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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
White Lily Flour leaves the South
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By the end of the month, White Lily Flour, for more than 100 years a staple for biscuits, cakes and pies, will no longer be made in the South.
The flour has been made in the same Knoxville, Tenn., factory for 125 years, where it’s milled to produce the lightest, whitest flour around, one ideally suited for Southern favorites like biscuits. Other flours have higher protein contents, which make them better for sturdier baked goods like breads.
J.M. Smucker, which bought the White Lily brand in 2006 from C.H. Guenther & Sons, will continue making the flour at facilities in the Midwest. But many cooks are worried that the flour won’t be the same, according to a story in today’s New York Times. The newspaper got a few cooks to do a blind-baking test of flour milled in Knoxville, and the new version produced in the land of hard winter wheat. The results weren’t scientific, but they were unanimous: Cooks said they could tell the difference, and that the new White Lily flour didn’t produce the tender biscuits that the old one does.
Do you use White Lily? We’ve heard some fans are buying it up and freezing it to ensure a supply for a few more months. Have you? What do you think about the milling operation for this most Southern of flours — the best-selling flour in Atlanta — to the Midwest?
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Wednesday’s Five Faves: What Would Make You Skip the Elevator?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TRES LECHES CAKE AT TIERRA: Once, twice, three times worth skipping the elevator for.
The elevator came up with this week’s list of Five Faves. Well, my riding the elevator, anyway. I get really miffed when someone gets on the elevator to travel only one or two floors. Even worse when the elevator is going down. Geez, people. Can’t you walk?
When I stopped 14 times on my way to the 8th floor, I began to think of reasons why we all need to walk. And that made me think of cake, of course.
So here’s my list of FIVE FAVE slices of cake or cake-like things worth skipping the elevator for:
The coconut cake — really any cake — at Rexall Grill in Duluth is so moist, sweet and Southernly delicious that it will make you want to slap your grandma and possibly a few cousins. 3165 Buford Highway, Duluth. 770-623-8569, www.rexallgrill.com. Skip the elevator rating: 6.
Red velvet cupcakes at Buttersweet Bakery in Hapeville — very red. Very moist. A little hint of chocolate flavor and swirls of creamy-dreamy cream cheese frosting. 625 North Central Ave., Hapeville, 404-767-9884, www.buttersweetbakery.com. Skip the elevator rating: 6.5.
A beautiful creation called “Petunia” at Chocolate Pink Pastry Cafe made with brown sugared bananas, chocolate buttermilk cake, Nutella-laced ganache, hazelnut mousse and a jaconde (think crunchy, nut-flavored, toasted meringue) on the outside. So worth skipping the elevator for. 905 Juniper St. NE, Unit 108, 404-745-9292, www.chocolatepinkcafe.com. Skip the elevator rating: 7.5.
Repast’s lighter-than-air, chiffon-style cheesecake is a tiny bite of heaven. Don’t pine for dense and heavy — this cake is as light as a feather, and laced with a hint of lemon. 620 Glen Iris Drive, Atlanta. 404-870-8707, www.repastrestaurant.com. Skip the elevator rating: 8.5.
And finally, the cake to run stairs for:
Tres leches at Tierra — OMG I want to die when I eat this. The dense, milk-soaked layer topped with a perfect swirl of meringue actually makes me happy when I eat it. 1425 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-874-5951, www.tierrarestaurant.com. Skip the elevator rating: 4,599,999,000.
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