Flours of Ireland
This forum is for all of you who, like me, live in Ireland and face daily challenges with the choice of flours. I hope to find other people in Ireland who share their experience and sources.
I would like to start by sharing my experience with Irish flours and will tell you what I can find in our supermarkets and health food stores. I need to add that I live in a little village in County Wicklow, namely Blessington. I don't live too far from Dublin and would be more than happy to head to the Capital to cover my needs.
The flours I've found so far:
Plain White (also known as all purpose flour) - Generally a protein content of 9%
Strong White (also known as bread flour) - Generally a protein content of 11%
I haven't come across a very strong white flour and would love to get hold of it.
Wholemeal and coarse wholemeal flour - 10% protein
And now, I also found strong wholemeal with a whopping 15.3% protein (found it at our local Dunnes Store. The flour is from Odlums)
I'm not getting into the self raising or cream flours, as I don't use them often.
I'm looking for high protein flours, which seems to be rare in Ireland. I've now read that traditionally Irish flours were of poor quality with low to very low protein content, that's why Irish breads are generally made with soda and not yeast, as yeast needs a lot of protein. That makes sense. I don't mind the odd slice of soda bread and have even published a recipe on my own webpage, but I do need some yeast or sourdough bread in the house as well.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys and wonder how many of TFL users are actually located in Ireland and are able to share their experience.
Kind Regards and Best Wishes,
Wolfgang