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Honored Contributor
Posts: 26,164
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!

Amazon had a sale on White Lily self-rising flour recently where you got two 5 lb bags for $7.52. It came yesterday and on Sunday I'll try my favorite biscuit recipe with it to see how it works. Nathalie Dupree was one of my favorite TV cooks and she swore by White Lily flour. (They also sponsored her so she may have been a tad biased.) It's not available in local markets but Amazon had it as a Deal of the Day, so I grabbed ten pounds and we'll see how it does. I'll try it out on biscuits first, then move on to pancakes and assorted other options later.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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Posts: 4,602
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!

Love this flour for biscuits!  I am lucky to be able to buy it at my local Kroger store.  But they do not carry other White Lily flours.  Only the self rising.  

I was in another city and was so excited to find a 3 lb bag of White Lily All Purpose!  The recipe I use for my yeast dinner rolls calls for all purpose.  Cannot wait to make some with the White Lily!

 

Would love to be able to find their bread flour.

“I heard the sound I had to follow”
In Your Wildest Dreams by Justin Hayward
Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,029
Registered: ‎04-06-2010

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!

Please let us know your results. I too love making biscuits and have read about White Lilly being a favorite of Southern cooks. It's hard enough being able to find my treasured  King Arthur AP flour in my local Meijer, so I usually don't go scouring for another brand, but maybe I'll start. I think that I read there is a biscuit recipe on the bag?

Honored Contributor
Posts: 26,164
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!


@joannecha wrote:

Please let us know your results. I too love making biscuits and have read about White Lilly being a favorite of Southern cooks. It's hard enough being able to find my treasured  King Arthur AP flour in my local Meijer, so I usually don't go scouring for another brand, but maybe I'll start. I think that I read there is a biscuit recipe on the bag?


I just looked at the recipe on the back of their bag. (The only thing I checked first was the expiration date which is almost a year away.) Their recipe is very similar to what I use now. I call my current recipe the 6,1, and 5/8 recipe. That's six ounces of self-rising flour, one ounce of Crisco, and 5/8 cups of milk.

 

Their recipe is slightly more flour heavy and drier with 2 cups of flour, 1/4 cup Crisco, and 3/4 cups milk. It would be more of an eight to one flour to Crisco recipe. The 3/4 cup of milk seems a bit low to me. That seems dry to me, but we'll see. I'll follow their recipe the first time then modify as need be. My recipe is a 6-1 flour to Crisco ratio. Theirs is an 8-1 flour to Crisco ratio. I almost go up to 3/4 cup of milk for my 1.5 cups of flour, so just 3/4 cup of milk for 2 cups of flour might be a bit dry. It's pretty easy to add more milk if need be.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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Posts: 8,168
Registered: ‎03-19-2014

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!

I follow "Cooking with Brenda Gantt" on Facebook and she uses White Lily.  I had never heard of it or seen it in any of my grocery stores.  I'm also not a baker.  White Lily has actually partnered with her now on some special projects.  

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
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Honored Contributor
Posts: 44,347
Registered: ‎01-08-2011

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!

White Lily is the number one flour in the south.  With WL, the products come out light (less dense), and biscuits and other breads are very white.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,025
Registered: ‎03-19-2010

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!

I haven't made biscuits in quite awhile.  I make such a mess.  But, I do use White Lily white cornmeal for my cornbread.  So much better than the yellow cornbread most restaurants (including Cracker Barrel) serve.

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Posts: 1,827
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!

@gardenman - Can you tell us what "warm place" you put your dough to proof? Everyone (recipes, TV, YT) says to put the dough in a warm place. Where is that? On a heating pad? How warm? 🤔


My mother was a fantastic cook and baker, but unfortunately, I never paid attention and always thought there was time to find out.

F/N/A luvstogarden
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Posts: 26,164
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!


@Mimi 1883 wrote:

@gardenman - Can you tell us what "warm place" you put your dough to proof? Everyone (recipes, TV, YT) says to put the dough in a warm place. Where is that? On a heating pad? How warm? 🤔


My mother was a fantastic cook and baker, but unfortunately, I never paid attention and always thought there was time to find out.


It depends on the weather. In the summer anyplace works. In the wintertime, I tend to use my oven. I'll turn it on for just a few seconds, maybe a minute or so, and feel that it's comfortably warm. Then I turn it off and in goes the dough. I keep the oven light on to help add a little bit of warmth. It's only a 40-watt incandescent bulb, but it adds a little heat to help keep things just warm.

 

I aim for a starting oven temp of maybe 90-100 degrees. Comfortably warm is my goal. I typically use my plastic dough bucket which isn't very cool and changes temperature quickly. If I was using a heavy glass or stoneware bowl to rise the dough that was cool to start with, I might start with a bit warmer temp as those containers tend to need longer to heat up to a comfortably warm temp. If you start with a little warmer oven temp (100-120 degrees) it'll help compensate for the greater mass of bowl you have to heat. 

 

My bedroom tends to stay warmish (75-80) and my computer is alongside the bed, so if I'm making a less fussy dough, I'll just plop the dough bucket on the bed so I can keep an eye on it while on the computer. That's especially true if the dough is warm after being kneaded. If I knead by hand I tend to do it on my marble pastry board which cools the dough a bit. If it's been kneaded in my mixer or food processor the dough is typically a bit warmer and holds the heat pretty well in my bedroom.

 

Dough will rise at pretty much any temp above freezing. Warmer temps make it rise faster. Slower rising tends to develop more flavor. Some recipes let the dough rise overnight or longer in the fridge. Some bigas/poolish/starters rise overnight at room temp to develop a stronger flavor. The most important thing is to learn when a dough is properly risen. Lots of things affect the rise of a dough. Temperature is one of them, but the sugar/salt ratio affects it also. Sugar tends to make doughs rise faster while salt retards rising, but adds flavor. Some flours help doughs rise more while other flours can slow the rise. 

 

Over time you'll develop a system that works best for you. I've been baking since my teens so I've got about fifty years of experience and I've had my share of failures along the way. I tend to rely on my known/trusted recipes and rarely try something different. I do have a new French rustic bread recipe from King Arthur that I may try out maybe next Saturday. Baking truly isn't as hard or scary as some like you to think. People have been baking bread since the dawn of mankind and even a "bad" homemade is still pretty darn good, so go for it! A bit of salt, yeast, flour, and water and you've got all you need. You can't go too far wrong.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Honored Contributor
Posts: 35,514
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: I finally got some White Lily Self-rising flour!

White Lily is a different type of wheat than most commercial AP flours and makes the best biscuits ever!  They have a cleaner taste, not as nutty as most AP flour.  

 

OH I love White Lily!!!!!  

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