Three years ago, Smuckers stopped milling White Lily flour, a beloved brand of soft-wheat flour favored by Southern bakers, at its facility in Knoxville, Tenn. The name stayed the same, but the flour was different. Bakers across the South noticed and worried about ever being able to create tender biscuits and cakes again.
The difference, food scientists said, is that White Lily flour was no longer made of Southern low-protein, low-gluten red winter wheat but rather hardier Midwestern wheat. Plus, they say the mill in Tennessee produced a finer, silkier product.
The change created an opening for the third-generation owners of Midstate Mills in Newton, N.C., about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte. "When [White Lily] production moved away from Knoxville, we saw an opportunity to fill a void for consumers," says Steve Arndt, chief marketing officer and treasurer of Midstate Mills. His grandfather started the mill in 1935. (Midstate Mills also makes Southern Biscuit Flour and Tenda-Bake mixes.)
Now, the company has partnered with Shirley Corriher, a food scientist based in Atlanta, the author of "Cook Wise," and "Bake Wise," and a frequent guest on Alton Brown's Food Network show, "Good Eats."
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