Specialty Flour?

[kimmercake.livejournal.com]

As I delve deeper into the world of bread baking I'm looking for a place to find specialty flours. By that I mean different high gluten versions of bread flours (like at the bottom of the page here), not stuff like semolina, amaranth, rye flours (I know where to find those).

I've found a decent selection of bulk flours at the Harvest Market in Central but they don't have the gluten variety I'm looking for. King Arthur has a decent selection too but I've not tried any of them. A Yelp search brought up Christina's Spice & Specialty Foods in Inman but I think those are more of the flours I mentioned above I'm not looking for. My next stop might be the bulk bins at Whole Foods.

Can anyone suggest a place where I can browse and buy these specialty type of flours? And, if not, are there e-tailers? Also, any recommendations for specific types of flour you've used with good results would be awesome too.

Hope this isn't too far off topic here. Thank you so much! [x-posted]

Comments

[gingicat]

I've been going through this quandary myself.

The King Arthur catalog has good quality stuff, but some of it is the same as what one finds at Harvest Co-Op, at higher prices. I do like their seed mix.

You can sift the King Arthur (or Trader Joe's) white whole wheat and/or red whole wheat through a fine sifter if you want to make artisan bread from a fine whole wheat flour.

Restaurant Depot has a King Arthur high-gluten flour in 50-lb bags, which is way too large for me to try it on a whim... they do have some awesome containers that are JUST like the container that the King Arthur catalog sells as a "dough doubler".

Oh, and Harvest Co-Op carries a gluten additive that I've used to good effect; if they no longer carry it, I know the King Arthur catalog has it.

And, for low-gluten breads, making a sponge goes a LONG way.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

They do have the plain old vital wheat gluten at Harvest, still. As of yesterday. :)

You need to be a retailer to shop at Restaurant Depot, don't you?

[gingicat]

You need to have a business tax ID, and then you get a free membership. I work for a non-profit and therefore all of us who work here have membership cards. :) (It helps that we're two miles away from the Needham location.)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Pretty sweet!

[kimmercake.livejournal.com]

Very!

[kimmercake.livejournal.com]

Do you know what the gluten count is on that?

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I don't think they list it, but Google tells me that the one offered by Bob's Red Mill is 75% gluten.

[ceo]

If it's their "Sir Lancelot" flour, 14.2%. They also have an organic high-gluten flour at 14.0%, and a first clear flour as well. I'm glad to see they're now selling these online, even if only in 3# bags; used to be you could only get them in 50# bags from a wholesaler.

I've ordered KA's organic bread flour and organic white whole wheat flour from their website, and been very happy with the products and the service.

[kimmercake.livejournal.com]

Cool, thank you!

[gingicat]

Oh, and also, if you want to try gluten-free baking, Harvest also carries xanthan gum which is a necessary gluten replacement.

[kimmercake.livejournal.com]

You think? I'm kind of tired of the flours I've gotten from Harvest. I feel like the quality isn't super great. I'm ready try to something else though I do like the price. I'm going to look into KA...