Ultimate Bread Flour

Heartland Mill

Route 1, Box 2

Marienthal, Kan. 67863

(316) 379-4472

Brochure Available

Billed Open Account

Bread has become such an important part of the modern meal that many restaurants have taken to baking their own. Many home cooks have done the same. With all this sudden baking of bread, flour has assumed a new importance.

It takes two kinds of flour to make great bread. Flours such as rye, whole wheat and cornmeal add interesting taste and texture to a loaf, but they contain very little usable gluten. It is gluten that gives bread its strength and elasticity, and high-gluten flours were once available only to commercial bakers.

But things have changed. Heartland Mill, a Mennonite co-op in Kansas, freshly mills and ships a fine selection of grains grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. (Even its packaging is environmentally friendly--the pretty cotton bags resemble ‘40s feed sacks and are very good at keeping flour fresh and dry.)

One of their newest products is a high-performance flour named “golden buff.” They make it by running hard red winter wheat through a stone grinder. This does not eliminate the bran, but merely sifts it off, leaving the germ behind and making the flour healthier. Priced at $1.16 a pound, this is the ultimate flour for discerning bread bakers: It works like white flour, yet contains both high protein and high gluten.

The mill’s all-purpose D & H flour is another high-performing flour suitable for general baking needs, as well as bread baking when gluten strength is important. A five-pound sack sells for $1.92.

Heartland Mill’s other products are also priced reasonably: A two-pound bag of cornmeal costs $1.16; two pounds of oat bran will run $2.81. But remember, it takes a lot of flour to bake a loaf of bread, and shipping charges could double the cost of the order.