October 5, 2015 - 10:03am
Where to get bread flour in NY?
Hi there...
I just moved from Australia to New York . In Australia, i could easily get a 25 pound bag of flour for $11, and a vacuum sealed bag of yeast for only $3.00
I've since moved to New York (westchester county), and am struggling to find bakers flour in bulk. Supermarket prizes in 5 pound bags are steep.
Any tips for where i can buy them?
Thanks!
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or a "Cash and Carry".
Walmart.
Last resort: Amazon.com. They actually have pretty good deals.
There is no Cash and Carry in NY.
There is a restaurant depot closish to where I am, but they require a business licence, which I don't have.
Flour: wholesale clubs: Costco/Sam's/BJ's. More often than not the flour there is bleached, but I notice that thankfully it's not bromated. Walmart - slightly more expensive, but better flour selection. You'd need to verify that, but my understanding is that there's a number of distributors in Brooklyn that are open to the public. Same with yeast. My local Walmart sells 1lb bags of SAF for $3.50 (or so). Sam's next door has 2x1lb of Fleischman's for under $4.
Costco has AP in 25 and 50 lb sacks (I believe) and at the best price point. Of course, you will have to check quality and consider the $60 anual membership fee. But I know a lot of small restaurants buy there.
Walmart sells five lb sacks of King Arthur and Gold Medal for $3-4s less than a typical supermarket does. Five pound sacks (of those brands of AP or Bread flour) go for between $2.75 and $3.75 usually, depending on brand and product. They also have many other (lesser and generic) brands as well as good turnover of product, so it'll be 'fresh' (for what it is).
Costco has Red Star Dry Active Yeast, 2 lbs, for about $4.50.
dobie
As I'm sure you've noticed, the cost of living in Westchester county is among the highest in this country. I live nearby. Without a license to buy from business to business companies, your best bet is Costco. They sell vaccum packed Red Star yeast for about that and I've been happy with it. But, I don't care for Costco's flour. It's too low in protein to be considered "bread flour." I use King Arthur Flour's all purpose. It's pretty high in protein level and not much more. The largest bag they sell online is 10lb. If you buy regularly, you might consider their Baker's Rewards program. For an upfront fee the delivery is free and the cash back program pays for itself.
Hi ri_us,
I bought a 5 lb sack of KA AP flour the other day at Walmart for about $2.75. Are you saying that I can beat that price directly thru King Arthur (shipping included)?
How many pounds would I have to buy in a year to beat that Walmart price and what is the upfront cash for the 'Cash Back' program?
Thanks in advance,
dobie
Hi dappy,
No it isn't found on a map. Not this Pearson's Square anyway. And if you continue to have problems obtaining a reasonable amount of bread flour, this may be a solution.
It is a way, generally used in calculating volumes of grains, etc. in animal fed mixes, but works great for this application as well.
A combination of AP flour and Vital Wheat Gluten will amp up the protein level of your AP flour to move it toward bread flour protein. But you can't just guess what that mixture will be as differing APs have slightly different protein levels and differing brands of VWG have the same issue. But armed with Pearson's Square, it can be calculated pretty easily.
Here is a link to an example of its use. Don't be thrown off by the title of the blog page.