Hi does anybody know about buying bread flour in large sacks like 25 kg ?
we are getting through lots and lots as cook a lot , make bread a lot and its getting so expensive at the supermarket.
Thanks
Steve
Thank you Mary and Merry Christmas.
The gluten free market in France is at the beginning and though there are NoGlu and Newcake in Paris, that pales in comparison to many smaller cities around the Americas and Europe.
We are doing fine, mainly because we bake and cook at home. Knowing of the potential for great GF foods, we did contemplate replicating GF Patisserie here in SW France. No decisions made as of yet, we shall see in 2013.
But now I stop hijacking this thread for regular flour.........
Hi Peter-I see the trend in France for addressing Celiac disease and gluten free progressing towards more GF products and gluten free restaurants opening. It is happening in Paris-(saw a documentary on it) and will eventually become more mainstream. Hang in there. It is a challenge to eat GF. Bravo to make your own bread!
I understand that French flour is not the same as UK strong bread flour as that is made from American wheat. I tend to import large quantities when we visit but get worried about storing it safely. The dreaded weevils get everywhere. Does any one else think strong is better?
Its funny to think that the French had a revolution and overthrew the royal family over food availabilty or lack of of and inflationary pricing of staples like breads - and are they really any better off for it ?
Walmart went into the UK six or seven years ago and flopped badly. But then Carrefour who invented the super/hypermarket approach on which walmart based its model never survived the UK despite doing fine in 16/18 or so countries. You have Lidl, Aldi, Netto and others here in Europe who just squeeze the others out. When Walmart opened in Germany, the three of them squeezed so hard that all 12 stores closed within the first year! It seems, who knows why, that unlike other Europeans the French like retail price maintenance and moderately reduced prices so pay over the odds for, well you name it!
Sorry! I should have thought to include a link! Here you are.
I've been a member for three years and highly recommend it.
Hi Catharine ,
what exactly is AMAP as i have never heard that phrase / name ?
Steve
Hi Steve
You could also see if you have a local AMAP - ours has a flour contract. I don't buy it but generally AMAP prices are more than reasonable (I pay 1€ for 6 free range eggs and free range chickens are 5.5€ a kilo) so it may be worth asking?
Yes American, Walmart is not yet a major player. Don't worry. Cheap prices are like crack cocaine for consumer prices.
ok see what you are saying , however right here right now its all closed markets and in this case high prices in small quantity with limited choice and options unless you are lucky enought to live in a commune with a mill who have an open door policy ie they dont mind selling their goods to the public.
are you American then ? as Walmart isnt a huge player in the uk
Seeking the cheapest price. Whole business districts are destroyed by cheap prices and big box stores: Walmart in particular has mastered the genre. First the price is cheaper for the same goods sold in local mon-n-pop shops and shoppers drift to the store. Then after destroying the alternative small shops and to keep prices down and profits high, big box stores gradually lower quality, until what remains is plastique.
que ?
Beware what you wish for. You might wind up with big-box stores selling plastic at chinese priced levels with no other choices.
I'll go with that. For instance, they are uncompromising in schools and hospitals where white bread only is available and where other things that coeliacs are on the menu. I have a mild gluten intolerance and have to avoid white bread, which having spent a lot of years in Germany with rye bread and so on is my preference anyway. But I have to jump through hoops, talk to dieticians and who knows whatever else. Then because the diagnosis was not made in France where they are lukewarm on these issues get strange looks. Anyway. However, the threat of a patient 'fasting' (never say 'hunger strike' that raises hackles) for the immediate future defeats them.
we will be in the system soon. Registered and all.
Victoria had a GF bakery back in Canada, so we shipped some of the flour mix over. France is still in the stone age for Celiacs when you compare it to Italy and Spain. Not to mention North America....
Apparently it is as simple as the receptors in our noses pick up fresh food which is preferable to stuff beginning to go stale, bad which it is once it has cooled down (exception being things like cakes loaded with strong alcohol that keep longer). We simply do as our ancestors did and have modified it over the millennia. In fact, things like vegetable soups and green vegetables produce smells akin to early decay which is why children particularly do not like them. Try reading the anthropology of food sometime, the origins of modern food follow a strange path over the last few thousand years.
The only way I could get my 2 to eat courgettes was in soup!
but it is true, there is something just so wholesome in home made food - gives you that warm cost feeling, I still can't smell fresh bread without thinking of my mum!!
what is about home made food ?
breads that smell so good the kids have to eat it hot
cakes from the shop can be in the cupboard all week yet the home made equivalent is gone in an afternoon
shame they are not as keen on my homemade veg soup !!!!
My mum used to bake her own bread, the smell has such a warm homely feeling and it used to disappear much more quickly than any shop bought item!