Where do those of you who grind your own flour buy your grains?  I have only found one source who doesn't charge more for wheat berries than for flour ground from those same berries, and that source was 2000 miles away, so the shipping costs are prohibitive.  Just this week, I got another price list from a buying club I can join locally.  They have several brands of stone ground whole wheat flour at around 40 cents a pound in 50# quantities.  The best price they have on wheat berries in bulk is nearly twice that.  Even their King Arthur fancy bakers' flours are cheaper than the plain old wheat berries.

Does this make any sense?

Dave

I know most people have a preference for using either gas or electric ovens.  For those of you shopping for a new or used one to purchase, I thought I'd point out the basic costs of running them so you can weigh out the pros and cons using your local electricity or gas costs.  I'll base this example on the two ovens I use; one is electric and one is gas (LP).

Electric ovens are rated in watts used per hour or KWH (thousands of watts per hour).  So an oven that is rated at 11,000 watts uses 11 Kilowatts per hour or 11 KWH.
The electric company bases their charges on KWH, mine is $.057/KWH.
That means my electric oven costs 11 x $.057 = $.63 per hour to run.

Propane and Natural Gas ovens are rated in BTU/hour (here anyway).  My LP oven uses 60,000 BTU per hour.  It takes approximately 1 gallon of propane to burn 90,000 BTU.  So my oven uses (60,000/90,000) .67 of a gallon of propane to run for 1 hour.  Since propane cost me $2.19 per gallon, my running cost per hour is .67 x $2.19 =  $1.46 per hour.

Of course these are approximates based on the manufacturer's specs, plus different ovens take longer to heat up than others and retain their heat more or less. 
There you go.

-Mark

http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

A while back strattor was asking where to find rye flour in NYC. I replied that it was difficult to find in Toronto as well but that there was one store we knew of.

Well, not any more....

Yesterday, we rode our bikes over to the store to replenish the rye flour. There were NO 5kg bags of "Five Roses" dark rye flour!! Nor any 2.5kg bags of "Five Roses" dark rye flour!! They did have some little bags of "Bob's Red Mill" at around $3 for 600gms! We continued riding, visiting all the supermarket chains. Not one of them was selling rye flour in bags larger than 600gm (Yes, it was BRM, all priced about the same, give or take 25¢). Most of them had zero rye flour on their shelves. Some of them had 5kg bags of a multigrain blend wheat flour (white and whole wheat), cracked wheat, cracked rye and whole flax. How useless is that?

This morning, I spoke with someone at "Five Roses" and am absolutely devastated to learn that their "dark rye" flour has been discontinued due to slow sales. Wah!!! One good thing though, the woman I spoke with did say that she would pass on my dismay to the correct department, with the note that as the price of wheat rises, people will be looking for alternative grains. "Five Roses" (was a Canadian company) is now owned by the US based company "Smucker Foods".

And now here's some really disturbing news. "Robin Hood" (that I always thought was Canadian, but googling shows that it was started in the US and moved into Canada in the earlier part of the 1900s) is now ALSO owned by "Smucker Foods". So much for competition....

Where in Toronto can I buy rye flour at a reasonable price? A 5kg bag would be nice.

My name is Hayley Mick and I'm a writer with the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper. I write for the Life section, mostly about health issues but also about people's extracurricular pursuits.

Right now I'm researching a story about how rising food prices are affecting amateur bakers (particularly Canadian bakers!). Have you been forced to bake less? Or maybe you're getting more creative with your recipes -- Or discovered new places to buy ingredients at a discount. 

If you're able to chat, I'd need to speak to you this week, by Wednesday at the latest. Just send me your number and I'll give you a ring, or my numbers are below. 416-585-5118. email hmick@globeandmail.ca.

Thanks, hope to hear from you soon.

Hayley

Just a quick question:

 Will the recent increase in prices for food and fuel make you want to bake even more? 

 My kids haven't successfully made the leap to dad's bread from the store stuff, and more than a few kids at school are jealous of the larger than average sandwiches they get. And even if not all of it is homemmade, it is closer for me to ride my bike to the local bakery than to the supermarket. It's not a huge thing, but I'm sure not having to run and drive 4 miles for bread would add up over the summer.

 Marc the Wombatq

http://onetanksummer.blogspot.com

I'm frugal. I've watched the cost of flour go up 50% in less than a year. I'm now paying 30¢ a pound (50 lb bag of enriched bleached bread flour from Costco $14.99)

Bakers and home millers might want to stock up on grain now, as weather problems have significantly reduced the projected wheat harvest. Eventually this will be reflected in consumer prices. Grain keeps well and does not require special storage conditions beyond a cool, dry place. IMHO, any non-white flour should be refrigerated or frozen to preserve flavor.

This is a great tool for bakers + restaurant managers.

Ever wondered if you’re getting the right price for your product, PRICE-CRACKER will help you find out.

You can download a full version with 3 trial sessions from

www.itdesktop.co.nz/trial.php