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Arva Flour Mill
There can be just a few or many ingredients used in making a fresh loaf of bread. But, their is no denying that flour is the most important ingredient in making a good quality bread. That's why I'm always interested in trying flours from all over North America. It's fascinating to see the variety and quality of the flour that comes from these talented small artisan flour mills that dot our countrysides. Most of the time we only see those big brand names flour companies in our local grocery and never knew you had any other choices to purchase your flour. That's why I was very excited to get an email from Bill at Arva Flour Mill asking if I would be interested in trying out their flour.
I did a little investigating about Arva flour mill and found out that this historic mill is Canada's oldest continuously operated water powered flour mill, established in 1819 and is located north of London Ontario. Bill was gracious enough to send me a few bags of their Daisy unbleached hard white flour and a few bags of the Daisy 100% hard wholewheat flour. Arva flour mill has just started selling their top quality flours online. I hope after you read this post you take the time to check out Arva's online store at ( www.arvaflourmill.com ).
When ever I test a flour I like to use as few ingredients as possible. This way I can taste the flavors of the wheat and allow the aroma of the flour to come through. So, for the White loaf I use 3 cups of the Arva's unbleached hard white flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast and 1 1/4 cups of water. I mixed these together, just till the flour combined and then covered with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight for 14 hours. I also did the same with a 50% whole wheat bread with 1 1/2 cups of the hard white flour and 1 1/2 cups of the hard wholewheat flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast and 1 1/4 cups of water.
One of the reasons I allowed the dough to sit for 14 hours without touching it was to see how the gluten develops on it's own. In the morning I lifted the cling wrap only to have this wonderful natural wheat smell with just a slight hint of a sourness. I really wish everyone had a scratch and sniff computer screen to smell this dough. Now for the stretch and gluten test. As you can see, I took a piece of the dough in my fingers and pulled upwards, you can see the stretch. Angela my sister was fumbling with the camera and I had to hold this stretch for awhile and it continued to hold the stretch without breaking. At that moment I knew this flour was going to bake a delicious loaf of bread.
While baking you could really smell the aroma of bread baking in the oven. You can also see the wonderful spring I got on the top of the bread. The bread itself had a nice crispy crust and when sliced the crumb didn't flack very much. The bread retained nice air pockets and the flavor was amazing. Interestingly the loaf had a slight sweet taste to it. Very Good!
One thing I didn't talk about was that I did this recipe with a fresh bag of Robin Hood Home style bread flour. I did both breads at the same time, because I was interested in the difference in flavor and texture. I truly have to say the Arva's Daisy flour was by far the more superior bread in both flavor and texture. I'm going to leave it at that for now. I plan on doing a post on the quality of different flours some other time.
Q & A with Mike Mathews Owner of Arva Flour Mill. The Arva Flour mill was established in 1819 and after a series of owners, ended up in the Scott family since 1919. I’m the current owner and the fourth generation of the Scott family. (My father the late Bill Matthews, "married the millers daughter" My mother Susan Scott ). I suppose the best advantage of water power is the reduction in electricity. Today however, individual water powered facilities are more of a novelty than a power alternative. Approximately half of the mill continues to run on water power ( the feed side ). The remainder of the mill runs on from a 40 HP electric motor. The stream characteristics of the Medway Creek have changed substantially over the last 200 years, from a number of human impacts and flow is no longer consistent nor as plentiful enough to power the entire mill continuously. Flour from the Arva Flour Mill is milled on the same roller mills that were grinding it almost 100 years ago. These vintage mills run much slower and cooler than todays larger roller mills , keeping the grain and flour cooler throughout the process. Our flours are considered "all natural" in that nothing is added to the flour during the milling process other than what is mandated by government regulation. We are required to re-introduce or "enrich" the flour with thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid and iron. When milling white flour, the bran and germ which contain the above nutrients, are removed and must be put back in. Whole wheat flour does not have the bran or germ removed and thus no enrichment is required. Many of the larger mills add preservatives to their flours to extend the shelf live until consumed. We add NO chemicals or preservatives to our flours. - Who runs and operates the mill? We have a certified Polish miller named, Tadek Lesniak, who has been with the mill since 1986. He is an accomplished miller from Poland where he worked in a 500 metric ton per day mill ( we can mill about 14 ton in an 18 hour day ! ). He is the driving force behind the scene, working day and night to produce the flour. He knows how to mill "the old way " and I am amazed how he can stand outside the mill and recognize what and where any malfunction might be, simply by listening to the " hum " of the building.
- Where do you get your wheat grains that you mill from? Our grains come from Southwestern Ontario, usually within fifty miles of the mill. We use Ontario hard wheat for our whole wheat and unbleached hard white flours and Ontario soft wheat for our pastry flours. We also mill local spelt flour at our facility. Originally the Arva Mill was a grist mill, with a water wheel turning the grinding stones but around 1912, with the advent of the roller mill, the millstones and wheel were replaced with water turbines and our Canadian made Goldie and McCullough roller mills that continue to run at our mill on a daily basis. You can see a photo of our five mills on our main page on-line. Our best sellers are our hard unbleached bread flour and our spelt flour. Historically, our customers have mainly been the local Southern Ontario commercial bakeries and restaurants. We have also shipped large container quantities of our certified organic spelt worldwide and will be doing so again this year.
More and more people are seeking healthier food as horror stories appear on the daily news citing the harmful effects of the many additives in the processed foods. We have many favorite breads and cookie recipes made with our flours. The whole wheat and spelt bread recipes are very popular as well. We provide free recipes to our customers, for the cookies, muffins and breads. Every on-line order has the recipes shipped with them; bread machine recipes as well. Our flours are not Kosher or Halal certified. Mind you, we have milled Kosher in the past on a specific contract from a Jewish Community in New Jersey but, that was about ten years ago. We add NO chemicals or preservatives to our flours so they should be refrigerated or frozen until consumed. Otherwise, humans aren't the only liven beings that love to eat good flour. We recommend that our flours be refrigerated or kept in the freezer, otherwise they will deteriorate. Our little Chevy Woody Sedan Delivery truck was a barn find a couple of years ago. With a minor going over, with the addition of the oval windows and graphics, she has become our VP of marketing for us, selling flour out the back door at markets and entering the local parades.
- I noticed that Arva Flour Mill put on "The Great Canadian Bacon Festival". To help with the mill's restoration project. That must of been a lot of fun? Is this going to be an ongoing event for Arva Flour Mill? Last summer, our Bacon-Fest on our property was a huge success and will be repeated again this year, along with other events on the property. We will also be developing a corner of the property this summer into a small restaurant and other complimentary uses (bakery, gluten free market, butcher etc ) so there will be much activity here this year. Before we end this Q/A section is their anything else you would lke to add? Yes, we have two videos that you may like to share with your visitors.
Embebbed vidoe from Youtube:
Embebbed vidoe from Youtube:
As we end this article about Arva flour mill. I would like to thank both Matthew and Bill for giving us a chance, to test and share, our results with their beautiful artisan flour. I hope others will get a chance to try your flour for themselves. If anyone is looking for more information please go to Arva's website or if your in the area. Take a drive and enjoy some time at this historical flour mill. Arva Flour Mill 2042 Elgin St, Arva Ontario Canada NoM1C0 Website: www.arvaflourmill.com Bread Recipes you may like.
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