strong and tasty, just like a good canadian

so anne was at the uber-posh supermarket Waitrose this weekend and noticed a rather delicously designed packet of flour. VERY STRONG CANADIAN WHITE FLOUR, to be exact. and it made us laugh. especially the VERY STRONG CANADIAN BREAD-MAKER MAN pictured at the bottom. we love him.

years ago my mother had told me all about "strong" vs. "weak" or "soft" flour, a fact of life that she had been forced to learn - among other awful things - when living cambridge, england in the 1970s. it was very traumatic to deal with such low-brow baking ingredients. just one of the many reasons that mum still thinks the brits live in the dark ages. bless her.

see the flour milled from wheat grown here in the UK is weak, meaning it is low in the protein gluten. gluten (a sadly common allergen) is the molecule that gives bread its chewy, but light texture. it plays a two fold task, first being pretty stretchy itself (it is for the gluten's sake that we knead bread dough, to work it up and stretch it out) and then second by trapping the bubbles of carbon dioxide released by the growing yeast. all in all, lots of gluten makes for a good loaf. and the wheat comin' outta the canadian breadbasket (our prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) is STRONG.

i heart canadian bread. so if you live in the UK, buy some VERY STRONG flour at your local Waitrose. or have it delivered straight to your door (STRONG flour is very heavy, you know). or you shop online at Flourbin, a Chesterfield based UK company that imports Canadian flour and has a song of praise or two about it on their front page.

and if you are in Canada..well you lucky bastard, just buy whatever is on the shelf.

Comments

[Jan Law]

Oh dear, here I go again. Loved it, love him too, and the facts are explained AT LAST. Thanks.

[raincoaster]

In Socialist Canuckistan, sauce beats YOU!