In our previous post, we explored the process we use to secure samples of wheat from our farmers and clean the grain ready for milling and test baking. In this post, we look at the test baking process, bringing the test doughs together and assessing how the doughs perform during the kneading, stretching & folding stages of bread making.

Knowing what you’re working with..!

To ensure that we carry out baking tests that are meaningful – ie, we have a benchmark by which to compare the new wheat samples / flours to, we test two new samples of flour alongside our existing Prior’s White Flour. This is a flour I am well used to working with (baking with it most weeks), so I know how it performs – how it hydrates, how it stretches, tightens up, how it proves and how I conjure oven spring!

So, my tests are rather ‘clinical’ – to ensure that the new flours are tested in exactly the same way.

I start off with the two new flours clearly labelled with my control (the current White Priors Flour):

The video below tells more of this stage:

Assessing how the dough / flours are performing

Once the dough has been brought together and we have completed the kneading process, it is possible to begin to notice differences in the way the flours are performing – how the dough takes on water, how quickly it tensions when you work with it, surface bubble activity indicating CO2 production etc. The video below tells the story:

In our next post, we will follow the process to the baking stage and see what the results look like!

Firstly, our apologies for the recent radio silence from Priors Flour HQ! A well needed holiday in September followed by a very busy period of customer orders has meant much of our time has been milling and packing flour.

However, along with the milling, we are also finding time to assess samples of 2020 harvest wheat to decide which parcel of wheat we will buy to provide you with your wheat flours – wholemeal, white, wheaten meal and the base for all our flour mixes as we go forward in to 20201.

You will have heard that this year has been extremely challenging for our farmers given the weather. As a result, we have had fewer samples from our East Anglian farmers to try. I am pleased to say that we are now assessing two promising samples, so in this post and the next post, I explain what goes on as we clean, mill and test bake the wheat samples:

Arrival of the wheat samples

We receive samples from our farmers in the state in which they come off the combine – full of chaff, straw, seeds from other plants and dust.

We can tell a good deal from the colour of the berries (grains) and the old fashioned ‘chew’ test where by chewing a mouthful of grains you can break down the starch, swallow the bran and be left with a ball of gluten!

We also get a laboratory test from the farmer telling us the amount of protein in the grain, the bushel weight, the amount of admix (seeds / muck) and the falling hagberg number – the test used to assess the level of α-amylase activity in the grain (how much the starch in the grain has started to become sugar).

We request around 20kgs of the samples we like the look of from the farmer and then, in the next stage, clean the grain.

Cleaning the Grain

In this short video, I explain how we prepare the grain for milling:

In the next blog post, we’ll look out the process we follow to test bake the samples of wheat, using our current flours as a ‘control’.

Swaffham Prior is unique in the UK – it has two windmills in close proximity both with their sails!

The mills worked together from 1896 until 1927, with Fosters Mill gristing animal feed and the Smock Tower mill (built around 1820) providing flour for human consumption. Then, on an horrendous autumn night, during an almighty storm, the Smock Tower Mill was struck by lightening and the sails and going gears badly damaged.

Sadly, the economic case for repairs was not great and the Foster Family who ran both mills decided to leave the mill to rest.

The Smock Tower mill was almost lost, but saved by the Bradley family who carried out repairs in the 1980s to secure the Smock Tower and rebuild the cap and sails.

Here is the view today from Smock Tower Mill looking towards Fosters Mill, home of the Prior’s Flour

Watch this space for exciting news about the future of the Smock Tower Mill!

You may have noticed that the Prior’s Flour website has changed a little over the last two weeks! Your eyes and your memory are not deceiving you!

We have introduced a new eCommerce platform!

To compliment our continued membership of Bigbarn, we have now introduced the iZettle eCommerce platform to our website enabling you to order your flour, muesli and oat products securely, quickly and simply.

We have used iZettle to manage our shop sales and stock management for some years and have been impressed by the functionality and useability of their systems. So, having explored their eCommerce functionality and the fact it could so easily integrate with our existing website, the decision was easy!

We hope you also find it easy to use and welcome any feedback. As part of the integration, we have re-launched our newsletter to keep you up-to-date with events and news from the Priors Flour!

Wednesday 19th August Update:

Online Ordering (see below for the Mill Shop)

Our online shop is now fully back open for business! We pack most of our parcels for dispatch each Thursday, so please assume your order will be dispatched on a Thursday unless advised to the contrary.

We will email you with an estimated time to dispatch.

Mill Shop

Our mill shop continues to be open on Thursday mornings from 9am to 1pm and on the 2nd Sunday of each month (not other Sundays). Whilst we still get short queues of people at times, things are much more manageable and you should not have to wait long, if at all. We are doing all we can to prepare and to reduce the time it takes to serve customers.