Periodically the Springdell Winter CSA is graced with the presence of freshly milled flour from our friends at Four Star Farms in western, MA. This is a treat to work with, especially compared to the run of the mill (pun intended) flour from the supermarket.
Cornmeal–
Cornmeal is a coarse flour made from dried corn. It can be ground to different consistencies such as fine, medium, and coarse. Each type has different uses in the kitchen.
Cornmeal has many uses but is popular used in baked goods and frying, as well as famously, polenta.
Blue cornmeal, yellow cornmeal, white cornmeal
Store cornmeal in a cool, dry area. Once the package is open you need to store the cornmeal in an airtight container or ziplock bag to prevent insects, they love cornmeal. To make your cornmeal last longer keep it in the refrigerator or freezer.
Iron, Phosphorus, folic acid, thiamine, riboflavin
Pastry Flour-
Pastry flour is a high-starch, low-protein flour. The pastry flour from Four Star Farms is milled from Richland, Soft White Winter Wheat.
Pastry flour is used in baking applications. This flour will make your baked goods very tender because it is lower in protein and will develop less gluten when it is worked. Pastry flour is great for homemade pancake mix, muffins, breads, cakes and of course, pastries.
You can make your own pastry flour in a pinch. Mix half cake flour and half all-purpose flour together, store in an airtight container.
Store flour in an airtight container. To lengthen the life of your flour store in the refrigerator or freezer.
In general, the differences in between the flours pertains to the protein content. Just wait until the summer when the berries are in season, to makes a mean rustic berry galette!
Don’t throw your empty flour bags away! When you are done with your flour and corn meal bags, you can re use them for storing snacks or ripening fruits.
Unless you have a from scratch recipe, this one requires a stop to the market for some popping fresh biscuits. It’s a deviation from all local ingredients, but for me, this is a limited case where convenience wins. If you’d rather skip the biscuits, the gravy stands up over hash or eggs. The recipe is simple, and the gravy is hearty!
This recipe from Southern Living provides a tasty and unique use for apples and sweet potatoes. There are several liberties that can be taken with the ingredients (I used half of the called for refrigerated pie crust, none of the orange juice and much less of the sugar, for example). A dollop of freshly whipped cream really brings this one home!
These scones are scrumptious! Review the recipe to see which stir-ins you might want to try with these, as they are not on the CSA365 pantry “staples” list and will likely require a trip to the market. (i.e. crystallized ginger, cinnamon chips, coarse sugar etc). You can skip the fancy stir-ins as well, a healthy sprinkle of cinnamon sugar also works.
