Attention!

The flour you use makes a difference in the quality of the baked goods you produce. Since White Lily announced they were ceasing production (a day I believe should be designated a national day of mourning), I’ve been carefully husbanding my last White Lily flour, using it mostly for special occasions. It won’t last forever—eventually it will go stale so I recognize I’ll need to finish it up over the next several months.

Recently for more quotidian uses I’ve been using King Arthur Unbleached. I’m a convert. It’s certainly not the same as White Lily, however, the baked goods it produces have a very nice texture and a marvelous flavor.

So far I’ve only tried it when making biscuits and other quick breads. I’ll report back as I try it for breads, pie crusts, and other uses.

11 comments… add one
  • Tom Strong Link

    King Arthur flour is very good. You’re right that it’s not the equal of White Lily for biscuits and similar delicate items, but for breads it’s superior. Their white whole wheat variety is one of the best-tasting whole wheat flours I’ve found.

  • Kelly Link

    May I recommend white spelt flour? I use it for all my baking and am pleased with the results. You can order it online. I started using it heavily during the recent spike in flour prices. The price of spelt remained stable.
    Another bennie: Spelt has a higher protein content than wheat flour.

    I’ve had great success with it in cookies, cakes, bread and biscuits.

  • I’ve used spelt, Kelly. I spent a little over a year completely wheat- and sugar-free. During my transition back I used spelt a bit.

    Spelt is okay. As I’m sure you know it’s actually a primitive form of wheat.

  • My understanding was that White Lily closed shop in Knoxville last June but was reopening somewhere in the Midwest. Did they not do that (they still have a website with flour pictured on it) or is the new product of inferior quality?

  • Drew Link

    Serious question –

    Why is White Lily superior?

    Dave – what did the wheat and sugar free year do? Was it medically indicated, or just a cool thing to try? Is red wine out in such a protocol??

  • cynicalone Link

    Here is info on White Lily’s move: New York Times

  • James:

    The places where I got White Lily no longer seem to carry it. I’ll check with my contacts south of the Mason-Dixon line to see if it’s still in their stores.

    Drew:

    White Lily tends to be lower gluten than most all-purpose flours and, consequently, is better for things like biscuits, quick breads, and pie crusts.

    I’ve got a chronic pain condition and the health care provider I was seeing at the time wanted me to eliminate them. I eliminated dairy at the same time and let me tell you it was an enormous challenge.

    It didn’t do much for the pain but ten years later my seasonal allergies are all but gone.

    cynicalone:

    Yeah, I posted on it at the time. I haven’t seen the product anywhere.

  • Maniakes Link

    You can simulate southern all-purpose flours (like White Lilly) by mixing northern all-purpose flour (like King Arthur or Gold Medal) 50/50 with cake flour.

  • I’ll give it a try, Maniakes.

  • Kelly Link

    Have you tried rice flour for some things? I used to have to avoid gluten and I would make batches of rice flour waffles and store them in the freezer. Worked out pretty well.
    I wonder if you could also mix it in with wheat flour to lower total gluten. Never tried that.

  • At one time or another during the period I was going wheat-free I tried practically everything, Kelly. I preferred barley flour to rice flour, though.

    However, the flour I liked best of all that was gluten-free was chestnut flour. I still use that occasionally in my cornbread or when making multi-grain biscuits.

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