Hi Folks,
I have been motivated to begin making sourdough again and have found plenty of inspiration on these pages.
I have made a few decent looking loaves but I want to get hold of a few different flours. I have only just moved to Sydney from Adelaide and have had a very hard time finding reasonable flour at a good price. I sourced some nice strong flour that is giving me some good results but need a source for rye and some wholemeal stoneground- any tips? Also I would like to get a banneton but want to know if they can be purchased anywhere locally first.
Great forum folks, this is my first post here and I will pester with questions for a few days.
Julian
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Replies
You could try Brasserie Bread at Banksmeadow - they have some good organic flours for sale in the cafe.
Sorry I can't help you with Sydney specifics as I'm in Melbourne, but for flours and supplies a bit out of the ordinary, I find it can be cheaper to buy online - especially if you combine orders and they are reasonable with freight charges. Costs vary so much - for instance I can pay $12 for 5kg of Laucke Wallaby White Unbleached Bread Flour from a local supermarket, but get 10kg from Nix Nuts in Blackburn for about $14. Or $18 for 10kg of Laucke Organic Bread Flour from Hindustan Imports in Dandenong.
Another local supermarket has a good range of No-Knead brand flours (not all for bread machines), but prices are double or triple, so in that case it certainly pays to buy online.
I'm still fairly new to this, so the only online store I've tried so far is basicingredients.com.au, which seemed fairly reasonable (have ordered, but not received delivery so far).
Can't vouch for Sydney, but in Perth top quality organic flours are available from help-yourself bins at any of the specialist organic suppliers. You can get as much or as little as you like. I'd be surprised if the same is not true of Sydney. Suggest have a look online or in the Yellow Pages for organic suppliers near your area. The prices I pay for terrific biodynamic organic Eden Valley flours aren't too bad...around $4.20 per kilo from memory. That's cheaper than some of the organic flours on the supermarket shelves.
BTW, while I detest the big two supermarkets and prefer to buy my flours from my organic supplier, there are times when it's more convenient to go to the local supermarket. I've found Woolworths organic plain flour ('Macro' line) pretty good if I run out of Eden Valley and am in a rush to bake. It has an extremely high protein content for a 'plain flour' - so high that it has to qualify as a bona fide baker's flour. Good for SD bread and pizzas. Just thought that was worth mentioning.
Good luck with your search!
Cheers
Ross
I buy Kialla flour from Brasserie Bread in Botany. They sell wholemeal and white flour in 5kg bags and some other flours in 1 kg, and the cafe is great as well. I went to their artisan bread making class and thought it was great - really helped me get over a few problems I was having with my bread.
If I can't get out to Botany, I go to Whole foods in Woollhara or About Life in Bondi Junction. So if you're in the Eastern suburbs, there are places to get flour. I admit I don't worry too much about the price of the flour - it's still so much cheaper than buying the bread that I figure I'm ahead any way. And there are all the benefits of making it yourself!
Perth is a great place to find some quality organic flours and it is quite cheaper too.