In "Love" with the King

I DO love the "King", but the King in this
post is NOT Elvis!

I am sure at this point that you all know I DO love Elvis, but this blog has absolutely nothing to do with that king, far from it. This weeks blog is all about flour. YES! You read that correctly, flour, as in baking flour, King Arthur Flour to be exact. So let me back up. It is not a secret I love baking, but in the past it had always been cookies and muffins for the most part, maybe a cobbler from time to time, but had not ever baked breads...well not yeast breads at any rate. I had not had much luck with bread baking, so I had given up and had not attempted any that were not from mixes. Then I ordered my 1950's cookbook, The Fantastic Fifties Cookbook by Mary Margaret McBride off of Amazon, and while going through it ran across a cheese bread recipe that sounded easy and tasty too. I made my first attempt at making the bread, using a store brand flour, it turned out pretty good, but it did not rise as much as I would have liked it to. It tasted good, but there was a bit of density to it that should not have been there. I decided to try again, but all I had on hand was whole wheat flour, and this time I hardly got any rise and the recipe just did not work out at all.  Not too long after, I was walking through the baking isle and stocking up my other supplies and I spotted King Arthur's Flour, with the slogan "Try it once. Trust it always." , I decided it was worth a try. The description, " Bake the highest-rising yeast breads ever with a flour milled exclusively for yeast baking: our unbleached bread flours, both conventional and organic. Higher-protein bread flour helps all loaves—from soft white sandwich bread to whole-grain loaves—rise their highest.

When would you choose bread flour instead of all-purpose? When your recipe calls for it; or if you like chewier pizza crust and bagels; or when you're baking whole-grain loaves that need a lift. Bread flour is perfect for any kind of yeast baking; please reserve it for that purpose." , further the encouragement to purchase the flour.... it had been around since the 1800's, and the baking hotline...which added a safety net of sorts....just in case of course. *wink* 

I dreamed of the perfect loaf of bread.

I was eager to give the new flour a try. So recently when having a special family gathering for the Easter holiday, I made the bread again using King Arthur Flour. I could tell right off the bat that this flour was different. It was very light and fluffy, promise of a light and fluffy loaf of bread? I followed the recipe, step by step, and right away in the first raising of the dough, it was so much higher than when I previously had made the bread. I was even more impressed by the second raise of the dough!! The test is the final product right? Well that was fantastic as well!! Just like the slogan stated, I tried it once, and will trust it always!!  Now I will say a little something on the side here, it states not to use on non yeast breads, but I did... I was in a bind and had muffins to make as well as French Madeline cookies, the muffins turned out just fine, and my Madeline cookies, well, they were a little too fluffy and a bit dry, so right after,  I went out and bought their basic flour and I will not use anything else now for my other baked goods such as cookies, etc., and if I could find their other varieties (and had the room to store them) , I would love to buy and try them.  King Arthur does has a wonderful web site that I linked to above where you can actually purchase their flours and other baking products, as well as gifts and supplies. They also have a really great about section and a full history of the company page. Heck if you live in Vermont you can go visit them!! I would for sure mark this flour and this company "Ruby's Musings Approved" !!  (*** I was in no way paid or prompted by the K.A.F.  company to write this blog. ) 

The Recipe....

The Flour .....

The Results....

The Proud Baker....