Hello Fresh Loafers!  Long time lurker, first time posting.

In my quest for sourcing good whole wheat flour, I called Nicky Giusto at Central Milling (www.centralmilling.com) asking about prices and shipping.  I knew that Central Milling produces Whole Foods 365 Organic Unbleached All Purpose flour, and that Frank Sally at SFBI highly recommended flour from Central Milling so I figured I'd give it a try.  To my surprise he said I could swing buy their warehouse in Petaluma and buy flour directly (gotta love that!)

I'm planning a run to their warehouse tomorrow to buy whole wheat flour, specifically Organic Whole Wheat Hi Pro Flour Fine, and anything else that catches my eye.  This is the whole wheat flour they developed for Acme bakery's whole wheat products.

Someone at the warehouse might be able to break down a 50 lb bag into something more manageable.  But if not, is anyone out there interested in splitting a 50 lb bag?  I'm sure it's great flour, but I still prefer to try out a smaller quantity.  If you're in the SF Bay Area (I'm in San Jose) and are interested, let me know.

-Alison

i would like to try using whole wheat flour instead of the "bread" flour that my recipe book calls for. do i need to make any other adjustments to the recipes (like more yeast, etc.)?

thanks!

Something I have noticed recently is that even on a fresh new bag of whole wheat flour, if I carefully scoop out a quantity I see small hanging bits as if they are being held by tiny threads. I could be a little sensitive to infestation since I recently found a few moths in an old bag of flour and went on a cleaning binge.

Is this normal and I never noticed before? This sounds like a newbie question but I just don't have a way to know. Thanks.

Eric 

I bought a few bags of hard red spring wheat from a local farmer.  I used it to make my whole wheat levain (Hamelman's), which I've made dozens of times with Wheat Montana wheat.  It took a bit longer in the mixer to develop, and I had to lower the hydration.  I gave it a few folds on the bench, and every time I folded it, it seemed like it was developing good strength, but to look at it a few minutes later, it looked very flaccid and weak.  When I shaped it, it felt like it had a fair amount of elasticity, but within a few minutes, it was a blob in the bannetons.   Has anybody any idea what is going on with this dough?  I need to add that the levain was fairly overripe when I went to use it.  I'm not sure if that affected this dough at all.

SOL

Hello, fellow bread enthusiasts.

I recently moved to Glendale, AZ.  Our family likes dark breads of all kinds...including multi-grain, rye and whole wheat. I have had no luck in finding Rye Flour at our local grocers.  The Whole Wheat flour is available, but in small 5 lb bags and is very expensive.  

Any suggestions where I could buy 25 or 50 lb bags of these fours in the Phoenix/ Glendale area?

 As you can see from my photo, I like baking specialty breads, like the traditional Russian Easter breads.  However now I am looking to bake some basic, spongy dark country breads with texture and a good crust.

Looking forward to your suggestions

Elena

May 3, 2008 

I checked on Wheat Montana's site today and saw that their whole wheat flour has a protein content of 15-16%!!  It's the flour I've been using; I have noticed that with most recipes I have to add more water than suggested, but I didn't put two and two together.  I'm thinking that in order to adjust for a more fragile gluten network formed in a whole grain dough that the protein level should be higher than a white flour, but this seems excessive.  (And I don't even know if I'm right about the whole protein thing being higher.)  I can't find any info in

Never mind, I found an email and will contact him directly :)