I'm new here to TFL and have recently gotten into bread baking. I was given a few more exotic flours for Christmas and I'm curious to know how best to use some of these ingredients I am unfamiliar with. For example, I now have tapioca, quinoa, and brown rice flours. Many of these I have seen used in gluten free recipes, but I don't have any gluten restrictions in my diet. Can I substitute a small amount of some of these flours into other recipes and get new and interesting flavors? Or are these ingredients really only used in gluten free breads? How would you all recommend using these flours?

Hi all,

I'm really excited to report that as of New Year's Day, NYB is implementing new shopping cart software that with features and functions that make it easier than ever to do business with us. Our new capabilities include:

• Automated order acknowledgement and shipping notification.
• Expanded payment options that let you use all of the major bank cards, as well as PayPal.
• A new and improved Shipping Calculator that provides access to a broad range of shipping choices that more closely reflect actual delivery times, weight and distance.
• Search and Advanced Search features that let you quickly find items that you previously had to hunt for.
• Your full Order History, as of our 1/1/2012 go-live date.</li>
• A Permanent Shopping Cart that remembers the items you add until you either remove them or proceed to checkout.
• A Personalized Address Book that allows you to have orders delivered to addresses other than yours - perfect for gift-giving.
• Product Reviews that let you share your opinions of our products with other NYB customers.

And last but not least all NYB customers are automatically enrolled in the NYB Frequent Flour program, which awards customers 1 point for every dollar spent on NYB merchandise. Points earned translate intoacross-the-board discounts of as much as 20%, starting immediately and good for as long as you maintain a qualifying point balance. We're automatically setting up accounts for all past and present NYB customers, and you can look for an email on or about New Year's Day containing your log in information.

Think of it as our way of saying "Thank you" for your continuing support.

We're really excited about this and invite everyone to have a look around. www.nybakers.com

Happy New Year!

Stan Ginsberg
(posted with Floyd's permission)

Hello everyone!

I really like the idea of using an all natural flour for baking bread. I recently picked up a hard-white bread flour from a mill in Arva, Ontario and was quite excited about using it. However, all my efforts with the flour result in a short and very dense loaf (both in the bread machine and sans bread machine). I typically use Robin Hood Best for Bread flour and my loaves always turn out nicely. I'm not ready to give up on my locally milled Arva flour yet as I think it is fresher and probably doesn't have any additives. Has anyone else had the same difficulties? Any ideas for using a natural flour and getting it to rise better?

Thanks!

-Eric

Alright, so I've used my Nutrimill for about a year now. Lately I have noticed that it's been "leaking" flour when milling grains. When I mill my Red Hard Spring Wheat berries, there's just a little that blows out the left front. But, when I mill Rye berries for my sourdough, there's actually a continuous stream of flour dust that gets blown into the air...!

I didn't use to have this problem before. I cleaned everything I could possibly think of, even cleaned and re-inserted the white square rubber gasket. I have the strong suspicion the dust is making its way through the black foam filter. Is there anything else I can do to prevent the dust from escaping? I am considering putting a piece of fabric onto the left front of the machine, to catch the dust - any thoughts on that?

Thanks in advance,

Stephan

I was going to make sd english muffins but found I only have bread flour,ww or rye flours. What can I expect with bread flour? Patrick

Greeting;  

I am knew to your nice page here and have a question.  Is there a generic water to flour ratio for most breads.

Thank You

joe

Hey all,

I'm just wondering what the benefits of milling one's own flour at home are.

In the UK one can already obtain organic stone ground flours, which I don't think are too expensive... so why do people bother? Is the flour nicer when its fresher?

I did read something about the fact that flour which you buy has the germ removed from it in order to give it a longer storage life. Is that all flours including 100% wholegrain? Is the germ beneficial to bread making or to our health?

Thanks

S.Holmes

My husband I own a mill in Statesboro, Georgia.  I am learning to use whole wheat flour in my cooking.  It is all-natural and not bleached, and much different than store-bought flour.  I've found that I can bake delicious zucchini bread, and I'm looking forward to trying the 10-minute banana bread I found on this site!

I know there is a lot of literature out there, including on TFL, but sometimes I feel like the more I know, the less I know :)) so if anyone wants to chime in (the venerable Debra Wink??), please feel free.

I've noticed a change in my starter's behaviour when I refrigerate it for storage. First off, I must say the feeding can be erratic because I do not have the luxury of baking every weekend. So this is not a stable, fed regularly, counter-top one. My method for storing starter in fridge: I make more starter than what I need for baking (usually refreshed twice or more), take sth like 20g, feed it in a 1:1:1 ratio, leave it outside (temp can vary from 25-31 celsius, I know that's a lot of diff but I figure it doesn't matter as much because it will be spending most of its time in the fridge), then in it goes into the fridge for abt a week, sometimes more.

Previously, there would be 2-3 days when nothing seems to be happening. Then it starts growing ever so slowly but steadily, to almost double the volume, before drooping. The smell will be a pleasant and mild sour. I liked this because it enabled me to stretch out the storage period to roughly a week before its refreshment for baking. All quite neat.

Lately, however, I've noticed that it kicks in very fast. From day 1 in the fridge it starts to grow, but only grows by about a third before it starts to recede and pull back. Also it is almost odourless.

IF, and that's a big if, my understanding is correct, yeast is less affected by cold than bacteria. So is it correct to assume that the yeast is what is propelling the growth, and that somehow the bacteria is now less active (which also explains the relative lack of smell), and that with the less active bacteria to break down the sugars in the starch, the yeast can only go so far??? At this pt, I can imagine Dr Wink and the other mavens  cringing at my simplistic summation :))

What HAS changed is that a few of my recent feeds have been using organic WW flour, although the last two have been non-organic non-WW. Is there a correlation??

Very fascinating all this. So many variables, so many factors... I won't forget how once, somehow, for the briefest stretch, through a combination of god knows what factors, my starter had the most wonderful floral and creamy, and yes, almost even buttery, smell. Alas I didn't seize on it nor prolong the conditions that led to this, and soon it petered out.. Such alchemy.

I have a white sourdough starter that was fed a constant supply of Anchor Lighthouse bread flour (Australian) and it was very active. As that flour was only available in 1Kg packets it was not cheap for regular bread baking. I have sinced switched to Laucke Wallaby flour which has received positive discussion on-line and is available in 5Kg bags.

I noticed that my starter is considerably more sluggish since the switch to different flour. It has only been two days since the switch. Seeing as both flours are high protein and other factors such as temperature, water and hydration are the same, that it is a matter of the starter culture adapting to the new flour?