Baking is not part of traditional Chinese cuisine. Stir-frying, steaming, and braising are common. But ovens are still very much a rarity in a Chinese kitchen. The fact that I can make bread, cakes, and cookies is amazing to my local friends. They don’t realize how terrible the local bakeries’ bread is because they’ve never had quality bread or desserts. (Well, until they visit me, that is!)
I have to make our own breads in order to have something edible and somewhat nutritious. (The bread here tends to be very light and sweet. I think it is made with water instead of milk, all white flour, no eggs, and a lot of sugar. Think ultra sweet Wonderbread. Yuck.)
Some cities do have Western style bread shops, but our small city still has only Chinese-styled breads, things like buns stuffed with sweetened red bean paste or stuffed with dried meat floss. Things like tortillas, bagels, pita bread, raisin bread are non-existent.
So I use lots of flour. So much flour that I buy it in bulk at the bakery supply shop in the wholesale market. Here is my latest delivery — a 25 kg bag (over 50 lbs) of bread flour and a 23 kg bag of whole wheat flour. I don’t do it so much to save money (although it is cheaper this way) as to save the trouble of carrying home a 5 pound bag of flour every time I go to the grocery store.
The bakery supply shop has become so used to me that they will deliver right to my door. What a convenience! I just call them up when I’m running low. This much flour lasts us about 6 months. I spent 350 RMB on this delivery; that’s about $50.
This time they even brought me some muffin papers. My last package (all red) lasted me two entire years. I don’t know how many are in there– maybe 600? Looks like this cycle will be yellow.
The whole wheat flour has to be special ordered since none of their other customers uses it. (That tells you a lot about the quality of bread in our city, doesn’t it? Four million people and I am the sole user of whole wheat flour.) I store the flour in big plastic bins in my bedroom beside the chest freezer. I’ve never had any trouble with weevils or other pests since the bakery’s flour is much fresher than what is in the grocery stores.
More Posts Like This One:
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this post! When I was in Xi’an we bought flour at the grocery store, shlept it home and made bread. Turns out “noodle flour” doesn’t make the best bread! ;o) *snort*
I’m glad to hear that you can get whole wheat. When we were there no one we talked to had any idea where we could get it. Of course, most of the expats I talked to don’t even know how to make bread themselves! My girls were a HUGE hit with their cinnamon rolls…..when we got the right flour that is!
Boy, I bet this does make you popular among your Chinese friends!
Amy @ Hope Is the Word´s last [type] ..Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Fascinating! I wonder if you had a wheat grinder if it would be possible to buy whole grain? Just curious:)
I always bought the 25 kg bag too. People are always curious about what I do with it. They do make their own bread, but that’s mostly all they do with flour. There are no muffins, cookies…certainly no bagels or tortillas.
lee´s last [type] ..Space Studies
Your post brings back memories of that very sweet Asian bread (it always looked delicious till you sink your teeth in it and taste the watery sweetness) and bags and bags of flour with weevils during the damp and hot summer months.
I learned to add a lot of taste to our bread by adding sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sometimes raisins, and different types of oil.
I am glad you are able to get flour. I know those little bags don’t last long. The bread loving Miss K kept wanting bread at the bakery but she would take a bite and say “yucky”. She did not like the sweet bread.
That is so interesting. Just a little thing like flour!
Interesting. I love reading about your adventures in China. It’s so much fun.
Still cracking up at the idea that you live in small city of 4 Million! We live in an average size city of 8 million and we can get decent bread. We do a lot of baking though to get really whole grain stuff.
I fell in love with good bread when I was an exchange student in France, many many years ago! I can make a meal out of a good loaf of bread, some cheese, and a sliced tomato!
After reading your post, I will never again complain about not having a decent bakery in our town. At least I can get whole wheat bread and fresh baguettes, even if they aren’t up to European standards!
Sparklee´s last [type] ..Moose Watching- Eh
What an interesting post. I love bread and would hate to have to go without it. I love to learn all of the cultural differences.
Blessings,
Dawn
Okay, I am COMPLETELY fascinated by this. Have you ever taken a loaf of your bread to your local baker? Just wondering what they think about it.
My Korean grandmother used to mix flour, water and sugar and cook it in a skillet for us as a treat. Sometimes we’d even add syrup to it, even though it was flat like a tortilla instead of a pancake. Nothing beats yeast and bread! Not all the rice in China! (couldn’t resist. *groan* right?)
Marsha´s last [type] ..queen at white castle
This is so interesting! Thank you for posting about this and all the fascinating little nuances that are part of your world in China! I never would of thought it would be so difficult to find flour in China…your blog is very educational
This never occured to me, but then, I’ve only been out of Canada once and that was to go to the US. And the fact that it costs you so much…but then again, I get my flour in 20 kg sizes as well (white and whole wheat) and don’t pay a dime – thanks to a father who farms and has wheat ground for the family as “Christmas presents”. When I run low, I just call Dad and next time he comes to our city he loads up some more – he keeps it in a freezer just for flour…and our city? I consider that large enough with just over 40 thousand.
I’m starting to think I need to get out more…
I’m soooo glad for you that you can get this delivered as well! It is great to be able to make the things you can’t buy and miss from home. I can get alot more things than I used to be able to get here in England. 16 years ago tortillas and bagels were unheard of and whole wheat options on everything else were rare! Now I can buy all of these much cheaper and better quality than I can make. I buy my flour in bulk too – from a windmill. I mix the different whole grain flours to make a whole grain mix and use that in everything – yummy! Enjoy your baking!
WOW! My mom always puts the whole wheat flour in the freezer here in the Midwest USA and thus, so do I. I only get 5lbs at a time and use it for waffles, pancakes and pizza dough halfed into the flour recipe. I do buy 25lbs of all purpose white flour, but I probably only get that 3 times a year. My kids just learned how to clean out the deep freeze last month. They were not pleased to eat through all the various frozen foods before we could clean out and then restock. Sprite doesn’t seem very picky as an eater. Is she? Or are you and your husband? It’s so good that your mom taught you or you were relatively familiar with baking. Do you ever half the flour recipe on cookies with oatmeal? I do use the substitute half of the flour for quick oats in most cookie recipes as well as brown versus white sugar. But, I’m so spoiled to have the ingredients readily available in Chicagoland. Thanks for opening the window on your real life kitchen.
I always love reading your blog. It’s so intriguing to get a glimpse of your life overseas. You have such a great way of making a topic–even one as basic as flour–so interesting!
Kim @ In Our Write Minds´s last [type] ..Bringing order and logic into the language
Wow. I am suddenly very grateful for having to order my wheat and have it shipped across the country. Thanks for telling your story. And I’m thinking you should make them some good whole wheat bread and take it to the bakery, maybe it’ll start a trend!
Thanks for the interesting story!
greenchickadee´s last [type] ..Saying Goodbye
Another interesting thing about the Chinese culture. Never would have thought buying flour would be such a process. I certainly would miss good, tasty bread items too. Happy baking!