Flour seems simple until you stand in front of a whole bunch of different ones and suddenly it feels like you've been asked to pick your favorite star in the sky.
All-purpose, bread, pastry, ancient grains, fresh-milled, they each behave a little differently in your mixing bowl. Picking the right one can be the difference between a tender biscuit and a hockey puck. (yikes)
Figuring It Out
Flour is more than a white powder that holds baked goods together.
Different wheats carry different protein levels, textures, and flavors. Some are perfect for chewy sourdough while others are destined for melt-in-your-mouth cookies.
Knowing which flour to grab will help you unlock better flavor, texture, and nutrition while avoiding baking fails.
The Guide To Flours
Everyday Flours
- Unbleached All-Purpose Flour: Your reliable go-to for most recipes. Balanced protein content works for cookies, muffins, pancakes, quick breads, and rustic loaves.
- Unbleached Bread Flour: Higher protein gives dough more strength and chew, ideal for sourdough, sandwich bread, bagels, pizza crust.
- Unbleached Malted All-Purpose Flour: A touch of malted barley improves fermentation and browning. Perfect for artisan-style loaves and rolls.
- Pastry Flour: Lower protein for tender, delicate bakes like pie crusts, biscuits, scones, and soft cookies.
- 1:1 Baking Flour (Gluten-Free): Designed to replace wheat flour cup-for-cup in most recipes. Great for gluten-free muffins, cookies, quick breads.
Alternative & Specialty Flours
- Almond Flour: Adds moistness, richness, and a nutty flavor. Great for gluten-free baking, macarons, and coating meats or veggies if you're into that.
- Brown Rice Flour: Mild flavor. Often used in gluten-free blends, tempura batter, or to lighten dense baked goods.
- Coconut Flour: Very absorbent. Works best in recipes designed for it specifically. Adds light coconut flavor to gluten-free cakes and pancakes.
- Yellow Corn Masa Flour: For tortillas, tamales, pupusas. Adds sweet corn flavor to cornbread.
Fresh-Milled In-Store (Whole Grains We Can Mill For You)
- Hard Red Wheat Berries: Higher protein. Excellent for hearty breads and chewy crusts.
- Soft White Wheat Berries: Lower protein. Perfect for tender pastries, muffins, and pancakes.
- Einkorn Berries: Ancient grain with sweet, nutty flavor. Denser loaf structure that's great in flatbreads or rustic bread.
- Rye Grain: Earthy flavor. Adds depth to artisan breads and pairs beautifully with caraway or cocoa.
- Milo Grain (Sorghum): Mild and slightly sweet. Gluten-free. Use this one in flatbreads, porridge, or as part of a flour blend.
We Have A Mill!
We can mill the whole grains for you in-store, which means you get flour at its peak freshness and flavor.
Fresh milling preserves the oils, aromas, and nutrients in the grain that start to fade within days of grinding.
Whether you want enough for a single pie crust or a week's worth of bread baking, we can do it on the spot.
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