Where to buy whole grains/flours? [Baking cheap bread!]

[Tasse]

I've been learning to bake bread recently - it's cheap and delicious, and the biking-distance grocery store has terrible selection. White bread is very easy to make, but what I really want is nice flavorful multigrain bread with a little bit of crunch.

Unfortunately, I can't find bulgur wheat or rye flour anywhere. The latter I can probably do without, but the former seems to be a staple of multigrain bread recipes. On Amazon, these ingredients go for about $8 for 22 or 28 oz; by my calculation that's over $1 per loaf of bread for just those two ingredients, which seriously threatens the cost-effectiveness of this plan, since I just bought a premade loaf for $2.

I was sure Trader Joe's would come through for me, but no dice. They aren't in the fill-your-own-container section at my bulk grocery store (Smart and Final Extra) either. Is there a secret to where these products are hiding? Or do you have a great bread recipe that doesn't require them? Here's the one I'm trying at the moment: http://www.completelydelicious.com/multigrain-bread/

Thank you!

[Helvegen]

I've not heard of bulgur wheat flour and I eat bulgur All The Time because I hate cooking brown rice.

Rye flours are just more expensive than wheat because we don't eat rye in the US. It isn't farmed here on the scale wheat is. My Winco has Dark Rye Bob's Red Mill in the bulk bins for $1.14lb last time I checked. If you have a Winco, check out their bulk section. I guess the upside is that you normally do not bake a rye loaf using only rye flour. Baking bread at home is rarely cheaper than buying it at the store because you don't have access to the economies of scale that bakers do.

[brute]

If you don't mind grinding your own, check out your local home brew store. I get 55 pounds of barley for $35. Rye runs about $65 for 50 pounds

[Dollar Slice]

Have you looked at Whole Foods? I'm pretty sure they have both rye flour and bulgur in the bulk bins (and pre-packaged) although it will vary by store a bit. I think Bob's Red Mill will also sell you that kind of stuff direct from their website.

If you sort out some recipes you really like, I'm sure you can get big bulk bags of your preferred ingredients which will be a lot cheaper. But it's probably not a wise idea to buy 25+ lbs of rye flour until you're sure you want it. :-)

[brute]

Have you looked at Whole Foods? I'm pretty sure they have both rye flour and bulgur in the bulk bins (and pre-packaged) although it will vary by store a bit. I think Bob's Red Mill will also sell you that kind of stuff direct from their website.

If you sort out some recipes you really like, I'm sure you can get big bulk bags of your preferred ingredients which will be a lot cheaper. But it's probably not a wise idea to buy 25+ lbs of rye flour until you're sure you want it. :-)

This is true. I bought ~1100 pounds of grain 18 months ago, only 120 pounds left. Make ALL the beer!

[Dollar Slice]

Have you looked at Whole Foods? I'm pretty sure they have both rye flour and bulgur in the bulk bins (and pre-packaged) although it will vary by store a bit. I think Bob's Red Mill will also sell you that kind of stuff direct from their website.

If you sort out some recipes you really like, I'm sure you can get big bulk bags of your preferred ingredients which will be a lot cheaper. But it's probably not a wise idea to buy 25+ lbs of rye flour until you're sure you want it. :-)

This is true. I bought ~1100 pounds of grain 18 months ago, only 120 pounds left. Make ALL the beer!

Nice! :-) My kitchen has about three and a half square inches of storage, so I'm wary of buying food in bulk...

[mm1970]

Instead of bulgur wheat/ cracked wheat, just look for the "5 grain cereal" or "9 grain cereal".  Many, if not most, Smart and Finals will have that in your bulk section.

We make bread (I miss bread, had to give up wheat...).  Most of the recipes that call for bulgar wheat  will work with cracked grains.

Also, many stores (not Trader Joe's), but S&F, Whole Foods, Sprouts, regular grocery stores, will have a "specialty" section in the baking aisle (or in a special "organic" aisle) and will have Bob's Red Mill products.  This is where I go to get specialty like flours if it's not available in the bulk bins.

[Tasse]

Baking bread at home is rarely cheaper than buying it at the store because you don't have access to the economies of scale that bakers do.

Baking white bread at home is INCREDIBLY cheap. Cents per loaf. It's unclear whether the same return is possible for tastier stuff...

I haven't tried Whole Foods - I forgot it sold food besides $3 asparagus water. ;) (Perhaps it's improved since Amazon took over?) And I won't be buying in bulk for my first attempts, unfortunately, but I'll keep these suggestions in mind if I get the hang of it and want to continue. Thanks everybody.

[Helvegen]

I can get bread from low cost to free if I wanted to from bakery outlets. When I bake, I buy good, quality ingredients, not necessarily the cheapest I can find.

I like baking bread and have a sourdough starter I started myself in the fridge, but it takes a lot of time, even if it is inactive. A good rugbrød takes about 12 hours of fermentation time. Ciabatta should be started with a biga, which can add 12 hours to 3 days to your timeline. I have a stand mixer that can handle kneading dough for pizzas and whatnot, but I found that the best results came from good old manual labor.

[BAM]

You can check Azure.com to see if they have a drop site near you that you can get on. They sell many types of grains and other foods for usually good prices. For grains, bags range from 5 lbs to 50 lbs usually.

[Tasse]

Azure.com took me to microsoft's cloud storage service Azure, and I feel like that's not what you meant?

[diapasoun]

Tess, is there a Safeway near you, or any local groceries (especially "ethnic" groceries)? I've had luck finding both rye flour and bulgur in Safeways, and a lot of smaller local groceries will have them. They may or may not be wildly cost-effective. As suggested, using mixed cracked grains can be good too.

If you want more flavorful breads -- and not just the whole grain aspect -- there's other ways to make a bread interesting using wheat flour, herbs, and different sweeteners. If you're looking for recipes that may get around the problems of finding interesting breads w/o bulgur or rye, let me know, I have some good bread books with tasty recipes!

[mm1970]

I think they meant Azure standard

https://www.azurestandard.com/

You should be able to find this somewhere, for a lot less than $8:

https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Bulgur-Wheat/dp/B000VVWUMY?th=1

[frompa]

I think the key to getting decent whole grain flours is to find a place that sells the stuff in great enough quantity that it's not sitting around, because freshness is key.  Where I live, we are lucky enough to have a Mennonite-run dry goods place that has many kinds of rye, whole wheat, oat, spelt, as well as any number of other flours.  It only takes a cup or two of one or any combination of these in a six-seven cup batch of dough to make some really fine bread.  Don't overlook the food value of really good, fresh unbleached white flour, too.  Personally, I go for King Arthur brand, which my dry goods place sells in bags up to 30 lbs..  With the discount from buying these flours in quantity, and the efficiency of making bread as part of your day to day routine (I like sourdough because it's so slow and forgiving), I find making our own breads a cheap source of great joy!!!!  If you get the chance, find that NYT recipe for baking your loaves in cast iron with the lid on.  The crust is fabulous.  Best of luck with your baking.

[FiftyIsTheNewTwenty]

Is there a Great Harvest Bread Co. store near you?  I used to buy flour there, freshly ground, good quality and inexpensive.  Not for a few years though.

[Dollar Slice]

I had to get a few groceries today anyway, so I did a little Whole Foods reconnaissance for you. Did not find rye flour but whole rye berries (which you could grind for flour) are $1.19/lb. Bulgur is $2.49/lb. The 7-grain/seed mix cereal that someone mentioned is $1.99/lb.

I was surprised that they didn't have rye flour since they had a bazillion obscure flours and rye bread is pretty popular in NYC.

[Zikoris]

When I want really fresh, quality whole grain flour, I buy it from a local farmer. If you live in an area where grain is grown, that's an option.

[kimmarg]

Rye flour from whole foods.  I've never heard of 'bulgar wheat' as a flour, although I suppose it's gotta be there somewhere.  As another poster mentioned you can use the standard '5 grain hot cereal' for excellent multigrain loaf. Have you tried just whole wheat flour? Note that working with whole grains is quite different than white flour and so you may be dissapointed if you've had great white bread success and then bake a few bricks in whole grain. Half whole grain half white is a great sweet spot for quality bread.

I buy only King Arthur flour. It's available online www.kingarthurflour.com as well as any baking ingredient you could want. I buy it from my local store as it's cheaper than online but at least that's an option for you.

[BAM]

Yeah, I meant azurestandard.com. Sorry about that.

[Tasse]

Tess, is there a Safeway near you, or any local groceries (especially "ethnic" groceries)? I've had luck finding both rye flour and bulgur in Safeways, and a lot of smaller local groceries will have them. They may or may not be wildly cost-effective. As suggested, using mixed cracked grains can be good too.

If you want more flavorful breads -- and not just the whole grain aspect -- there's other ways to make a bread interesting using wheat flour, herbs, and different sweeteners. If you're looking for recipes that may get around the problems of finding interesting breads w/o bulgur or rye, let me know, I have some good bread books with tasty recipes!

YES, I want those books!

As for safeway, the biggest chain around here is Vons, which is safeway-owned, but didn't have either thing I'm looking for.

I think they meant Azure standard

https://www.azurestandard.com/

You should be able to find this somewhere, for a lot less than $8:

https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Bulgur-Wheat/dp/B000VVWUMY?th=1

Yeah, that's what I've been looking for. I found the brand in the store yesterday - all their products all lined up in a row - but no bulgur wheat.

I had to get a few groceries today anyway, so I did a little Whole Foods reconnaissance for you. Did not find rye flour but whole rye berries (which you could grind for flour) are $1.19/lb. Bulgur is $2.49/lb. The 7-grain/seed mix cereal that someone mentioned is $1.99/lb.

I was surprised that they didn't have rye flour since they had a bazillion obscure flours and rye bread is pretty popular in NYC.

Appreciate the intel. I'll have to check out the local store.

When I want really fresh, quality whole grain flour, I buy it from a local farmer. If you live in an area where grain is grown, that's an option.

Alas, I live in the desert.

I already have been trying recipes with whole wheat flour - successfully! - but it doesn't give me the seedy, nutty texture I want.

[Lovetosave]

If you have Indian or Persian stores near you, they will carry the bulgur/cracked wheat.

[spokey doke]

Looking at the recipe you posted, it looks solid, and should give you a much more complex and healthy bread than a plain white loaf...but you should feel free to tinker with it and not be locked what it calls for.  Also, baking with whole grain flours, along with oats and seeds added, will make for a much different texture, and it can be a challenge for new bakers to get the same kind of volume/loft.  You might ease yourself into that transition by substituting a bit more AP flour for the whole wheat and or rye flour at first.  I think breads like this get interesting when you get to around 30% whole grain flours and up (30% of the total amount of flour).

As for sources, if you don't find something local, mail order through Amazon or through the flour supplier themselves (I mostly know the organic suppliers):

Bob's Red Mill
Central Milling
King Arthur

And if you are not going through it very fast, you can put a portion of what you get in big ziplocs in your freezer for a while (the oils in true whole grain flour will go rancid if they are exposed to oxygen at room temps for too long).  This also means you want to check the dates on any bags of whole grain flour you buy, or as suggested above, buy in bulk only from places that go through their supply fairly quickly (as the bulk foods manager).


Finally...this site is your friend:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

[zinnie]

If you have Indian or Persian stores near you, they will carry the bulgur/cracked wheat.

Something similar to this was my first thought. I go to a produce market that has a lot of middle eastern and north african foods and they have bulgar wheat cheap, both in bulk bins and pre-packaged. Never looked to see if they carry the flour, though.

[fuzzy math]

Winco grocery has a giant bulk section of flours. There are a few locations in SoCal.

[mm1970]

Yeah, that's what I've been looking for. I found the brand in the store yesterday - all their products all lined up in a row - but no bulgur wheat.

Put in a request to have the store carry it.  I did that with something at my local grocery store once...it took 3 requests but eventually they started carrying it!  If they have all the other Bob's Red Mill stuff, it should be hard to order bulgur.

[diapasoun]

Tess, is there a Safeway near you, or any local groceries (especially "ethnic" groceries)? I've had luck finding both rye flour and bulgur in Safeways, and a lot of smaller local groceries will have them. They may or may not be wildly cost-effective. As suggested, using mixed cracked grains can be good too.

If you want more flavorful breads -- and not just the whole grain aspect -- there's other ways to make a bread interesting using wheat flour, herbs, and different sweeteners. If you're looking for recipes that may get around the problems of finding interesting breads w/o bulgur or rye, let me know, I have some good bread books with tasty recipes!

YES, I want those books!

The one I've been using a lot recently is Beard on Bread -- the paperback cost me about $15 and has definitely given me more than $15 in savings. Here's a list of breads that aren't plain white breads that don't use bulgur or rye flour; if you're interested in any, let me know and I can PM you the actual recipes so I'm not clogging up the thread. (Happy to PM them to anyone else who's interested, too, lemme know.)

Potato Bread with Caraway Seeds
Brown Bread
William Childs' Health Bread (has oats)
Whole-meal Bread with Potatoes
Anadama Bread (has cornmeal)
Oatmeal Bread
Oatmeal Bread with Cooked Oatmeal
Whole-wheat Nut Bread (has nuts, raisins, honey)
Whole-wheat Soda Bread
Sweet Potato Rolls
Potato Scones

This was useful; now I have a nice little list of tasty things to work through... I think the sweet potato rolls might be up next. ;)

[spokey doke]

Book rec.'s...

If I were to get one book full of both great explanations of ingredients, process, and technique, along with a wide range of very reliable recipes, hands down it would be: "Bread" by J. Hammelman

But there are a ton of books that will help you down the road...

[Tasse]

I found both ingredients at Whole Foods as was suggested! They seemed to have every single Bob's Red Mill product on the market, so keeping that in mind for the future.

Diapasoun, the Oatmeal Bread and Whole-Wheat Nut Bread caught my attention the most, though if you have any particular favorite please feel free to recommend!

Thanks everyone!

[Dollar Slice]

I found both ingredients at Whole Foods as was suggested! They seemed to have every single Bob's Red Mill product on the market, so keeping that in mind for the future.

Hooray! :-)

They really do have an astonishing array of flours and grains.