Flour power

Why limit yourself to baking with all-purpose flour when there’s a world of organic flours in our bulk department? Don’t be afraid to play around — there are plenty of options that offer wonderful, subtle flavor and can add variety to your diet.

Spelt

Whole spelt flour is similar to whole wheat, with crunchiness and a nutty flavor. Mild, refined spelt is a terrific substitute for all-purpose flour. Spelt won’t absorb milk or water as well as wheat, so reduce your recipe’s liquid by about 20 percent for best results.

Barley

With its malty, nutty flavor and low gluten content, barley is a fine addition in almost any recipe with wheat flour — try substituting it for about half the all-purpose flour in a recipe with baking powder, or a quarter of the flour in a yeast bread.

Whole Wheat Pastry

This finely milled flour is made from white wheat grown in Lyden, Wash. For most cake recipes, use half cake flour and half whole wheat pastry flour if you don’t want a discernible change in flavor or texture. Chewy cookies typically do fine with up to 100 percent of this flour.

More options

We’re excited to introduce a line of locally grown and milled flours from PCC Farmland Trust farmer Nash Huber. Look for fresh wheat, rye and triticale flours beginning this month; selection will vary by store. You’ll also find flours like einkorn and kamut, or gluten-free options like almond meal, oat, buckwheat, amaranth and teff. While they all offer interesting flavors and baking experiences, kamut, a close relative of wheat and spelt, routinely earns outstanding marks for its pleasantly sweet, rich flavor and wonderfully smooth texture. Try it out in our simple, three-ingredient Kamut Cardamom Shortbread.