re...
>>From: jlee@cccp.net (John Lee)
>>A supermarket chain here in Britain has finally brought us bread machines at
>>sensible prices (69.99 UK pounds, about half price) so I bought one and have
>>been making bread like crazy for the past week. However, like most things in
>>this country, strong bread flour is expensive - about 79 pence for 1.5 kgs
>>against just 12 pence for supermarket's own low price brands of all purpose
>>plain white flour. Unfortunately the supermarkets do not sell an equally
>>cheap strong bread flour.
>Hello John,
>I'm in the UK too and I don't think there's too many of us on this list ?
>Unless it is a necessity of circumstance then I would forget about cheap
>flour. Why is it so cheap, unless it is a total loss leader? I think that
>if you're going to the effort of baking your own bread then it's worth
>using the best that you can afford. Many areas have small local mills
>producing a individual quality product and experimenting can be fun, as
>well as supporting these small businesses. Failing that I find larger
>producers such as Doves Farm flours very good. Personally I try different
>flours from my local health food shop and am prepared to pay about £1.10
>for a 1.5kg bag - but then I haven't spent £69.99 on a bread machine :-)
>...........only joking.
> All the best,
> Vernon Webster
Hi Vernon
I have gone around all the local UK supermarkets and have come up with the
result that the best of the cheap supermarket flours is Safeways at just 12
pence for 1.5 kgs which has a surprisingly high protein level of 10.2% -
which very surprisingly is better than some other full-price manufacturers'
so-called Strong White Flour. Of course, this is nothing like the levels
enjoyed by our fellow bakers on the other side of the Atlantic who can get
Canadian wheats, but its not bad for the UK. I am sure that you are right in
saying that the very best results might come from local mills but at £ 1.10
a bag compared with just 12p I reckon its worth experimenting with the
cheaper version - you never know I might end up with really good bread. As
you rightly say, experimenting can be fun - especially if you can save 'big
bucks' )-:
John
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John Lee (UK)
e-mail jlee@cccp.net
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