Buying European flours in the United States?
Is there somewhere I can buy Grupen Meyer Danish Flour or Campaillette French Flour in the United States? Watching different videos of master bakers in Europe, I keep seeing these products used.
I have looked at… King Arthur Flour, Anson Mills, iGourmet, google's shopping search engine, ebay. Any other ideas?
Best Answer
Many European flours are made from grain imported from North America, chances are if you buy European flour in the states you are paying for it to go across the ocean twice! In the mean time it will be absorbing moisture and losing freshness. It's not worth it, especially since you can find flours that are almost exactly the same at most grocery stores.
The main differences between flours of the same grain are the milling and the protein content. Flours that are milled finer will give different results from ones that are coarser. Gluten is protein, so the higher the protein content the higher the gluten level. Gluten is good for bread but bad for cakes and pastry. So if you want to get something similar find out how fine or coarse the target flour is and how much protein it has and shop for that.
Or you can simply buy appropriate locally produced flour that is made for what you want to bake. If you want to bake bread, use bread flour or flour with a higher protein level, typically medium to coarsely milled. If you want to bake cakes get cake or pastry flour, which is a finer milled and lower protein flour.
You'll be better off spending your money on quality flour made closer to you than buying something imported.
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Is European flour different than us flour?
Due to soil and growing conditions, the differences between American and European wheat extend further than gluten content. American wheat contains about 10 times more selenium, a trace mineral, than European varieties [source: Shewry].What kind of flour do Europeans use?
Six Types of European Flour These include: Universal (type 480), Stronger White (type 550), Spelt (630), Bread (type 750), Ancient Grain (Einkorn), and Rye (type 720).Can you buy strong flour in the US?
All-purpose, cake, pastry, and strong flours are all commonly used varieties. Most of us have likely used or seen these all on the grocery store shelves, but there's one type us Americans don't often see: strong flour.What is the European equivalent of all-purpose flour?
WHEAT \u2013 Approximate Equivalents between US and European floursUS FlourDFAll-Purpose55055Bread55055, 65Substitute (see below*)81265, 80Substitute (see below**)10501108 more rows•Jul 10, 2020Can You Only Digest European Bread? American vs. European Wheat | John Douillard's LifeSpa
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Answer 2
http://www.germanfoodguide.com/flours.cfm compares some German flours to US flours. The site also links to stores.
Answer 3
I found this site while looking at forums for home-bakers. The gentleman who started this company is an at-home baker who was frustrated with the lack of quality materials and ingredients available to non-professional bakers for reasonable prices. He was a regular and respected member and contributor to one of the most well-known baking forums before he launched this company, so it is something that he does for the love of the hobby.
They have several flour types, and mention what the flours are known as in Europe.
Good luck, and happy baking!
Answer 4
L'epiciere is out of the T55 this week, so I found two other good sources…
Etsy.com has a seller in England, Quiver Tree Baking that sells the T55. 1 kilogram sells for $4.64, shipping is $16.89 to the US.
Pastacheese.com in Garden City, NY is selling me '00' Caputo Flour. Its a two-for-one deal on a 1 kilogram bag. So, actually 2 kilograms is $11.98 and shipping is $11.78.
Yes, I am blowing some money here, but I will have a good baseline idea of what the French and Italians are using when they bake with their own flours.
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