November 5, 2012 - 3:02pm
King Arthur VS Robin Hood
Does anyone have any experience with using both US's King Arthur brand and Canada's Robin Hood brand of flours? Any comments or comparisons? Better or worse? Differences?
It's a good 'ol fashioned medieval joust match. Er..flour match.
John
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The only King Arthur flours I've tried were the white whole wheat and the Irish-type ww flour. I do like the 'best for bread' Robin Hood flour, but it's too expensive for me to buy. I generally buy the store brand unbleached flour, as the RH flour, bleached or not, tends to be lumpy.
King Arthur knock em down every time, Ceresota-- Down! Pillsbury-Down!
Every one I gave plenty of chances, king Arthur with one hand held behind his back wins. I have tried many blind tests, I did not want to believe but it is true. Never tried Robin Hood, but unless it's a little mom and pop mill, it ain't no way it touches the King.
Not mom and pop but Canadian flour is known for its high quality - so you never know unless you have tried.
J
I have tried a few different flour, robin hood included. I now am decided that KAF Sir Galahad is best for breads. Its their commercial AP blend. It gives breads a nice balance of crust thickness and tender crumb. It also works great for enriched breads and general purpose baking. Here is my thing. KAF when milling their flours presevres them and limits the oxidation that occures during the process. Plus never bleached or bromated. Means they didnt add anything to speed the curing process that naturally takes about a month or so. If you want to know more about that buy Hammelmans bread book and read the first part of it. I didnt think it would matter much, but it does. I can say I have tasted the results of oxidized flour and its bad. You can also oxidize the flour during mixing, thats another matter. The biggest diference to me is the yellow creamy color that you get in the bread with KAF flours and the wonderful creamy-wheat flavor you get. Havent found another brand yet that gives me those results.
I truly prefer Robin Hood hands down, but since I can not find it here and with gas and the devaluated dollar, my trips to Canada are limited ..I do love Canadian flour..(biased because I am half Canadian so I learned to bake with it early on) searched around for " reasonable" something, for me KA is not.
So found and 10 kilo bags of
Canada Gold at a local Ukrainian market. It is lovely to work with, better in my opinion than both, and much less expensive.
So much of what makes flour good is what they do with the grain at the mill - the tempering, blending and the speed. I would not be surprised if KA purchases some Canadian wheat; I know that Central Milling does. My ongoing rant is that Canadian mills (especially organic ones) have not stepped up to the plate, still. Pisses me off.
Haven't stepped up to the plate in what way grind?
Robin Hood flour is produced by the Horizon Milling division of Cargill for Smucker Foods who market it.
http://www.cargillfoods.com/na/en/products/HorizonMilling/HorizonMillingGP/products/RobinHoodFlour/index.jsp
Last I looked at a Robin Hood flour label they were adding ascorbic acid to their bread and or AP flour compared to KA which does not, FWIW.
Horizon Milling also produces flour for KA at their plant in Albany NY (and likely others).
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/19207/conagra-king-arthur#comment-130377
I've never used the former, but can vouch for the consistency of the latter. You'll find no better customer service in the business than that from King Arthur.
KAF works directly with the farmers who grow their grain. They also have the mill process the grain according to thier specifications. I have to say I have used some of cargills/horizon milling flour and even using a no-knead method to preserve the pigmentation of the flour I still get bright white loafs. Using KAF AP right from the grocery store and the same method I atleast get some yellow crumb. Use some KAF Sir Galahad and the loaf is amazing. Nice yellow crumb since the pigments are in tact. Amazing flavor. I havent found a flour out their thats better. And KAF does has the best customer service ever.
Have you tried flours from Meunerie Milanaise (Milan, PQ)? They are highly regarded in the commercial baking community. I've used their T-50 type with great results. Their products shouldn't be too hard to come by if you live in or near one of the bigger Quebec cities. If you email them, they will tell you where to find their flour. I've had good luck buying flour from a local bakery when I couldn't get what I wanted in a store, too.
http://lamilanaise.com/?lang=enV