just discovered this make of organic flour

i haven't been to juslife for a while so i was pleasantly surprised to see they have an addition to their product line now. it's this range of organic flour from this turkish company, karahan.

the website's here http://www.karahanun.com.tr/ though i'll say i wished they did a better job on the website!











i haven't used the flours yet but the price is good. there are a few varieties of wheat flour but too bad no rye etc. maybe juslife should just bring the rest of the product range here!

oh yeah! the price. it's rm7.90 for a 1kg pack. but if you are a member, you get 10% off each purchase. membership fee is rm20 a year so if you bake quite frequently, it makes perfect sense!
same price for wheat flour, whole wheat flour and "luxury wheat flour".

i have no idea what's the "luxury part" of the last item but for bread baking, it's easy. just go for the higher protein count variety. usually these are expressed in terms of percentage and anything above 11% is good. some of the flours labeled high protein could go as high as 14%. i think i've seen 15% before but don't trust me on this. i'm not good with numbers!

ok! will report more later...

mardia and mustaffa's organic artisan bakery

i was surfing for some info when i came across this website and was pleased to discover they are based in malaysia! in sungai buloh! after some emails here and forth, we managed to visit mardia and mustaffa's organic artisan bakery over the weekend.

mustaffa (or martin) is one cool guy. my kind of guy. not only he encourages/uses organic ingredients but he prefers wholewheat too. but he's right in that the malaysian market isn't ready for 100% whole wheat yet. i guess later in future.


after communicating him, i just got to visit him. got to try those sourdough starter! and also the coconut soap!



as for the bread, you don't have to visit him. you could buy from the juslife chain of organic shops. yes, mustaffa supplies them.

i've heard/read a lot about baking bread with sourdough starter but never tried it. even considered importing some sourdough starter but never got round to it. guess what? it's just some 30km drive away...

so i got some sourdough starter from mustaffa. you may have heard of the famous "san francisco sourdough"? well, here's the famous "sungai buloh sourdough starter"! no need to use yeast anymore, just refresh the starter, use however much you need and save off a little for the next batch. as i bake every week here, this works out nicely. the above shows the starter in whole wheat flour and water.

mustaffa does provide instructions on how to get there but a friend of mine knows him personally! so i ditched those instructions and just got mark to navigate us there. it's in the middle of a kampung alright, with many wannabe mat rempits along the way. spotted some nice old cars along the way too.

mustaffa's work place is just next to his house. he has the conventional oven and also a clay style fire wood oven! i don't think he could use this for his commercial production.

mustaffa welcomes visitors and bread baking students! so if you prefer a hands on approach with a guru over your shoulders, you should contact him.



http://www.bakerette-cafe.com/


you know what i'll be doing soon... got to put those sourdough starter to work!