The team is now back rested from their break and along with offering our existing range, we’re delighted to launch a new range of flours from the heritage population “Millers Choice”. Below, I share the history of this wheat population and what you can look forward to!

I am still experimenting with the flours to fully explore the baking characteristics, but I share below some images from the Brockwell Bake of Millers Choice White flour baked off into delicious boules!

Our Millers Choice wheat is grown at Camp Green Farm, Debenham, Suffolk. You can now purchase wholemeal and white Millers Choice flours from our mill shop (online or in person). We are grateful to Andy Forbes and to Durie Partners for their help in preparing this article.

All our other flours and grains are also, of course, available!

It is a few weeks since we last updated you from Priors Flour HQ and in that time, lots has been going on!

New Wheat from the 2021 Harvest

We have just transitioned onto a new parcel of high protein milling wheat, a blend of 1/3 of the wheat you will have been used to working with over the last 18 months and 2/3 of 2021 harvest wheat from Woodlands Farm, Lincolnshire.

You may recall from previous posts that the 2021 harvest turned out to be challenging. I test milled and test baked 5 different sample of 2021 harvest wheat. In the end, I decided to create a blend of 2020 harvest and 2021 harvest wheat. The result is a flour which has many similarities with out 2020 harvest flour which has been in production for some 18 months.

You can expect the same great flavour and oven spring, but you will find that the flour takes just a little less water (hydration), so back off the water a little until you get used to the new flour!

Online Shop – closed for staff holidays

We’d also like to advise you that we will not be processing new online orders over the following periods in order to give our team some time off. The Mill Shop remains open on Thursdays and on the 2nd Sunday during both the periods below, so if you need flour and live in Cambridgeshire, please come over – we’d be pleased to see you!

6th June to 19th June – we will not be able to process new orders

29th June to 13th July – we will not be able to process new orders.

Thank you for your continued support.

We are delighted to convey the fantastic news that the new cap (top of the mill) for our neighbouring mill, the Smock Tower Mill in Swaffham Prior is due to arrive today, the 24th March. If you live locally, you will see the new cap arrive on a low loader and then be craned into a storage location awaiting its final lift onto the repaired smock tower (the wooden structure which forms the tower of the mill).

The cap has been built at the International Boat Building College at Lowestoft.

James Forsyth has been busy over the winter under his scaffolding tower repairing and replacing the cladding of the mill tower and strengthening it for the arrival of the new working cap.

Today, you will also see the installation of the new iron curb on which the cap will sit which will enable the cap to turn to face the wind.

It is planned to have the works to the mill completed later this year, the new sails fitted and the fantail working so that the whole mill turns to face the wind, like its neigbhbour – Fosters Mill!

We will keep posting updates as news arrives.

Sadly due to personal circumstances, the mill and shop will be closed on Sunday 13th March. We will be open as usual on the 17th March onwards.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Well what a week we’ve had at Priors Flour HQ! We had planned to spend three days dressing (sharpening) the millstones on our electricity powered Hurst Frame and installing a new auger system to enable us to move grain and meal (flour) up the mill. I am pleased to say, that has all gone well. Then what we did not expect – preparation for Storm Eunice which is howling around me as I write this post.

So far, so good (at least from what I can see) on the storm front, although this has certainly been a punishing few hours for our 165 year old mill. Fingers crossed, there is no damage after the 75mph gusts which are we are experiencing.

Lifting millstones requires great care, attention and focus on safety. Below, you can see how we lift the millstones using chain blocks, a lifting gantry and lifting strops.

You can see the “runner stone” (closest to the camera) which is the top millstone – this has been lifted off the “bed stone” (see behind) and then turned over to expose the grinding surface. The grooves (called “Furrows”) are then deepened (these days we use an angle grinder with a special tool) and the grinding surface flattened before the “stitching” is applied by hand using a mill bill and thrift. This roughens up the grinding surface which then works more efficiently. The diagram below shows this:

The “Furrows” have an interesting naming history. The longest furrow is called the “Master Furrow”, the next longest is called the “Journeyman Furrow”, the next longest – the “Apprentice Furrow”. Why? The Miller or Master Stone Dresser would set the Master, then hand over to the Journeyman, then the Apprentice and so on! Spreading the labour – it was hard work.

What’s the impact now the stones are dressed? We can mill faster and still produce a quality meal whilst creating less heat – which further maintains the baking qualities of the flour! Thanks to our millwright, Malcolm Cooper for his help this week.