Not all flour is created equal. I discovered this by accident on a recent shopping trip.
I have been doing a lot of baking since I bought my Oster Bread Machine last fall. I have been buying my bread flour, which is necessary in most bread machine recipes, at Sam’s Club for about $7 for a 20-pound bag. A 5-pound bag in most grocery stores as around $2.99, so I try to buy bread flour at Sam’s’ when I can.
But I was out of flour and wanted to bake a loaf that afternoon and I happened to be in Wal-Mart picking up some birdseed.
“I’ll just buy the flour here,” I thought, and went to the baking aisle. All I could find was a 5-pound bag of bread flour made by King Arthur and it was $4.29, almost as much as a 20-pound bag at Sam’s. I had never heard of King Arthur flour before, but pressed for time, I broke down and bought it.
The bread I made that night was the best I have ever baked. It was the Express White Bread, a simple recipe from Oster that bakes in 58 minutes. It was simply delicious and I credit the King Arthur Bread Flour for my success.
When I was putting the 4 cups of flour in the mixing bowl, I noticed the flour was as fine as silk. No lumps or clumps whatsoever – amazingly fine. It turns out that this flour is never bleached, never bromated and it has zero preservatives. Fresh baked bread is good no matter what you use, but this was exceptional.
The company has an interesting history. It is the oldest flour company in America, founded in Boston in 1790 by a fellow named Henry Wood. The company passed through various hands for a couple hundred years, but nearly went kaput in 1996.
Then the company reorganized, changed its name to King Arthur Flour and expanded their products to include baking equipment, baking mixes, ingredients and recipe books. The firm has also opened retail bakery outlets and seems to be prospering.
They make a variety of flours including All-Purpose, Whole Wheat, White Whole Wheat, Self-Rising and Cake flour, but this bread flour is something else.
It’s really good stuff. If you bake bread at all, give it a try.
Oster’s Express White Bread Recipe
4 Cups King Arthur Bread Flour
3 T oil
3 T sugar
1 ½ t. salt
1 ½ C. hot water
2 T fast action yeast