Urgent correction: 50 not 40
and begging your forgiveness
I just realized today (with help from a reader) that I mistakenly recommended a 40 mesh sifter in my post from two weeks ago about sifting flour when I really meant 50 mesh. The sifter I use is unlabeled, and I purchased it some ten years ago, and somehow got into my head that it was a 40.
A 40 mesh is useful too, but won’t extract enough of the bran to make the sort of high-extraction flour I typically use in my formulas. I realize that many of you purchased a 40 mesh on my recommendation already, and I am so sorry I let this happen, there’s no excuse. (I will say that my brain is mostly running on fumes these days.) The good news1 is that a 50 mesh is also only 11 bucks, and maybe you haven’t used yours yet and it can be returned.
Please forgive me! (Feel free to throw your 40 mesh sifters at my head if we meet in person.)
A happy update! Breadtopia has graciously offered to let anyone who already purchased a 40 mesh from them get a 50 mesh at a deep discount:
Hi there. Breadtopia here with an evil plan to make you all keep your 40 mesh sifters that Andrew tricked you into buying to boost his Breadtopia stock.
Anyone who bought a 40 mesh sifter from us on Andrew’s recommendation who wants a 50 mesh instead can get the 50 mesh for $6 (instead of $11) if you agree to let our customer service staff sleep peacefully knowing they won’t have to figure out how to manage all those 40 mesh returns. IOW, keep your 40 mesh and we’ll sell you a 50 mesh for $5 off.
In all honesty, sifting with a 40 before a 50 really does work better (and faster) than trying to put fine flour straight from your grain mill directly through a 50 mesh which can take a while.
If you want to take advantage of this offer, please get in touch with our customer service at breadtopia.com/contact and send us the order number from when you purchased your 40 mesh sifter and we’ll send you a one-time use coupon code for $5 off a 50 mesh sifter.
Thank you, Breadtopia!
—Andrew
Ps. I will have a new post tomorrow on porridge breads if I can crawl out of my shame cave in time.
The other good news is that at least I caught this before it got printed into ten-thousand books.
I find it quicker to sift with the 40 first and then the 50, so it’s helpful to have both. You can even stack the 40 on top of the 50 and sift through both if you’re careful!
I had the same issue with no markings as to the size of the mesh on my sifters. Once I figured it out, I printed small labels that are water resistant with the correct sizes and stuck them on the side of each sifter.