Gold Medal Better for Bread

[Mad_Ernie]

I have been using the Gold Medal Better for Bread/Harvest King for several months now, maybe close to a year.  I have recently noticed in two of the super markets that I frequent the bag has changed from the yellow/green Harvest King packaging to the plain yellow "Better for Bread".  I thought this was the old packaging, or was I mistaken?  Is Gold Medal simply dumping older lot bags of their bread flour on the market or have they changed to this packaging now?

[scott r]

I have contacted GM, the new packaging is still the same old harvest king product.  Enjoy!

[Pete-zza]

What scott r says is consistent with what is shown at the General Mills website at http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/gold-medal-flour/gold-medal-products.htm. Note, however, that the GM website says that ascorbic acid is added to the flour. The last bag of Better for Bread flour that I purchased in the green and yellow bag does not list ascorbic acid as an ingredient. As noted in another thread recently, GM still lists the Harvest King flour at its website (see http://www.gmflour.com/gmflour/flour.aspx?type=Eharvestking) but the specs are no longer given at the professionals section of its website. However, I was able to retrieve an old link to the specs: http://www.gmflour.com/gmflour/Flour_SpecSheet/HarvestKing53722.doc. It will be noted that ascorbic acid is not listed as an ingredient.

Peter

[Mad_Ernie]

Peter and Scott:

Thanks for the information.  The ascorbic acid is the crux of the issue for me, as I was under the impression that what I thought was Gold Medal's newer version, the Harvest King version, did not have it (confirmed by you, Peter, and my reading of the label) and a previous version of their bread flour did have it, which I thought was just labeled "Better for Bread" without the Harvest King logo.  It appears that Betty Crocker/Gold Medal has reformulated the product back to having ascorbic acid.  Regrettable.   

-ME

[Pete-zza]

It appears that Betty Crocker/Gold Medal has reformulated the product back to having ascorbic acid.  Regrettable.   

ME,

Actually, I think it is a good idea to have the ascorbic acid in the flour because it acts as a dough strengthener and allows the dough to better retain the gasses of fermentation. In that respect, the ascorbic acid can be viewed as a substitute for potassium bromate in bromated flours even though it doesn't perform the same way as potassium bromate. I read a lot of ingredients lists for doughs, including pizza doughs, and the use of ascorbic acid has become quite common, possibly to avoid having to use bromated flours, which is an increasingly common concern among consumers at the retail level. It also gets around legal requirements in many states to disclose the use of bromates. The addition of ascorbic acid to the flour by the miller also spares me the need to determine the amount of ascorbic to add on my own. It is usually in parts per million.

Peter

[Mad_Ernie]

Peter:

As always, thanks for sharing your knowledge of the subject.  I agree that I would rather not have bromated product, so if the ascorbic acid (aka Vitamin C) can aid in the final product, I say great.  I feel better about the change now.

-ME

[BTB]

It was my favorite flour for thin crust pizzas and now it bewilders me as to why GM would completely abandon the Harvest King label or moniker.  The product with that name seems to have totally disappeared from the marketplace.  The Harvest King name had great recognition and value, or at least I thought so.  Now it's zero . . . completely gone. Why?  Why call it "Better for Bread" instead?  Must be above my pay grade, too.