Paying Peanuts

The recipe I decided to bake for myself - when I say myself I obviously don't intend to eat this enormous treat all by myself! -  today was Peanut Butter Squares (think flapjack style). Today has been a big test for me because it is the first time I'm going to use Asda's smart price plain flour (60p per 1.5kg), something I've really tried to avoid at all costs because I work at a Windmill which stone-grinds its own organic white flour made entirely from British wheat.

As an employee I have seen countless customers come in and buy our flour and insist it is "the best" flour around, I'm not here to promote The Maud Foster Windmill but this idea does intrigue me. Part of me believes that the customers are simply tricking themselves into thinking that "Strong Plain Untreated Organic Stoneground Flour" is simply better because it has far more adjectives at the front of it but I wanted to test this idea for myself. Is there any real difference between a bag of 60p flour and a bag for £2?

The answer is, to my surprise, Yes. Obviously I can't be 100% sure because this wasn't exactly a scientific experiment but it certainly seems that way. I'm rather adept at telling the difference between flours after working at a windmill for half a decade (A long time, I know) and the smart price stuff just didn't seem... right.

Obviously most of my experience is of the same flour so anything different would probably feel that way but in my head I knew straight away that this wasn't as good at all. There was an aspect of it which felt cheap and nasty. And the end result was nowhere near as good as anything I've made so far. Not because of some hilarious kitchen accident but because the flour didn't turn into breadcrumbs very well at all and the end result has become far more powdery and less solid than originally intended. I guess that you can cut corners all you want to try and make the product economically viable but for flour I will certainly not try anything quite this cheap again. Saisnbury's home brand plain flour (about 80p if i remember correctly) was pretty good so maybe that is a better alternative.


The Result: 

Mmm Powdery...

On the one hand, they taste very good, despite feeling very very unhealthy - I can almost feel my heart struggling to pump all the condensed milk, butter (peanut and ordinary),chocolate and nuts into my bloodstream - but the fact that they are really very very powdery really ruins them. They aren't something I think I'd be excited to eat again but I can't decide whether it is the dodgy flour or just another duff recipe... I have plenty of ASDA's finest left so we shall see!