The Fresh Loaf

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Opinions on Bulk Whole Wheat Flours?

scottsourdough's picture
scottsourdough

Opinions on Bulk Whole Wheat Flours?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking into buying bulk flour, but haven't tried any of the brands that are available. So if you know anything about these flours, please tell me your experiences!

From Heartland Mills I could get their standard whole wheat, or what appears to be a whole wheat hard blend. I'm also curious about their high gluten flour, and everyone seems to like Golden Buffalo.

From Giusto's there's something that appears to be called whole wheat ultra performance. Any idea what's in this?

From Great River Mills there's a whole wheat bread flour and whole spelt flour.

There's also Arrowhead Mills and Bob's Red Mill whole wheat flours, but these are more expensive and I would assume the Heartland Mills or Great River flours would probably be better.

I bake 100% whole grain sourdough loaves with a mix of rye and spelt, in case that changes your advice. Thank you!

wassisname's picture
wassisname

I’ve baked with a number of these so I’ll give you my 2 cents. 

Heartland Mills -  I’ve baked with the regular WW and the “Turkey” WW.  My starter has been living on the “Turkey” WW for some time and really thrives on it.  These are the coarsest (biggest flecks of bran, anyway) of the WW I’ve tried.  The shipping cost is what keeps me from using them more.

Giusto’s – I’m currently baking through 25 lbs of the organic fine grind high protein WW.  The name pretty much tells the story.  Smoother and stronger than standard WW.  I’ll be trying the regular (medium) WW next.

GreatRiver–   The WW bread flour is similar in concept to the Guisto’s fine ww but I like the feel of the Guisto’s better.  My concern with this was the distribution, not the flour itself, as I was ordering it through Amazon (free shipping) and began to wonder what the flour was going through before it got to me.  Again, that’s not a knock on the flour and may have been all in my head, but I moved on.

Bob’s Red Mill – A good all around WW, probably a medium grind.

It’s all good stuff and really depends on what you’re after.  Happy Baking!

Marcus