The Flour
This is the first in a series of articles in which I will talk about the different ingredients I use to make my breads. Article 1: flour.
I aim to make my bread using as few ingredients as possible. In the case of Sourdough for example there are only 3 ingredients.
Some flour, some water and some salt.
In my opinion this is how real bread should be made.
The flour I use is a fairly local flour from a mill between Market Drayton and Chester.
The grain they use is coming from fields that are set around the mill itself so it can't really get more local than that.
The mill is powered by water and is using a stone to grind the grain. I recommend a visit. The mill is right by a river (obviously!) so you can have a nice
walk along the river and finish with a visit of the mill. If you are lucky you will see it in action whilst sipping a coffee in their cafe. Kids will love it!
http://www.walkmillflour.co.uk/
Being local and stoneground are 2 important factors that made me decide to buy their flour. There are several advantages to stoneground compared to the modern way of using steel rollers.
One advantage is that the stones are turning at a much slower speed than the steel rollers. The result is that the grain (and the flour) are not getting as hot during the process.
I have been told that the difference in temperature is going from a rather warm flour that you can handle with the stone compared to a flour that will burn you with steel roller.
As the flour does not get so hot it means it keeps much of the nutrients that are in the grain that are otherwise destroyed by the heat.
It also means that the flour from Walkmill does not have any additives added. The grain goes in on one side and comes out as flour on the other side.
If you get white flour they sift the bran (the outer skin of the grain). If you want wholemeal it goes directly in a bag with no other processes.
The first thing you notice with the white flour is that it is not as white as you expect. It is more creamy and that is why the bread I make is slightly darker rather than white.
So here you are, in the sourdough bread I make you really only have some flour, some water and a bit of salt.