. I'm disappointed that the crust didn't come out crisp-flaky as it should although I saw it puff a bit while baking.  I used flour labeled organic pastry flour that I bought in a blue bag at Whole Foods.  The flour was the color of wheat, i.e., not white, and the pastry had a wheat taste. Somehow, I remember a whiter-colored pastry flour when I took a class at SFBI. Are there many different types of pastry flour?  There was only this product in the store so I assumed it was the one I needed. Next time, what should I buy when the recipe calls for pastry flour?  Can Swan's Down cake flour substitute?

I have 6 gallons of hard red spring wheat and 6 gallons of hard white spring wheat. I have a mill and have ground my own flour and used it in other recipes/baking but not in artisan type bread baking yet. I have read some on this topic but there seems to be some conflicting info and I can't quite figure out what types of bread these wheat berries and their flour would be best suited for. I also have diastatic malt powder. Can I make my own bread flour? Does anyone use these types of wheat berries and grind them at home? If so, what types of breads are you making with them? Ideally I would like to use the flour as the main part in a formula instead of adding a percentage to another flour.

Would either of these be well suited for all or part of the flour in say Susan's Sourdough Boule?

Any pointing in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks.

I'm looking for Fresh Loafers (and/or other bakers) who would like to "pool" with me on bulk flour buying.  I've been getting my bread flour from BakeMark in the North Grand Prairie industrial area.  They've decided to cut out all sales less than $200.  I just can't use or store that much flour at one time.  I'm not interested in splitting bags (50#), just putting our orders together.  They carry KA Special, Sir Galahad and Sir Lancelot as well as many other brands and types.  Their website is www.bakemarkusa.com.

If anyone knows of another source in this area, please let me know.  There's a Metro Web store in Arlington who orders from Ben E. Keith.  I've gotten Sir Lancelot from them, but they can't get the Special (bread flour).  Can't figure why.

BTW, I'm in Burleson.

Syb

Does anyone have recommendations for a particularly flavorful bread or AP flour? (not whole grain or whole wheat, I'm talking "regular", preferably unbleached, white flour). I understand, of course, that more flavor can be obtained through various additives (like a little whole wheat or rye), or processess (longer ferment, soaker, sourdough, levain, etc), but those things aside and everything being equal, is there a flour anyone finds gives more flavor than other brands?