April 21, 2010 - 5:04pm
Flour for French Baguettes in Washington DC Area?
My first post here so thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
I am living in Arlington Va, just west of DC and am having no luck with Google or other search engine to find a store that sells a variety of flours that I could experiment with to make some French Bread.
I saw some flours on line but am hoping to avoid high shipping costs particularly since I am experimenting and may go through a variety before I find one I like.
Can anyone receommend a store in the DC/Arlington area? A favorite type of flour for this type of bread?
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Hi- For starters, any grocery store in the area will carry King Arthur's All-Purpose Flour (not KA's Bread Flour which is an altogether different thing). It is the retail version of their wholesale flour (Sir Galahad) which is what I used when learning to bake baguettes with Jeffrey Hamelman who directs King Arthur's bakery center.
If you want to experiment, you might want to try Guisto's La Parisienne. I'm not sure if you can obtain this in a retail store, but you can certainly approach local bakeries (maybe Breadline in DC) to see if they would sell you a bag or a partial bag.
If you like KA's AP flour, you should find a restaurant or bakery that uses it and see if they'll allow you to buy a 50# bag which is definitely the more economical way to go if you bake frequently.
Larry
Larry,
THanks, I will give KA All-purpose a try, as you say it is easy to find. I have used "bread flours" but some reading and research would indicate it is best suited for automatic bread makers? THanks again
but I believe there is a Whole Food market on Wilson Blvd. in the Clarendon area. They are reputed to carry a large variety of flours.
Like Larry, I bake baguettes routinely with KA all-purpose flour, with a 15 hour cool (55°F) retarded bulk fermentation. The results have been good enough, that I quit experimenting.
David G.
All,
thanks for the help. I'm a Coscto member and Giant, Whole Foods are all near by. I will give the KA AP a try first for this weekend. I think we are getting a bit of rain here this weekend so yard work is out, fresh bread is in...what a shame! LOL
I'll continue to roam the site and get smarter on T55s and the like and play around until I get what I like.
Cheers
Hank