Average Cost Per Pound Using KA Specialty Flours

[justplainbill]

Using such King Arthur specialty flours as Sir Lancelot, First Clear, Medium Rye, and Whole Wheat seems to bring the cost of producing a loaf of bread to about $1.50 per pound.
While this would appear to be nearly double the cost to make bread using the bread flours available at many supermarkets, I consider the additional cost to be one of the more affordable luxuries.
What think you?

 

[bakechef]

I'm grateful that KA makes these specialty products available to us, but often the price is too high for me. It's worse when you add in shipping.

But if you are serious about making bread, and don't mind the cost, they are awesome, and bring products that would be near impossible for the home baker to obtain otherwise.

 

[Andy M.]

Whether or not it's worth it is a personal decision. IMO, considering the effort required to make bread, for $0.75 a loaf, I'd go for the specialty flour.

What's special about these flours vs. those available in stores?

 

[Steve Kroll]

The price of high quality store/bakery bread where I live runs anywhere from $3.99 to as much as $7 a loaf (I define "high quality" as containing only the basic ingredients required to make bread, and without cheap fillers or additives). So I wouldn't balk at $1.50 loaf.

I bake a lot of bread and actually once went three years without buying any - including hamburger buns and rolls. Since our daughter went off to college, though, I now buy about one loaf a month just for the convenience. I don't exclusively use King Arthur, though. I've also had good luck with Bob's Red Mill and Hodgson Mill flours.

 

[justplainbill]

Whether or not it's worth it is a personal decision. IMO, considering the effort required to make bread, for $0.75 a loaf, I'd go for the specialty flour.

What's special about these flours vs. those available in stores?

With respect to their white whole wheat, Sir Lancelot, and particularly their First Clear flour King Arthur's descriptions explain their virtues better than my prose-
Home | King Arthur Flour

 

[LPBeier]

I just have to pop in here with a "dumb Canuck" funny! We don't get King Arthur flour up here and so when I looked at the title by itself I had to click because I didn't know that Kitchen Aid made flour!



Okay, back to our regularly scheduled thread!

 

[taxlady]

I just have to pop in here with a "dumb Canuck" funny! We don't get King Arthur flour up here and so when I looked at the title by itself I had to click because I didn't know that Kitchen Aid made flour!



Okay, back to our regularly scheduled thread!

Same here.

 

[Andy M.]

I just have to pop in here with a "dumb Canuck" funny! We don't get King Arthur flour up here and so when I looked at the title by itself I had to click because I didn't know that Kitchen Aid made flour!



Okay, back to our regularly scheduled thread!

I'll have to remember dC isn't the same as DC.

 

[Andy M.]

I just have to pop in here with a "dumb Canuck" funny! We don't get King Arthur flour up here and so when I looked at the title by itself I had to click because I didn't know that Kitchen Aid made flour!



Okay, back to our regularly scheduled thread!

Also, Kitchen Aid isn't a concert put together by a group of rock stars to help people without kitchens.

 

[kadesma]

I love KA flours and find that they are at least a dollar cheaper than the grocery stores. I don't mind the prices and love the results I get with the flours. I plan to send for some of the newer flours so I can try to make some serious rolls I'm tired of store bought anything I find mysef hikding my breath when I get into the bread section the additives make me feel ill from the smell.
kades great thread. here.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

I had the same thoughts with the title. Didn't give it an extra blink as it went directly to flour discussion. Seems normal the way my brain works.

I am all set to make half wheat/ half white buns, specifically hamburger buns, again pretty soon. I had success making these not too long ago. I used bulk flour from my local food co-op, since I didn't want too much flour leftover. I will look for smaller size package first at the stores before "bulking up" again. We are lucky KA lists several local retailers here to shop incl 2 box stores, whole foods. and a higher end market.

Q= when you use white flour, do you use Bread flour or All purpose. I don't recall buying bread flour, or cake flour for that matter, as I don't bake very often. AP is what I use for most anything.

As an aside, how do you get sesame or poppy seeds to stick to the tops of bread/ buns?

 

[LPBeier]

Also, Kitchen Aid isn't a concert put together by a group of rock stars to help people without kitchens.

 

[justplainbill]

I had the same thoughts with the title. Didn't give it an extra blink as it went directly to flour discussion. Seems normal the way my brain works.

I am all set to make half wheat/ half white buns, specifically hamburger buns, again pretty soon. I had success making these not too long ago. I used bulk flour from my local food co-op, since I didn't want too much flour leftover. I will look for smaller size package first at the stores before "bulking up" again. We are lucky KA lists several local retailers here to shop incl 2 box stores, whole foods. and a higher end market.

Q= when you use white flour, do you use Bread flour or All purpose. I don't recall buying bread flour, or cake flour for that matter, as I don't bake very often. AP is what I use for most anything.

As an aside, how do you get sesame or poppy seeds to stick to the tops of bread/ buns?

I rarely use AP flour but I generally bake crusty breads. For soft rolls I use a bread and AP flour blend with 5% potato flour and paint the rolls with milk, water or a water + corn starch mixture to glue the sesame seeds to the rolls.

 

[Addie]

Q= when you use white flour, do you use Bread flour or All purpose. I don't recall buying bread flour, or cake flour for that matter, as I don't bake very often. AP is what I use for most anything.

As an aside, how do you get sesame or poppy seeds to stick to the tops of bread/ buns?

I use AP for flouring items to be fried. Chicken, etc. For cakes I use cake flour. And for rolls, breads, etc I use bread flour. To get the seeds to stick, brush the tops with egg white before baking. It will give a nice shine to your baked goods and the seeds will stick.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I use AP for flouring items to be fried. Chicken, etc. For cakes I use cake flour. And for rolls, breads, etc I use bread flour. To get the seeds to stick, brush the tops with egg white before baking. It will give a nice shine to your baked goods and the seeds will stick.

This...and I love King Arthur...mostly because it gives me consistent results.

I've also had a huge crush on King Arthur since Richard Harris and the book "The Once and Future King".

 

[LPBeier]

This...and I love King Arthur...mostly because it gives me consistent results.

I've also had a huge crush on King Arthur since Richard Harris and the book "The Once and Future King".

So, we might find you mixing your King Arthur flour in your Kitchen Aid mixer (I don't know if you have one so let's just pretend shall we), while reading the book Of King Arthur and keeping an eye on King Richard on the telly?



Seriously though, once I start back using regular (as opposed to gluten free) flour, I plan on going across the boarder to see a dear friend and I think I will pick up King Arthur (the flour) when I am down there.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

So, we might find you mixing your King Arthur flour in your Kitchen Aid mixer (I don't know if you have one so let's just pretend shall we), while reading the book Of King Arthur and keeping an eye on King Richard on the telly?



Seriously though, once I start back using regular (as opposed to gluten free) flour, I plan on going across the boarder to see a dear friend and I think I will pick up King Arthur (the flour) when I am down there.

You missed leveling my flours with Excalibur...

and I do have a KA...

 

[GLC]

I by KA and use bread for breads when I have it, but I'm not obsessive about and frequently use APF, when that's what I have. The difference is real but not huge, considering the wide gulf between any homemade bread and what's on the shelf. APF for pasta and always cake four for cake. Italian "00" flour does, I find, make an easier to manage pizza crust. "00" is the fineness. It can be low, medium or high protein, so some of it is good for bread. I buy Caputo "00" on Amazon, and it works for bread, but I see KA now has a "00" clone of some sort that is very low protein and so not really for leavened bread.

 

[CharlieD]

I have been buying flour at restaurant supply place it brings the price per par pound significantly lower. At that it just doesn't make sence for me to buy KA flour becasue it is much more expensive than even regualr store bouught flour and I am not that great of a baket to justify it.

 

[FrankZ]

It seems I only buy KA flour. I haven't ordered any of their commercial flours but I get bread flour and such at the grocery store.