Trying Locally Sourced Flour!

In my pursuit to buy local flour, I did some research on what local flour mills I could find. Low and behold, Four Star Farms popped up on my search. This farm has been around for over 28 years and has a unique business where they mill to order and package orders once a week.

They share, while not efficient, the process they follow is one way to reduce food waste and ensure that their customers get the freshest product possible. Check them out, here! I received the flour three business days after they close out on orders Monday at 1PM.

I immediately went to bake with the fresh 20lbs of flour I ordered. Yes, I did buy 20 lbs, 2 orders of 5lb bags of bolted (sifted) bread flour and the same amount for pastry flour. As part of an experiment, I thought I would compare Four Star Farms’ flour with King Arthur’s Flour (KAF), which I had on hand. Just by smelling the two flours, the Four Star Farm’s product smelled sweeter and had a stronger flour scent.

Since I had an event to go to this weekend, I decided to bake brownies and do a side by side comparison.

The recipe I followed was one on Allrecipes that you can find here.

First I melted ½ cup of butter in the microwave and mixed in 1/2c of sugar, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp of vanilla. I only add about half of the sugar for a more dark chocolate brownie. Once that was combined, I added ⅓ c of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2c of flour, ¼ tsp of salt, and ¼ tsp of baking powder.

The batter on the left is made with KAF, the batter on the right is made with flour from Four Star Farms

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and poured the brownie mix into two different pans. The FSF Flour went into the 8x8 pan and the KAF went into the 9x9. Unfortunately, I did not have the same pan size, so this could lead to differences in baking times.

I baked the KAF brownies for about 20 minutes and baked the FSF brownies for 25. Both looked the same out of the oven.

Let’s take a peek in the brownies to see any differences.




Both look pretty cakey, which could mean I overmixed the batters. The 9x9 KAF batter definitely spread too thin, which makes sense. The 8x8 Four Star Farms brownies were thicker but still looked similar. Now onto the TASTE TEST.

The brownies made with Four Star Farms were much more chocolatey, even though I added the same amount of cocoa powder in each batch. While I think it is not truly a side by side comparison due to the different sizes in pans, I ended up with two batches of awesome brownies. I hope this inspires you to do your own taste test with locally sourced ingredients!

Ingredients:
1/2c butter
1/2c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2c flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease pan with butter
 In a microwaveable bowl, melt 1/2 cup butter. Stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Lightly beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Do not overcook.

Chicken Parm

Chicken parm, what a classic Italian comfort food that will NEVER leave you hungry after a plate of it. That’s my kind of meal. To make it can seem a little intimidating, but if you organize the ingredients in order, you will set yourself up for success (and maybe even in life). 

I sliced the chicken and seasoned it with salt and pepper on both sides.

I laid out three shallow bowls. In the first, I put some all purpose flour. In the second, I scrambled two eggs. And in the last bowl, I had a mixture of both panko breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. I also placed a plate at the end of this line up and covered a baking sheet with foil.

Meanwhile, I preheated a pan over medium high heat and preheated the oven to 400 degrees F.

Take a piece of chicken, coat it on both sides with the flour. Dust off any excess flour. Dunk the chicken into the egg, and then put it in the third bowl of panko and cheese. Cover the chicken on both sides and then place it on a plate to allow the cheese and crumbs to adhere to the chicken. Repeat until all the chicken is coated.

In the pan, toss in some smashed garlic and oil. This will allow for a garlicky oil to pan fry the chicken in. Place 2-3 pieces of chicken in the pan and brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Do NOT overcrowd the pan or the chicken will not brown well. Once done, place on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the chicken has been pan fried. As you will notice, the Parmesan cheese melts beautifully while the panko crisps up and makes a cheesy toasty coating on the chicken.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through.

Prepare rotini, or your pasta of choice, and use your favorite red sauce to coat the pasta. Top the pasta with chicken and mozzarella cheese and ENJOY!

Ingredients:
3 lbs of chicken breast, sliced
2 cups of panko bread crumbs
½ c of Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all purpose flour
3 garlic cloves, smashed
Mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
Your favorite pasta and red sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Season the sliced chicken with salt and pepper on both sides
3. Coat the chicken in the flour, remove any excess flour
4. Dip the chicken in the egg on both sides
5. Coat the chicken evenly with the panko breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese mixture. Place on a plate to let the coating adhere to the chicken.
6. Repeat steps 2-4 until all the chicken is coated.
7. Preheat a pan to medium high heat
8. Toss in olive oil and smashed garlic
9. Brown the chicken on both sides, roughly 2-3 minutes on each side. Place on a baking sheet
10. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked all the way through
11. Serve with your favorite pasta and red sauce!