Bacheldre Organic Strong White 4 x 1.5kgSoil AssociationSoil AssociationSoil Association

I’ve never worked with this flour before, since I settled on Carr’s as my choice for strong white about twenty years ago. Thought I’d give it a go, since there have been a lot of changes at Carr’s over the years and they no longer mention the “air-roller” technique that was so important in ‘BreadMaker’ days.Bought with some French Flour (T55) from FWP Matthews - both were delivered promptly, well packaged and with good expiry dates. Thanks, Amazon! The Bacheldre packaging is very good for the sector (Carr’s leaks like a sieve).Inspection revealed an interesting product: very slightly creamy and a nice texture. This is probably a combination of being unbleached and the stone-milling allowing very small bran particles through - no obvious “speckling”, however. It’s very fresh and so, having not dried out at all, feels quite soft. Protein is quoted at 12% and I've read that gluten is around 13.5%, but that’s a complex area. Suffice it to say, I wouldn’t expect any issues with rising.And so to the bake - a basic white loaf (albeit using honey instead of sugar) with butter, salt, flour, water, yeast. I set up up a hydrolyse stage before adding the yeast and used my mixer (ageing hands!) for the dough. Excellent elasticity and consistency at this stage. Gave it a double proof and used a tin for the final rise. A 700g loaf came over the top of a 2lb loaf tin, which is a very good result. Didn’t see much oven push, but I had a visitor at this stage and so unfortunately the loaf became a little over-proofed. It didn’t collapse at all when slashed, which is an excellent result under these circumstances. The finished product was consistently golden, light and very well risen - a little over towards the crust, due to the over-proofing, with a generally good overall shape (under the circumstances). It had a really lovely smell.Slicing the cooled loaf confirmed a nice rise with a great overall texture. The crust is well defined, but not at all hard. The loaf cuts well and is moist, with a lovely crumb. The taste is perhaps muted by comparison with the amazing smell, but it is still distinct. My wife, who is the taste guru, really loves it!So, it looks like I might be switching. My bakes are very rarely straight white (except French breads, which use T55 flour anyway), so any blandness, real or imagined, will be irrelevant. Recommended.

I have been baking bread for over 20 years, without a bread machine, and have tried about every possible flour on the market. Lately I was using Wessex Mill flours and also Waitrose Canadian. But this flour is by far the best I have made bread with. The resulting texture is about the same as with my previously used flours but it has a much superior taste. Sweet and nutty, it reminds me of the taste of the artisan baguettes one finds in very good 'boulangeries' in France (I am French). Honestly, prior to using this I did notice differences in texture but the taste of the bread you get with this flour (using very few ingredients, basically flour, salt, yeast and water) is incredible. Also, it does not have additives (Doves Organic,for example, has added ascorbic acid (vitamin C) because it speeds up rising times. But as any baker knows, that is precisely what you don't want if the bread is to keep for long and develop good texture and flavour). For best results with this, make a Biga the night before: mix 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp yeast and enough water to make a paste that is just thin enough to stir but which remains thick -- I know this is not a traditional Biga recipe but it works really well for me. Cover with cling film and let rest the whole night (up to 36h is fine). The next day, add salt, another 1/2 tsp yeast and 1 1/2 cups flour, with enough water to make a very soft dough. After that proceed as usual. This makes the most incredibly flavoursome bread, with a nice open texture and a good crumb. Enjoy!

This is my first (and probably only review) but after reading a few bad reviews, I decided to take a gamble and buy this flour, and after amazing results felt I had to write this to counteract some of the terrible reviews. I bake bread once a week by hand. Sometimes 50/50 white to wholemeal, sometimes white loaves. I made up a 1.5kg batch using a whole bag of white, 900ml water, 15g yeast and 30g salt. Made it the usual way, divided into three loaf tins. It was different from my usual Allinson flour from the start:softer, less sticky, much easier clean up.very light and airy on risingHeld its shape well on proving, in fact it rose well above the usual level before bakingI slashed the tops just before baking, and could see we were on to a winner, after 40 mins in the oven they were massive, beautiful light fluffy loaves.I'd say it's crustier than normal, and quite chewy, a bit like a baguette. Tastes great and not weird at all, some reviewers must have had a bad batch. Can't wait to try the wholemeal. Please support this wonderful mill, you won't be disappointed.

Lovely flour, used it with sourdough starter and made regular white loaf, rosemary and potato sourdough and 50/50 with wholemeal.All were really tasty and easy to work.

This flour works very well for my sourdough. It’s extensibility is good and my starter reacts well to being refreshed with it. On the pricey side but worth it IMO. Weirdly however, despite the fact I’ve bought it for 3 years now, my last order was of the plain flour which now looks exactly the same. Why they would choose to put the same colour and almost exactly same label on 2 different flours is beyond me. So be careful to order the right one!