I make bread regularly enough that I like having bread flour around. Recently I managed to come by some of King Arthur's "Sir Lancelot" high gluten flour. I thought this flour, which is part of their professional line of flours, was only available in the 50 pound bags that bakeries buy. I was wrong. In any case, however you get it, give it a whirl if you can. The high percentage of gluten (the flour's protein content comes out to 14.2%, or about 1 part in 7) means you'll get better bread structure. Your bread will rise higher and stay that way, both in the bowl and when baked. It'll probably absorb more water than you're used to, and from the weight of the last batch I baked, it'll probably hold on to more of that water, unless you bake it out. So you'll get a moister bread. The crumb will also be finer. Since you've got more protein to play with, you can add more stuff to the dough and still have it hold together. It all means yummier bread. And don't we all want yummier bread? :)
Edit: King Arthur has a good explanation up about why wheat prices, along with a lot of other agricultural commodities, are going through the roof. I think the only thing they leave off is mentioning that the price increases are partially driven by a move to growing more corn expressly for ethanol production for fuel.
And by the way, I'm a guy, so I'm not really a housewife. :)
[Image courtesy of King Arthur Flour, from their online image archive.]
I've heard that the Tajma Teeter on MLK has a sale on for KA flour at 2/$5. FYI! OMGWTFBBQ!
Posted by: Celeste | 19 March 2008 at 05:38 PM
OMGWTF! I went and bought some! Thanks! Film at 11! ;)
Posted by: Joe Eater | 29 March 2008 at 05:18 PM