OK talking about flour & breadmakers...

[Katymac]

well someone was

I bought some very expensive stoneground organic flour the other day

It makes FAB yorkshire puds & also when I made bread with it, instead of having a stale loaf about 18 hrs later - it was lovely and soft 2 days later

Why?

I'd have thought the preservatives in the tescos version would have kept the bread better than the organic - or am I being daft?

[Katymac]

Yep & I make at least one loaf a day - sometimes more

[howlidaymum]

Because when they stonegrind flour the wheatgerm is left in which makes the flour more moist and also more nutritious as most of the vitamins are in the wheatgerm.

Factory processed flour removes the wheatgerm and treats it as waste

[Katymac]

But it looks like ordinary flour (it's not bitty or anything)

[expatinscotland]

DH uses Carr's.

Makes lovely loaves.

[howlidaymum]

Yep it does! The wheat germ isn't the bran. When its ground into the flour you can't tell the diffenet other than iit has a slightly higher fat content and lots of vitamin e!

[Katymac]

So it's good?

I need to know cos it's expensive

[howlidaymum]

It is but I don't buy it because its expensive
I buy wheatgerm and add that to flour to make a kind of best of both type bread and use seeds a lot too. Would buy it as a treat and would love it to be better priced ie affordable to me for daily baking!

[Katymac]

Well I think it's like Rocks juice - if it's better (& the bread lasts longer) I will buy it

I throw so much bread away as it's dry & stale

[howlidaymum]

The Rose English book New English Kitchen is excellent on bread and its uses, plus good sustainable family meal ideas.

Thats where i found out about stoneground properties etc.

First Chapter is on the importance of bread and has lots of ways to use up stale bread we never have a problem anymore. Plus with 3 over 9's they wolf it down as fast as I bake the stuff!

[Katymac]

The bread I made on Tuesday (in the pile for crumbs) is actually still fit for toast

[howlidaymum]

Mine generally is though too If it lasts that long!
Saying that I use a mix of normal strong white with either stoneground wholemeal or granary so that possibly helps. So much better than shop bought though eh?

[Katymac]

I lost 6 inches off my waist after the first month (no weight) so it makes me wonder how much it causes bloating (shop bought that is)

[howlidaymum]

Blimey! Wish that had happened to me!