When the flour brand changed

For about a month this spring my loaves were tighter than they should be. Smaller oven spring, denser crumb, nothing dramatic — just off.

I tried everything. Longer autolyse. Different hydration. A new starter feed schedule. None of it explained the change. The recipes hadn't changed. My kitchen hadn't changed. I hadn't changed.

Then I looked at the bag. The flour I'd been buying for two years had been quietly reformulated. Same brand, same label, slightly different protein content. Probably a different supplier, probably during the supply chain stuff last fall.

I switched brands. Loaves came back.

Two lessons, the second one bigger than the first:

1. When something changes in your baking and you can't explain it, check your flour. Bags get reformulated. Mills change suppliers. The protein number on the bag is often a range, not a promise.

1. Trust your hands more than your head. I knew something had changed by week two. I spent four more weeks blaming myself before I checked the bag.

— Sarah