Hi, flour used in the real french baguettes is a bit yellowish of color. This is because of the carotene which resides in the flour. Happy baking!

can you tell me which flour is used in traditional baguettes, the ones I love are a greyer colour in the middle, not really white like processed bread.
Thank you for a response

Angela

Thanks for the feedback Vincent! That sounds all very recognizable to us. Hope you’ll stay happy with the results like we do. We feel very lucky to have such a great mill so close to our home, but whenever we can we will be visiting other mills (still interesting to bake with and compare).

Happy baking for now and many wonderful baking results and lots of joy and happiness for the New Year!

Ed & Marieke

Hi,

First findings…. the color is so much deeper brown; crumb is off-white and looks a bit ‘creamy’ which I find very attractive! While building the dough the color is way more grayish as the flour I used before. Unfortunately I was not able to create a nice gringe on the bread but I do see that more often when baking a low-salt, yeast only bread which I did this evening.

I’m building up a new sourdough culture so coming weekend new experiments…..

For now, I’m happy with the look of both crust and crumb and I expect to become a true Zandhaas addict in the future….

Regards, vincent

Hi Vincent,
Sounds wonderful! And please do let us know about your baking results with De Zandhaas flour.

Happy Holidays,

Ed & Marieke

Hi,

We just visited the Zandhaas and left with lots of kilos….. What’s lovely and feel-good environment! Compliments to the staff who really know their products.

We just arrived in a hotel a bit more up north and looking forward to the first bake next week! Will keep you posted on the results.

Regards, vincent

Hi Mike,
Looking at batch 2, I think it would be a bit too hasty to conclude it was the flour. There were two people shaping and of course that could also account for differences.
Your question about the characteristics of the flour are not so easily answered. The reason we went to De Zandhaas in the first place was that it was the closest mill to our home (then in Haarlem) and we got good results when baking. It was only later when we started to try other flour that we noticed, sometimes considerable, differences. We know a little bit about the growing conditions and where it comes from and the protein content. It must be a combination of these factors.
We also did a blind taste test with four different people and they all chose De Zandhaas and after that nr. 4 De Vier Winden, also an organic flour, as their favorites. But this can also be partly due to the fact that they were already familiar with the taste, because they ate this bread before. So a lot comes down to personal preference. For us, the eye opener was that there is so much difference to be discovered and that’s what makes bread baking even more interesting.

Happy baking and Happy Holidays to you,

Ed & Marieke

Hi Vincent,
I believe it is the 68% eko tarwebloem (the wheat comes from Flevoland). When you are there and have questions about the flour you should ask the miller Jos Kors himself because he is the only one that really knows the details about the flour. We do notice small differences with each batch of flour we buy, especially between summer and winter. Sometimes the dough needs a bit more, sometimes a bit less water. But this way you know it is a product of nature.
Let us know what you think after you’ve baked a bread with this flour, compared to De Windotter?

Happy Baking,

Marieke

I must admit being surprised with the results… I use the flour from the De Windotter and do recognize the results you achieve as well… Tomorrow I will drive to Santpoort, to Molen De Zandhaas and get their flour as I would love to get the bread you bake from it. One question though: I noticed that De Zandhaas offers 2 different Tarwebloem versions; 68% Nederlands and 70% uitmaling… Which one do you use?

Thanks, regards, vincent