The Best Own Store Brand Strong White Flour?

emiff6

Brummie_Money wrote: »

I did read an interesting article on the net a few weeks ago, suggesting that rises in the cost of food over the last 2 or 3 years is less due to shortages, and more due to speculators gambling on the prices of the various commodities. I think this may be the case with the current increases in the price of wheat.

That's the way the futures market works - if people think there'll be a shortage, they're prepared to risk paying more. Coffee prices yo-yo in the same way, don't they? It's just a shame that it's our food supply people are allowed to gamble with!

meanmarie

I am always so jealous when the price of bread flour in UK is being discussed.....the current price here for 2kg strong flour is €2.35, even doing the money calculations that is almost £2....lidl only do plain and self raising so no joy there....need more people to make bread here, but mostly it is soda bread that is made at home.

Marie

Justamum

meanmarie wrote: »

I am always so jealous when the price of bread flour in UK is being discussed.....the current price here for 2kg strong flour is €2.35, even doing the money calculations that is almost £2....lidl only do plain and self raising so no joy there....need more people to make bread here, but mostly it is soda bread that is made at home.

Marie

£2 for 2kg is £1.50 for 1.5kg, which is what the bag sizes are, which isn't much more than we pay here in the Isle of Man. They say it's because of transport costs, but locally produced wheat (and bread, and I believe meat but I don't know as I'm vegan) is more expensive than imported.

aless02

Honestly, I've never noticed a difference between different store brand flours. Sometimes you need to adjust the amount of water you add, as different flours can have different rates of absorption - but this is something I do by eye and just as I mix the dough.

sb44

I went into Lidl yesterday and their 1.5kg bags of plain and self raising flour was 42p a bag.

Aldi bags are 28p but they are only 1kg bags.

Not sure if absorbic acid is added to plain or self raising flour but it doesn't say that it contains it on the Aldi bags of plain that I bought.

angeltreats

sb44 wrote: »

Not sure if absorbic acid is added to plain or self raising flour but it doesn't say that it contains it on the Aldi bags of plain that I bought.

I wouldn't think so. The point of it is to strengthen the gluten. Strong flour has a higher gluten content which makes it suitable for bread (and a few other things such as choux pastry). For cakes and the like, you want to use soft flour (ie plain/SR flour) with a low gluten content, otherwise the cakes will be tough. So it would be counter productive to add ascorbic acid to soft flour.

No idea if that made any sense, I'm a bit useless at explaining.

bees**knees

Hi
I used to buy Costco white bread flour - comes in huge bags but works out very reasonable. Its Canadian wheat - good strong flour. Havent bought in a while since there are only 2 of us and its a problem storing it but I do know it gives very good results and they do still sell it. Worth a try if you make alot of bread !
:j

sb44

angeltreats wrote: »

I wouldn't think so. The point of it is to strengthen the gluten. Strong flour has a higher gluten content which makes it suitable for bread (and a few other things such as choux pastry). For cakes and the like, you want to use soft flour (ie plain/SR flour) with a low gluten content, otherwise the cakes will be tough. So it would be counter productive to add ascorbic acid to soft flour.

No idea if that made any sense, I'm a bit useless at explaining.

Yep, fully understood thanks, that will be why it doesn't say it's in the flour that I bought then.

Ta!

Farway

rhiwfield wrote: »

Thanks OP, hadnt noticed the Tesco rise, but went to LIDL today and stocked up at 60p for 1.5kg.

In that case you will now be kicking yourself as Lidl have reduced it to 50p today

Not sure if national but certainly was in my one, bought a bag on the off chance

Not advertised on the flyers or web site I notice

florain

Just seen it at 50p in our Lidl as well. Will go and stock up in the morning.