calling all bakers ...

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Phil Pascoe

Established Member
UKW Supporter
Joined
29 Jan 2012
Messages
27,291
Reaction score
6,688
Location
Shaft City, Mid Cornish Desert
DSCF0266.JPG
 

Attachments

  • DSCF0266.JPG
    DSCF0266.JPG
    98.3 KB · Views: 374
It was 5 weeks that I couldn't find any flour at all in any supermarket. I just about managed to do all the cakes and stuff every few days to keep the kid entertained and me fat.

Now I'm stocked tho!
 
Haven't seen any in Morrisons for the last 2 months or so. Well, one week they had 16kg bags but I only wanted enough to thicken a few sauces, so 500g would have lasted a while!
 
I bought a 16kg Carr's T55 French wheat flour a couple of weeks before this lot blew up, so I've been OK. Buywholefoodsonline have rye flour back in stock, but they're out of so many other things I can't make a £30 order up for free P&P. Pity, they're a very good firm and could do with all the trade they can get. Another week or two, maybe.
 
Hesitate to post here. Not being a baker.
I made Navajo flat bread with the kids last week. No yeast needed obvs.
https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/449038-navajo-flatbreads

I had no fennel seeds and replaced them with equivalent cumin ground up. I'm assuming 'bread flour' is plain? Not a baker so experimented a bit to get the best result. Recipe needs more water and tbh you could put any number of variations if you didn't go mad. I'm going to add a bit of ground mustard seed and a dash of dried garlic powder next. Tried a few options cooking it but frying it in hot oil was defo the best at a medium thickness. Freezes ok too.
Tell you what. For a short prep (without kids) it's the nuts. If you like a curry flatbread think that. Ish.
 
My daughter in law was making her own yeast, that reminds me I haven't heard from them for a few days. :shock: #-o
We managed to buy a 3kg bag of strong white via click and collect from a local farm shop but can't get the granary we prefer anywhere local.
 
Found out t'other day why there's a shortage of flour in the supermarkets.

In normal times, about 90% of the mills' output goes to the big bakeries, caterers, pubs, hotels and so on in 16kg and 25kg bags, and only about 10% goes to retail through supermarkets in small bags. There's no shortage of grain or milled flour, it's just that the sudden change in demand from the catering industry to retail has left the 'small bag' packing lines at the mills unable to cope. They're running them 24 hours a day, apparently.

Hence some of the supermarkets starting to sell 'loose' flour (from 25kg bags) through their bakery sections. No doubt the others will follow.
 
We have recently discovered the joy of "Taco Tuesday" - ridiculously easy to make either tortillas or tacos. Strongly recommend it as a messy eating experience. You can buy them read made, but making your own is more fun.

It turns out that tacos and tortillas are the same thing, except one is cooked with almost no oil, and the other is deep fried. Guess which one we go for :)
 
Cheshirechappie":kr2itbe9 said:
Found out t'other day why there's a shortage of flour in the supermarkets.

In normal times, about 90% of the mills' output goes to the big bakeries, caterers, pubs, hotels and so on in 16kg and 25kg bags, and only about 10% goes to retail through supermarkets in small bags. There's no shortage of grain or milled flour, it's just that the sudden change in demand from the catering industry to retail has left the 'small bag' packing lines at the mills unable to cope. They're running them 24 hours a day, apparently.

Hence some of the supermarkets starting to sell 'loose' flour (from 25kg bags) through their bakery sections. No doubt the others will follow.
Eggs were a bit similar according to radio 4. Plenty of eggs but no uk producer of egg boxes. Bit mad isn't it? Might have changed now; this article was 2 or 3 weeks ago and no current shortage of eggs shopside but they were certainly entertaining selling individual eggs at one point. Bring your own box. Maybe some major industry packaging issues will be addressed longterm in the future. One positive perhaps going forward.
 
does anybody have any sourdough starter that they could spare? I have never succeeded when I have tried to culture it from wild yeasts.
 
Lons":2kf97kxd said:
My daughter in law was making her own yeast, that reminds me I haven't heard from them for a few days. :shock: #-o .
you cab get creams for that

:twisted:
 
Ingredients look a bit wrong...

calcium carbonate (chalk), iron, thiamin (vitamin B1) and nicotinic acid or nicotinamide missing?

.
 
marcros":19dnpbpb said:
does anybody have any sourdough starter that they could spare? I have never succeeded when I have tried to culture it from wild yeasts.

I make this recipe from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. The starter is really easy. Its just equal parts wholemeal flour and water. I've had more success with this than any other sourdough, and the dough does rise.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... -sourdough

Nigel.
 
marcros":11yqn86g said:
does anybody have any sourdough starter that they could spare? I have never succeeded when I have tried to culture it from wild yeasts.

The yeast in the starter actually comes from whole grain flours. Check youtube - there's a million videos on it.

The assumption here when I was young is that the yeast came out of the air, but it exists in the flour in small amounts and just takes a while to get going.
 
for years, off and on, I've made bread in two dutch ovens, which allow it to cook partially in its own steam and form a thick crust and a soft crumb (it's fantastic).

No real kneading in the process, either.
https://i.imgur.com/uUNhnMj.jpg

About 10 years ago, I found hard white wheat here so that I didn't have to just use white bread flour (hard red is bitter), and we've been off to the races since. I buy the hard white wheat, grind it in a nutrimill and let the dough do its first rise slowly overnight.

Hard white flour exists at the grocery store now, so there's no need to buy it in large bags (the bags are about $1 a pound here in the states). Flour and wheat have been scarce here in the grocery where I get the white bread flour to supplement, but restaurant supply places are more than willing to send 50 pound bags of bread flour to anyone (shipping is included in their listings - about the same price as wheat - guessing the flour is dirt cheap if you can manage to get into a restaurant supply stores).

Funny thing that flour on retail shelves is in short supply and if something doesn't change, mounds and mounds of 50 pound bags of flour in restaurants and supply warehouses are going to go rancid/oxidize.
 
Back
Top