I have got into the habit of using their Canadian Very Strong Stoneground for the wholemeal component and their Leckford Estate Strong White for the white component. Which last I suspect of coming from some large shed on an industrial estate, rather than the tastefully presented farm, farm shop, organics, country house and very superior duck house (far better than the expenses people at the Palace of Westminster would allow) shown off at reference 1. Hard to see how 4,000 acres is going to generate enough flour to stock up all the Waitrose shops up and down the land. That apart, I find that the bread does vary with the flour and that I get better results if I stick to the same brands.
But I digress. I took one bag of Stoneground, two bags of Leckford, one copy of the Guardian and got through the self-service checkout without needing any assistance, something which I now manage more often than not. Without getting the Guardian free, with the rules for free having been tightened up. It used to be a very good bit of discounting for me.
Head off up West Hill and for some reason, half way up, I think that it might be a good idea to check that I have got the right flour. Which I had not, having mistaken Plain White for Strong White, the colour scheme being very nearly the same and the words done in some fancy type which is not very clear to the older eye.
So back to the shop with my receipt, which I had on this occasion kept, and swapped the plain flour for Allinson's Strong White, the Leckford sort not being there at all. A couple of pennies per bag less so I did not feel the need to trouble one of the partners. Plus, I have used the stuff before when Waitrose stock had failed me, with quite acceptable results. And furthermore, probably not a bad thing to shake the tree from time to time, just to make sure that I am doing the best that can be done.
The question now being, was this evidence of my not trusting myself to get things right any more or was it a case of the brain having taken on the image of the name of the flour but only getting around to processing it into words, subconsciously, some time later? A sort of double checking which might be going on all the time, rather as, in a not too busy retirement, one keeps thinking of important changes to one's very important letter long after one has posted it.
Evidence for the former hypothesis being my tendency to go back up the drive and check that I have locked the back door, perhaps one time out of three. On the other hand, not something I remember doing with flour before.
PS: second thoughts: a bit of quick bing helped out by reference 2 gives the following. You might get 10 tons of wheat to the hectare, with the record being 15, so say 4 to the acre. Suppose then that half the 4,000 acres is down to wheat and we get 8,000 tons of wheat. Suppose a (low) conversion ratio of wheat to flour of 60% or so and we have 5,000 tons of flour, say 10,000,000 one pound bags of flour. I buy something less than a pound of white a day, probably a lot more than average. So maybe 10,000,000 one pound bags would be enough for Waitrose after all. But maybe I had better check the sums in the morning.
Reference 1: https://leckfordestate.co.uk/.
Reference 2: https://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/12452/DavidMog2011.pdf?sequence=3.
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