“This is wondrous stuff. It’s full of life and flavour. Starter cultures grow in it better than in any other flour I have tried ( a lot). As a small child (1940’s- gulp) I was allowed to ‘help’ in our village bakery, Wheat, cut with horse drawn machinery, milled at the watermill down the lane, dough proven in wooden troughs overnight, loaves baked in coke fired brick ovens loaded with six foot long paddles. This flour makes bread with all the smell and taste of those ancient methods. My father, coming home on leave from wherever the war had taken him, would go straight to the bakery, bring home a hot, crunchy loaf, cut the entire top off , load it with butter (stlll to be found in farming places) and eat it in one go. This is still what I want to do with a freshly baked Gilchester loaf. Be tempted!
Mike.”
“I really enjoy the end result obtained with this flour, but I have to say it is by far the most difficult flour to work with that I've used. On it's own it makes for a very sticky dough and hydration is critical; a good starting point is in the region of 70% depending on your style of bread making. The aroma and taste though is first class and well worth the effort. What transforms it is adding some Gilchesters Wholemeal flour. 350g of the white mixed with 150g of the Wholemeal is a whole different ball game. No more extreme stickiness and a much easier dough to work. Being unbleached the white flour also comes out with a colour resembling a milky coffee, which also may not be to everyone's taste. Having said all this I don't want to come across as negative. Gilchesters is one of my 'go to' flours and the aroma and taste is out of this world, but my recommendation is to mix it with a proportion of wholemeal if you want a more pleasant kneading experience.”
“I like the flavour of the flour very much. However, I was aware that it could produce a sticky dough (in spite of the company saying it is more absorbent than some flours). This was the case with the first loaf I made, a country-style boule, but it was a mix of Gilchester plus another strong white, some wholemeal and some rye. Next up was a cinnamon, raisin and walnut tin loaf, and then a potato and rosemary loaf. In both cases I was very happy with the results. The solution to the stickiness issue is just to be very careful about how much water is used, I think.”
“I like the flavour of the flour very much. However, I was aware that it could produce a sticky dough (in spite of the company saying it is more absorbent than some flours). This was the case with the first loaf I made, a country-style boule, but it was a mix of Gilchester plus another strong white, some wholemeal and some rye. Next up was a cinnamon, raisin and walnut tin loaf, and then a potato and rosemary loaf. In both cases I was very happy with the results. The solution to the stickiness issue is just to be very careful about how much water is used, I think.”
“Received this with some trepidation, but well worth every penny as the results are fantastic from the first bake. As usual, the service from Bakery Bits was superb with delivery the following morning.”
“The flour had a good colour, but that is where it ends. I made bread twice, and each time the bread dough was extremely sticky and difficult to handle. Even though it has been stated as having a falling number of 388s. Hydration was 75%, which is correct for the grade, and weight of the given recipe - still not handling correctly. Personally, this is just a brand of flour I will not buy again! A terrible waste of money.”
