Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Flour From Heaven: The Unexpected Contribution to The Pantry Plan

One of the best things when I moved to Connecticut last year was finding out that one of my neighbors is a professional bread baker. Needless to say, we instantly bonded over the exchange of various loaves coming out of our respective ovens. Whenever we see each other, even in passing on our ways in and out of the house, we always spend a few minutes chatting and gossiping about the local bread scene.

Recently, he has began a career transition from baking for a small local bakery to opening his own shop. It has been exciting to see what he has been testing and to be on the receiving end of his test recipes. Based upon what I've been tasting the past month or two, I can't wait for his shop to open.

Tonight, when I came home from work, he and I were talking while we were taking down the trashcans to the curb. He was telling me how he was finished testing recipes and was wondering if I wanted the rest of the flour he had purchased. He explained he has some organic whole wheat, some organic artisan flour with a higher ash content, and some all hard red winter wheat. Of course, I said I would be happy to take the flour off his hands but I was headed to the gym. He said no problem, he'd leave it by my back door.

I just got home and look what was sitting by my back door!

Bakery Flour from My Neighbor

Yup, that would be the remainders of four 50lb bags of flours, each containing about 15 - 20lbs of flour!

I received two partial bags of King Arthur Sir Galahad, half a bag of King Arthur Organic Select Artisan, and one half bag of Giusto's organic Hi Protein Whole Wheat. I am absolutely giddy with the excitement of baking with these wonderful flours. I'm also very thankful for my neighbor thinking of me when it came to the flour.

Considering my monthly flour bill and my new food budget, all this flour will come in very handy. I also know who is getting the first loaf of bread...