December 6, 2010 - 8:14pm
Name your favorite companies, I need recs
#1 Does anyone know of anywhere in Southern California that I can buy flour in bulk?
#2 If the answer to #1 is no, can you give me the names of places I can order from that have decent prices and the shipping costs that aren't horrible? Links to websites are appreciated!
I am looking into buying a range of different flours (eventually) and yeast.
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Maybe things are too different here on the right coast ...but then again maybe not, maybe my experience will be helpful to you anyway.
I've found locating a source that will sell retail in bulk (other than the local organic mill) to be quite frustrating. Many months of searching, finally a hit, and then what seems like only a few months later they either change their prices and sales strategy drastically or go out of business altogether.
What seems to work a whole lot better is to strike up a relationship with a small local baker. Lots of them seem amenable to a deal like "next time you get a truckload of flour, order four extra 50# sacks, then 'unofficially' sell them to me retail for cash - you win because you make a little extra money on the deal, I win because I can get items and quantities I don't have access to otherwise".
(There are some threads here on TFL about excellent mills in northern California that welcome retail buyers, even those who only want one sack; I suspect -but don't really know- that the southern California climate isn't amenable to wheat though. How often do you drive 400 miles, and how much storage space can you access?-)
Is that the Northern California mill you are talking about? I haven't been up north in 2 years... I thought about that but it's not something that would happen often enough.
There is a local baker from our farmers market who is really cool, I will shoot him an email and see what he says!
but I've read here on these TFL pages about Goldberg & Solovy as a Southern California source of King Arthur Flour products in big bag quantities. You are also near to New York Bakers, based in San Diego and run by Stan Ginsberg (elagins) a respected contributor to this site. NYBakers has a small but growing array of products that fill many of the mainstream, and some of the more difficult to find niche needs of avid hobby and pro-am bakers alike. I am no more than a satisfied customer and have no problem recommending you give them a try. Shipping costs from so near by should be minimal compared to more distant options.
Good Luck
OldWoodenSpoon
We are in San Diego at least once every other month, I could always pick flour up from there!