Author Topic: KASL availability (Read 3863 times)

Ed · « **on:** January 18, 2006, 02:26:41 AM »

Tonight I browsed the King Arthur Flour website and Amazon.com and could not find listings for Sir Lancelot flour.
Is there a shortage?

Ed

Pete-zza · « **Reply #1 on:** January 18, 2006, 08:08:14 AM »

Ed,

One of our members, Iceman3876, recently mentioned that King Arthur had exhausted its supply of KASL, and when I checked the KA site it said that they were backordered. See http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2371.0.html for some ideas on alternatives. Since amazon gets the flour from KA, it's logical that they wouldn't have the KASL either.

Peter

Ronzo · « **Reply #2 on:** January 18, 2006, 09:05:08 AM »

They don't have any either. I get my KASL through Amazon, who partners with KA's Baker's Catalog. I can't get it right now.

I have one small bag left.

I made bread out of some last night. I let the dough sit in the fridge since Sunday night. It came out delicious.

This site has helped me immensely when it comes to pizza and bread making.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #3 on:** January 18, 2006, 09:24:56 AM »

I forgot to mention that Iceman3876 did locate a source of KASL from Dutch Valley: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2391.0.html. That would be for a 50-lb. bag, which may be too much for some of our members. That leaves Josa's as a possible source for smaller quantities, since she sells the flour by the pound. The link to her site is http://www.goemerchant1.com/index.cgi?ST=&Merchant=josasoldcountrystore.

Peter

kgbenson · « **Reply #4 on:** January 18, 2006, 04:33:35 PM »

Josas has it listed, and you can buy any quantity you like, however, and this is just my story, I am having a bit of a hard time getting flour from them. I ordered long before Christmas, and on three separate occasions Josa told me the flour was sent, when I called and said I had not received it, I was told, that someone would send more, would get me a tracking number, or that it should be there soon. So far, no flour, and no tracking number. I hope this is just an isolated experience, but I am now having a hard time getting through. The phone isn't answered and no one is returning emails.

Keith

Wallman · « **Reply #5 on:** January 18, 2006, 09:46:45 PM »

Ed,
If you are near Pennsylvania and can use or store a 50 lb. bag, I would heartily recommend Dutch Valley, They only charged me about $12.00 for shipping the 50 lb. bag to my home in Virginia. The flour was around $15.

kgbenson · « **Reply #6 on:** January 23, 2006, 10:57:17 AM »

Got my order from Josa's Jellies this AM, and she kindly threw in a 5 extra pounds to make up for the delays.

Keith

Ed · « **Reply #7 on:** January 24, 2006, 02:31:07 AM »

Thanks for all the input. I may call Dutch Valley in a couple of weeks to see if they can ship me a 50lb bag.
Will be making pizza for folks at work this week, but I have enough to get me through that.
Going to use 1lb dough balls for 14" pies with Peter Reinharts recipe from Bread Bakers apprentice.
Bridgford pepperoni.
Sorrento regular (not low moisture) whole milk mozzerella.
Ragu homemade style pizza sauce (works pretty well til I start making my own).

Thanks!

Ed

iceman3876 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 26, 2006, 05:04:24 AM »

Yes Pete was right...I ordered it from Dutch Valley and it was $15 and change plus shipping...Dutch Valley sent it...I have been making wonderful pizza....Now my family insist that I make pizza 3 times a week...Yes they are that good...Thanks to the wonderful help I have received from this site....

Perk · « **Reply #9 on:** January 28, 2006, 11:33:17 AM »

Dutch Valley Link?
or number? What is Dutch Valley,
I went to dutchvalleyfoods.com but that is no longer on the web.

joe · « **Reply #10 on:** January 28, 2006, 12:03:29 PM »

on 1-23-06, i was checking out the Bakers Catalog and they had KASL listed in stock, so i ordered some.
received order comfirmation that listed it in stock. order hasn't showed up yet. i checked the web site again
and now it's not listed? tried calling costumer service number on 1-27-06 and didn't get a response. automated answering didn't even kick in. i'll try contacting them again on 1-30-06 to see what's up. i really want to try this stuff.

joe

Pete-zza · « **Reply #11 on:** January 28, 2006, 12:56:33 PM »

Perk,

See Reply #22 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1907.20.html.

Peter

Perk · « **Reply #12 on:** January 28, 2006, 02:54:22 PM »

Quote from: Pete-zza on January 28, 2006, 12:56:33 PM

Perk,

See Reply #22 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1907.20.html.

Peter

Thanks, Read that post a few days ago forgot about it.
But yea same site, site is down now.

For me, I just wonder how much better the Sir Lancelot vs King Author Bread Flour
Heck I didn't even know about Sir Lancelot until this week. Now I have all these wonders and questions!!

Is it better, is it worth the extra money? Is it worth having it shipped?

Pete-zza · « **Reply #13 on:** January 28, 2006, 03:06:35 PM »

Perk,

Another member essentially asked the same question recently in relation to KASL and NY style doughs, and I gave him the following reply which I excerpted from my response:

My preference among high-gluten flours is the KASL flour. But there are many other brands of high-gluten flour that can be used to make NY style doughs. Whether it is worth the price and the hassle to get KASL is a personal decision that one has to make. But since this question comes up time and again on this forum, I would like to suggest that one way to approach the matter of high-gluten flours is as follows: Start with bread flour to make your pizza dough. If you are satisfied, then that ends the matter. If you still aren’t satisfied, you can try adding VWG to the bread flour. (I can tell you how to do this if you choose that route). If you try the VWG/bread flour combination and you like it, then you need not look further. If you don’t like the VWG/bread flour approach, then you can try to find high-gluten flour. Since you won’t find high-gluten flour in the supermarkets, you will have to look for another source. It might be a distributor, a foodservice company, or it might be one of the big box stores like Costco’s. Depending on the source, the high-gluten flour might be KASL, All Trumps, Bouncer, ConAgra, Pendleton, or whatever. They will all work to make a NY style dough. What will usually dictate what you buy will be availability in your area and price. In most cases, however, you will be buying a 25-50 lb. bag of flour. One advantage of the KASL, if it matters to you, is that it is unbleached, and non-bromated. It also has a higher protein content, 14.2%, than just about all competing brands. Whether that matters is again a matter of personal choice.

Peter

texass44 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 31, 2006, 11:38:24 PM »

I just recieved the KA catalogue, they have a flour unbleached high gluten 14.2 % protein, but its not called SL.
3 lb bag for $2.95 buy more then one and its $ 2.50. item #3332
I may call them to see if it is SL.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #15 on:** January 31, 2006, 11:55:41 PM »

texass 44,

You have a keen eye. The catalogue no longer calls the flour Sir Lancelot. However, the KA website still uses that name and the same item number: http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Sir_Lancelot_Unbleached_High_Gluten_Flour.html.

Peter

joe · « **Reply #16 on:** February 01, 2006, 12:00:06 AM »

i just received a shipment KASL in the 3# bags today from the bakers catalog. it comes in brown bag and has the KASL label on it. it took about a week to get it. i spoke with the customer service dept. about availability and was told when supply is unavailable, it is automactically removed from the web site until restocked. seems like i was checking every day until it appeared. if they have a hit counter, i must have added 100 to it. going to try my luck at cracker style again this weekend.

joe

Perk · « **Reply #17 on:** February 01, 2006, 12:56:18 PM »

Well I bit the bullet and ordered (4) 3lb bags. 12lbs total.
I have never used hi-gluten flour so I guess now is the time to try it out.

It's just funny to know that I spent more in shipping($11.03) then I did for the product($10).

Pete-zza,
here is a good question How many cups of flour are in a 3lb bag of KASL?
That way if an average pizza takes a 1/3 of a recipe that calls for 5 1/2 cups of flour,
How many pizza's would 12 pounds of flour make?

I will need this for Justification to my wife when she freaks out I just ordered $21 worth of flour
But heck 1 large deluxe pizza at a good pizza joint is going to cost you that much. So we save money!

mmarston · « **Reply #18 on:** February 01, 2006, 01:11:34 PM »

In Albany, NY the Honest Weight Food CO-OP sells KASL and many other types of flour by the lb. Great cheese also.
If you have a large health food store or CO-OP in your area they might carry or get KASL for you.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #19 on:** February 01, 2006, 02:05:13 PM »

Perk,

I haven't seen the 3-lb. bags yet and my recollection is that there was no information on the KASL 5-lb. bags like you are seeking. However, both the 5-lb. bags of the KA all-purpose and bread flour say that there are 19 cups of flour in those bags. I assume the answer would be the same for a 5-lb. of KASL. So, doing a little bit of math, the number of cups in a 3-lb. bag would be 3/5 x 19 = 11.4 cups. However, each cup would weigh roughly 4.2 ounces. In my experience, when people just dip their measuring cup into a bag of flour to get a "cup", they will invariably get closer to 5 ounces than 4.2 ounces. My average using the scoop and level approach is around 4.7 ounces. Now you can see why it is hard to convert volumes of flour to weight with any accuracy. That is why the first question I ask someone whose recipe I am trying to convert to baker's percents is how they measure out their flour.

Peter