Flour and Grains
Flour is the primary ingredient in bread. This is obvious. But thanks to the ease with which we are able to buy flour, and the consistency of the product, it is easy to forget how important it is to the taste and texture of the final product. Just by changing flour one changes ones bread. The change may be sublte — or not. On the following pages you will find some general information about flour and grains — and links to suppliers. Modern commercial wheat flour is produced by milling several varieties of wheat together. The mix of varieties, and the ratio between them, is what makes different commerical flours different. Also, by mixing different varieties of wheat the millers are able to create a flour that is consistent over time — and that meets the specifications of bakers. A miller who mills for American artisan bakers, for example, will tend to include a wheat with a yellow tonality to the mix to make a yellowish flour, while a miller producing flour for bakers who wants the white bread to be as white as possible would not. Amongst the pages that follow are suppliers of flour, many produced by small millers working with single varieties of wheat, and suppliers of grains for those of you who mill your own.