Flour

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
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For all you bakers out there.

Carrefour in SD has its own brand of flour on promotion. 35 or 36 pesos for a kilo.
Its waaaay better than anything else I can find here.
Much, much better than the american brand that Lasirena and National carry.
And obviously much better than any dr brand, which lets face it, is more like baking with saand and grit. :( :(

I got 10 kilos at the beginning of the week and regret not buying more.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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i use pillsbury, gold medal or bob's red mill, whatever is available. i also buy stuff from eva eco, a dominican company. i use their yuca flour but they also have coconut/batata/platano and more. i'm thinking of incorporating those in my baking too, now i see their have recipes on their FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/EVA-Harinas-815157675162960/?ref=page_internal

i only visited carrefour once and they did have quite a lot of different flour types but none of the packages back then had any label in spanish/english. wtf. but i remember that mysteriously they used italian flour type codes rather than french ones.

anyways, thanks for heads up, i will definitely force miesposo to stop there next time we drive to SD and leave early.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
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Have you tried making bread with it? *I ship mine down, would rather buy it there!

I am not that good with bread :(

The flour is very fine grain. Its a T45 type.
The pizza dough comes out great, just made pizza tonight.
I use the same dough to make small bread, individual ball type like. Less hassle. I just make 2 kilos and freeze individual portions.
Otherwise i mainly do focaccia style, easier for me.

Last year carrefour carried another flour of their brand. A multicereal, wholewheat. That turned out a nice bread.

They also usally sell yeast of their own brand, which works fairly well.

I am quite happy with the results, though I couldnt swear to the part played by the flour, as I never follow recipes and just jauge stuff by looking at it :).
I mainly use the flour for the pizza/bread dough, but have also had correct results with croissants, brioche ( sweet bread ) and cakes.
That said I may be biased as I guess it ressembles so much the flour/texture that I am used to back home in France.
 

Meemselle

Just A Few Words
Oct 27, 2014
2,842
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I don't usually like to come on in blazing like Clint Eastwood:

But I am THE most incredible baker you are ever likely to find.

The yeast: she just responds to my touch.

DO NOT USE PILLSBURY FOR ANYTHING EVER (unless it has a happy ending sort of thing).

King Arthur or any other unbleached flour for bread.

The yeast is another whole thread.
 

Meemselle

Just A Few Words
Oct 27, 2014
2,842
387
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I have made it a point to not think about things I miss living here.

But....I do freely admit that I miss having my 25-lbs. of flour in a plastic bin under my counter at all times. Never any worry about bugs, vermin, etc. I would add a bit of oat bran. And any time we needed bread, or Dutch babies or pizza....BAM.

I started out using fency flour and fency French yeast, which is what worked for me before. Different climate. Different water. Different sugar/honey. Different salt. So....

Wrote to King Arthur flour website (AMAZING! If you don't know it, check it out. They are so incredibly knowledgeable and helpful)
http://http://www.kingarthurflour.com/bakers-hotline/

Can we make BAKING IN THE DR its own site? Like a recipe page????
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
yawn. pillsbury works great for me. king arthur, when occasionally available is ridiculously expensive, like 10 dollars a bag. not gonna happen.
 

Ecoman1949

Born to Ride.
Oct 17, 2015
2,806
1,309
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I don't usually like to come on in blazing like Clint Eastwood:

But I am THE most incredible baker you are ever likely to find.

The yeast: she just responds to my touch.

DO NOT USE PILLSBURY FOR ANYTHING EVER (unless it has a happy ending sort of thing).

King Arthur or any other unbleached flour for bread.

The yeast is another whole thread.


Too lazy to bake my own bread at home and I don't need to in the DR because I stay in a resort for most of the winter. Will buy assorted baked goods at La Sirena every now and then. Their breads are not that good. Did find one good bakery in Luperon, a German*guy, who made an increadible heavy bread which I love toasted and slathered in peanut butter. A sweet childhood memory. The weird thing about my mother is she is a good baker but started making bread after we all left the nest. My sisters and I grew up on store bought bread. Banana bread and cornbread are my favourite dessert breads. Loved visiting my grandmothers house. Waking up to the smell of fresh baked bread in the morning and having two large warm slices covered in molasses for breakfast. May your bread rise as high as your expectations Meems.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,098
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South Coast
yawn. pillsbury works great for me. king arthur, when occasionally available is ridiculously expensive, like 10 dollars a bag. not gonna happen.



I buy my bread flour at Sams Club, love it. When I first started buying it, it was about $10 for a bag (20-25 pounds, don't remember which, I transfer it to sealed containers as soon as I get home, so can't check). Last year it dropped to $8 and when I went last week to buy two bags to ship to DR I was shocked to see it at $5.74 a bag. *I left a full bag in the freezer when we left DR last trip, will probably give it to the maid and use the fresh ones (she has a fritura on the beach on weekends).*
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
i have mad baking fever lately, since dropping few vanity kilos. i bake maybe 5 times a week: bread, sourdough, cake, cheesecake, cookies. crazy. we bought thermometer for deep frying and candy making and as soon as it arrives i'm gonna start with donuts and other deep fried goodies. next stop is getting those thingies for squeezing the pastry so i can try making meringue and macaroons. things are bad :)

storage is a bit of an issue. flour will not last too long in room temperature before it develops new forms of life. and in puerto plata you cannot buy good flour all the time so it's necessary to stock more when it's available. i usually put my flour in the fridge and only have out two bags i use (bread and all purpose).
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
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I keep, say, 2 kilos in fridge, 1kilo on counter mainly for flouring my hands and work counter.
All the rest goes in freezer. Too many gorgoja ( ? Small black beetles ).

P.S. made great fish&chips 2 weeks ago. Beer batter ! And refried large chips !! Yummmy.
 

Neargale

Active member
Jul 4, 2013
347
67
28
Put a Bay leaf or 2 in the bag or container of flour. It keeps the weevils and other insects from hatching or coming in.
All flour comes with bugs or eggs of bugs.

When I lived aboard a sailboat we would buy maybe 20 kilos of different types of flour and transfer that to large ziplock bags with the addition of a bay leaf per bag. We would sail the Bahamas for the winter and never encountered bugs in the flour. BTW good bread making flour is available in the Bahamas but not specialty flour.
Same bay leaf treatment for pasta.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
bay leaves inside the bag, inside the flour? or bay leaves inside a zip lock bag alongside the bag of flour?
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
For all you bakers out there.

Carrefour in SD has its own brand of flour on promotion. 35 or 36 pesos for a kilo.
Its waaaay better than anything else I can find here.
Much, much better than the american brand that Lasirena and National carry.
And obviously much better than any dr brand, which lets face it, is more like baking with saand and grit. :( :(

I got 10 kilos at the beginning of the week and regret not buying more.

thanks for the heads up. 36 pesos a kilo is as cheap as it gets. i would love to find out where they source it, to see if i can get it without having to go to the city. the stuff like princesita is limestone...you cant bake with the regular Dominican stuff..
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
113
thanks for the heads up. 36 pesos a kilo is as cheap as it gets. i would love to find out where they source it, to see if i can get it without having to go to the city. the stuff like princesita is limestone...you cant bake with the regular Dominican stuff..

I guess its imported directly by carrefour.
Its their ownn brand, and the label is french ( and german ).
I now see the*best before date is coming soon. Not that its a problem for me, but probably why it was half price, ( or 40% off, cant remeber ).
 

Fulano2

Bronze
Jun 5, 2011
3,287
621
113
Europe
I keep, say, 2 kilos in fridge, 1kilo on counter mainly for flouring my hands and work counter.
All the rest goes in freezer. Too many gorgoja ( ? Small black beetles ).

P.S. made great fish&chips 2 weeks ago. Beer batter ! And refried large chips !! Yummmy.



Where is that Malko, I would murder a F&C...
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
I guess its imported directly by carrefour.
Its their ownn brand, and the label is french ( and german ).
I now see the*best before date is coming soon. Not that its a problem for me, but probably why it was half price, ( or 40% off, cant remeber ).

so i guess that the price you paid was introductory, and the real price might be twice as much. ah well. it was wishful thinking....
 

aname4me

Active member
Jun 18, 2011
365
66
28
next time you pass by puerto plata stop in costambar, l'oase bar/restaurant has fish and chips.



thanks, i'll try that.



This not about Flour (but I have enjoyed reading this so far)

?next time you pass by Puerto Plata stop in Costambar, l'oase bar/restaurant has fish and chips.?


1) is this Sam's Bar and Grill ?
2) And where is it?
- block from Puerto Plata's Plaza - towards the Ocean
- Across from Caribe Tours
- On the other side of the Habour (somewhere)