Flour. Mąka.

The first white bread we have baked was made using strong white flour from Lidl. Then we bought organic and never switched back. When writing on how to start baking bread, we used four types of flour – white and dark, both organic and from Lidl. Just to compare.

Pierwszy biały chleb upiekliśmy używając mąki chlebowej z Lidla. Potem kupiliśmy ekologiczną i nie wróciliśmy do poprzedniej. Kiedy pisaliśmy jak zacząć piec chleb, użyliśmy czterech rodzajów mąki – jasnej i ciemnej, zarówno ekologicznej jak i tej z Lidla, żeby porównać.

The flours I used:

• Belbake Strong White Flour (Lidl)
• Belbake Strong Wholemeal Flour (Lidl)
• Bacheldre Organic Stoneground Strong White Flour (Amazon)
• Bacheldre Organic Stoneground Strong Wholemeal Flour (Amazon)

I’m no expert on food ingredients quality. I’m simply sharing my observations, so feel free to point out if anything is wrong.

• Price: I pay around £2 for a 1.5 kg of an organic strong flour, where you can buy a similar bag at Lidl for around 75 p. The quantity is enough for a couple loaves

• Both flours contain statutory nutrients: Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamine. Lidl’s white flour has ascorbic acid as an extra

• When put on a plate,  Bacheldre white flour was sticking together a little (forming very delicate lumps), and Lidl one did not. Just if the one from Lidl dried out or something
  

  White flours, Bacheldre left, Belbake (Lidl) right

• I’ve noticed that organic flour had a nice smell when dry – I could not feel that with Lidl. After adding water every dough had a pleasant smell
  

  Wholemeal flours, Bacheldre left, Belbake (Lidl) right

• Working with white flour: Lidl dough was very enjoyable to work with, perhaps a little dry. Bacheldre was sticky until the last round of stretch end fold. It was still sticky then, but formed a nice ball and left clean hands

• Working with wholemeal flour: Bacheldre one formed a nice dense dough that was easy to work with, whereas Lidl dough was sticky to the very end, including sticking to my fingers when degasing. With a small amount of flour on the worktop it was manageable, but quite soft

• White loaves: loaf from Lidl was very soft when slicing, close to yeast cake soft, but tasty. Bacheldre one was firmer, but I shaped it badly and it had a huge hole in the crumb (it’s my fault, of course)
  

  A hole in the loaf

• Wholemeal loaves: both were tasty and nice, maybe the Bacheldre one had a stronger aroma, but not by much.
  

  Lidl loaves on the left, Bacheldre loaves on the right. I’ve put them too close to each other in the oven and the sides are too white

The flours have different properties but not necessarily better or worse.

I have recently found advice that the flour simply should not be too old. In the end it’s up to you. I will stick with the organic ones, but Lidl ones seem ok too.

Update: I changed the flour brand, as the initial one was incorrect.