Hallelujah!! In the arid culinary pizza desert known as the Dallas Metroplex, I was able to locate a source of 50-lb. bags of King Arthur Sir Lancelot (KASL) flour. So, at least for now, and for KASL, it’s sayonara to King Arthur in Vermont. And for all this, I owe a debt of gratitude to fellow member Wayno.
In an earlier post in this thread, Wayno had recommended that members go to the King Arthur Professional website and look for a local distributor or user of the King Arthur flours, using the pull-down search tool at the KA Professional site at
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/where.php. I found no foodservice distributor in the Dallas area, but I did find a local bakery products distributor, Dawn Food Products, in Garland, TX, just east of Dallas.
I called Dawn and asked if they carried the KASL in 50-lb. bags, and, if so, would they sell me a bag on a cash-and-carry basis. The answer was yes to both questions but I was told that if I intended to purchase on more than just one occasion, no matter how far spaced apart, they would require that I complete an application form to set up an account in their computers. Doing this would also allow me to pay for future purchases by check or credit card. I asked that they send me an application form along with a list of their products so that I could look over the products list to see if I might want to purchase additional items. I received the application, completed it, and called Dawn today to place an order for one 50-lb. bag of KASL. I had been told earlier that I would have to give them 2-day’s notice but the customer service person I spoke with this morning said that I could pick up the flour today. Which I did. I showed up at the Garland location with the completed application form and cash in hand.
The cost for the 50-lb. bag of KASL was $12.92 (no sales tax either). By contrast, to buy the same amount of KASL from KA in 3-lb. bags, the cost, including shipping the cheapest way, would be over $80.00. Put another way, the $12.92 would get me one 3-lb. bag (including shipping) of KASL from KA in Vermont.
One of the good things about Dawn is that it has manufacturing, distribution and affiliated entities in several states across the country. Also, when I first called Dawn I was told that all of their distributor locations do offer a cash-and-carry option. Since this may not be entirely true, it pays to check with the nearest distributor. The location map and pull-down menu at the Dawn site, at
http://www.dawnfoods.com/?http://www.dawnfoods.com/locations/usa/texas.html, provides a list of all Dawn locations. I was also told that Dawn (at least the Garland location) might ship to buyers within the particular service area (which includes parts of Oklahoma in the case of Dawn in Garland), if the buyer calls to make the necessary arrangements and pays the UPS or similar charges. This practice may also vary from location to location, so it is a good idea to call ahead to see whether that is an available option.
FWIW, Dawn also carries other flour products, including flours from ConAgra, General Mills and Baystate Milling. Other KA flours offered at Dawn/Garland include the KA Special Patent flour, Sir Galahad, and Big-O high-gluten organic flour. Each Dawn location may not carry the same inventory, so it pays to ask or have a products listing mailed out. The bulk of the Dawn products are for pastry and bread products. There are other ingredients that can be used for pizza production, but they are specialty items (e.g., vital wheat gluten, yeast, dried milk products, PZ-44, etc.) and in large package sizes (typically around 50 lbs.)
For the Dallas Metroplex forum members (or those in the Garland serving area), the Dawn/Garland facility is at 3353 Miller Park S., #100, Garland, TX. 75042. Their telephone number is 1-800-442-9713 (or 972-485-8004, if the 800 number is in-state only). It’s easy to get to their facility. Take 635 (LBJ) to Exit no. 13 to Jupiter Rd (past Kingsley). Take a left on Jupiter Rd. and continue for about 7 traffic lights, to Miller Park (not Miller Rd., which is before Miller Park). Take a right on Miller Park and continue to the circle, and go around the circle almost all the way. Dawn Foods is to the right, with the office to the left of the loading docks.
Peter
