Hi All,
I'm on Brisbane's northside, does anyone out there know where I can get unbleached organic white and rye flours that are fresh stock? I can get Laucke wallaby unbleached at Coles, but I hesitate because I wonder how long its been sitting there, also don't know if it's organic. As to the rye, I have only found it in 500g bags at my small local organic shop, not really geared towards baking and only has a small selection of bulk foods.
Any help greatly appreciated,
Tania
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Replies
Hi Tania, The best flour I have found is Kialla. I have used it to make sourdough & normal yeast breads.
It is organic & they have quite a selection, Wholemeal, Spelt, Rye etc. www.kiallafoods.com.au .
I used to order direct from them, but haven't done so for quite a time, I now get all things organic from The Natural Food Store @ Forest Glen. good luck
Hi Funnydaks, thanks for your reply I will look up Kialla foods website and see how I go from there. I can't help but wonder that there is a great story behind your name
. I am afraid I was not that inventive. Thanks again, such a great community here.
Tania
Hi Tania. Went on a wildsourdough course held by Yoke Mardewi. She noted that "Laucke Wallaby premium bakers flour (from Coles) is NOT ORGANIC, very high gluten content and quality is consistant - great for some bread. " Not sure exactly what is meant by this. Comes from South Australia.
I buy my flour from All About Bread (Perth), but have see speciality flours at bulk food health places around town. I am sure you will find some in your area. I have always been envious of people living on the east coast, as I feel our choices here in Perth is very limited. So.....if we can find it - you will find better!
Oh, she also noted that Laucke makes an organic premium bakers flour and wholemeal flour, but is only available commercially. Pity we can't band together and buy a huge bag and divvy it up.
I have been using Laucke Wallaby flour for my starter and it seems alright. Others around here seem to think it does the job. I am in Perth and have also been using Eden Valley flour but it's a bit pricey.
Most of the flours I've seen commonly recommended by eastern states home bakers are available here if you look around. Laucke and Kialla are two of the biggies that you can track down. I find Eden Valley excellent and these are my flours of choice. Better still, they are a local WA biodynamic organic brand, which is a plus environmentally due to lower transport costs. As Ben says, they are a bit pricey, but really, they are no more expensive than mainstream supermarket non-organic specialist stuff like Anchor bread & pizza flour.
Tania, in Perth - and I imagine it's the same where you are - there are good organic flours available from bulk bins in organic food suppliers. Just look up your nearest organic stores and I'm sure you'll find some good organic unbleached white, rye and other flours. My local organic store has a good range including bakers flour, wholemeal, rye, spelt and rice flour, plus wheat and rye berries, chia seeds, quinoa etc. I think it's worth the effort to seek out the organic suppliers.
I don't think freshness can be guaranteed anywhere - it's luck of the draw, unless your store has a high turnover in flours. Even then, the flours are often stored for some time before they make it to the retail outlets. That's why some folk go to the trouble of grinding their own. I'm pretty happy with the quality of my bought organic flours though, generally.
Cheers
Ross
Thanks for all your comments they are encouraging.
Hey Sharms
Thanks for the info on Laucke, good to know. I agree pity Laucke only do wholesale on their organic. Your course with Yoke Mardewi must have been great, I just missed a course coming up here in Brisbane (not with Yoke), by the time I found out about it's booked out so I will have to wait till next time. But that's ok there is plenty of help here at Sourdough.com that is invaluable.
Thanks Ben, good to know it seems to do the job.
Ross,
After I read your entry, I did some googling, (is that a word?) I have found there is a organic shop called Wray organics about 15 minutes away from where I live, so I will go and check that one out, they seem to be have a great range of stuff according to their website. If you are generally happy with the bulk foods organic flours then I'm sure I will be too. I don't think at this stage I would be considering grinding my own flour, lack of kitchen space for one, (my kitchen is very compact) and of, a lack of funds for my hobby.
I'm very appreciative of any advice and suggestions as I don't know anyone nearby that is into this Sourdough baking journey I have embarked on, so thankyou all.
Tania
I may have given the impression that the 'bulk organic flours' I get from my nearest organic supply store are non-name flours. The ones I get are Eden Valley, but they're stored in the bulk bins, and you just buy it by weight in any quantity you want. I think you'll find the ones available from your organic suppliers are probably one of the well-known eastern states ones, like Kialla or Laucke. Just ask.
Good hunting!
Ross
Tania, I also recommend Kialla as a great organic flour for QLD bakers. I get mine at a small organics shop on the south side of Brisbane; their website will tell you where you can find a local distributor.
Cheers,
Mick
Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction and useful suggestions and encouragement.
After a couple of days hunting around and a few phone calls, I have found that I can get Kialla flour in 2kg or 5kg bags at Wray organics which seems to be well priced or I can buy it from the bulk bins as much or as little as I like at Mrs Flannerys Organic grocer. I must say I'm quite happy with that, either shop is about 15-20 minutes away, which is pretty good.
I emailed Kialla themselves and they were very quick with a nice email back saying sorry they only do commercial supply nowadays, I was pleased they even answered!
So, thanks again all, such a warm helpful and positive community.
Hi Tania,
Could you please let me know what you're paying for the Kialla?
I'm paying $20 for the 5kg bag, just wondering if that's the regular price?
Thanks,
Mick
Hi Mick,
I'm pretty sure it was no more than $15 for the 5kg bag, that's at Wray Organics at Newmarket, my closest store. They have the 2kg or the 5kg bags of all varieties, pretty impressive range actually. They were however out of plain unbleached flour, and I did find them a little vague when I asked when they were expecting delivery the best I got was "soon", um next week, week after??? the answer "soon".But they are convenient, so I will check back - soon. Out of interest I rang their Indooroopilly store and asked if they stocked it, they said yes normally do, none at the moment, and they only have it in the bulk bins at$3.99 per kg, interesting hey! So it seems that different store locations, different stock, different prices. Mrs Flannerys has it at $3.99 per kg in bulk bins.
When I go back I will double check the price and let you know if it's different. Hope this helps :)
Tania
Thanks for that info Tania.
Cheers,
Mick
Have you tried Simply Good at Alderley? They sell bulk flours, including organic, and a wide range of other bulk foods.
Alderley
ADDRESS: 9 Samford Rd, Alderley QLD 4051
I'll second Simply Good in Alderley, it was the cheapest place I could find Wholemeal Rye flour anywhere. They don't have a price list on their website, but I emailed the store and they sent me prices for everything I wanted and where pretty helpful when I showed up. It was a bit of a hike from Tarragindi where I live as I don't own a car but I got a pretty big haul so I haven't needed to go back since April, and I'm only half way through my bag of Rye flour.
Some prices that they emailed me:
Dark Rye Bread Mix 12.5kg $31-00 (Coles was sells 1/2kg for $4.43 per kg)
Gluten Flour $4-95 per KG
Country Grain Bread Mix $3-00 p/kg , 5kg - $13-50 , 25kg - $62-00.
Soup Mix $4-95 per KG
I don't know the brand of the flour I bought? It was in a big brown bag and I transfered it over to a sealed bucket when I bought it, but it makes nice bread when you add seeds to it. They have tons and tons of seeds and nuts that aren't too pricey that I bought to try make my bread a bit more fibourous and flavoursome. I still can't get it to be as tasty as Burgen Rye though, it's a bit drier and not as fluffy/crumbly.
Apart from the distance from Tarragindi, the only negative I had was that there were weevils in the premixed seed/nuts tub. I bought it and was about to leave for home when I spotted them in the bad. When I went back in they refunded me, helped me replace it with a mix of seeds and tossed out the cultprit tub. I know weevils are hard to stop, but if you do buy the stuff out of the tub it would be worth checking the mix before you leave just to make sure you don't take home any extra stowaways. I haven't noticed any in the stuff I have at home though so so far so good.
http://v1.simplygood.com.au/products.php
Hi Tania,
I've been following your thread with interest as I'm on the northside too (Brighton) there is an organic shop here in Sandgate that is quite good but I was hoping down the track to maybe pair up with someone to buy flour in bulk. I'm only very new to baking sourdough but I'm definitely keen to learn more. I was thinking it might even be fun to get a bit of a brissie northside group together.
Helen