Did you know that there were a right and wrong flour for baking? While an experienced baker may know the answer to this question, a hobbyist may not know that there is a difference in the flour.
There are several types of flour in the available. They are not all the same and using the wrong flour in your baking recipe can lead to a baking disaster.
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Brief Analysis of Bread Flour and Pasta Flour
Bread Flour
It is from wheat flour and is responsible for raising and structuring your bread. There is a significant use for bread flour, and that is bread to make.
This type of flour comes from wheat that is high in protein and low in starch. The high protein content helps to make gluten, which gives the bread structure.
Bread flour can be enriched. Some bread flours contain barley flour which gives the bread a nutty or malty taste.
Pasta Flour
It is most closely related to all-purpose flour and can impart dandruff to any product with which it is baked.
The most common are cakes, biscuits and of course pastries. Is finer in texture than all-purpose flour, but it is not as elegant as cake flour.
This flour is generally distributed to commercial bakers, contains a lower gluten content and is mainly made from common wheat.
How To Choose Bread Flour For Bread Baking
You have decided to accept the challenge of baking your bread! Congratulate yourself on the decision. Now you ask yourself which flour I use.
There are so many different types of flour in the market, what do I choose? To make the delicious bread we all love from the bakeries or restaurants you need bread flour.
Not the all-purpose flour we all have in our kitchens. Bread flour is very easy. It does not have all the ingredients that regular all-purpose flour has.
Know and Choose Between The Types
The grocer in your area probably has several types of flour in stock. So, which one should be used for baking bread? It depends on the recipe.
In case of doubt do not make any changes and the recipe should go out well. If the recipe requires bread flour, do not apply all-purpose flour.
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All-purpose flour
All-purpose flour lists the list of flours that you find in the supermarket. It is the most popular type because it can be used in almost any recipe that calls for flour. Use all-purpose flour if you are not sure which type to use.
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Even rising flour
With self-rising flour, propellant and salt were added during processing. Do not use in a self-ascending way unless it is required in the recipe.
The additional propellants cause the dough to rise too much. Even rising flour loses its power over time. Make sure you use it within six months of purchase. Store all flours in a dark, cool place.
How To Bake Bread
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Use Yeast
The simplest type of yeast is active dry yeast. It should always be fresh, so watch out for the expiration date of the packages.
Having and using fresh yeast is essential because you want the bread you make to be fresh too. For the water, you have to have just the right temperature.
Water is used to dissolve the yeast and to give it a mixture of yeast and flour. To get the right water temperature, get a thermometer.
The temperature should be between 110 – 115 degrees after the yeast has dissolved in the water. For a flour-yeast mixture, the temperature of the liquid must be between 120 and 130 degrees.
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Add Flour
For the finished product to have the right quality, you must choose the right kind of flour. One of the best types of flour to serve your bread is bread flour.
Bread flour can make the best kind of bread. It has a high content of protein or gluten. Gluten is essential because it can give your bread a unique texture.
Gluten helps the dough to stretch in the form of a net. When the yeast is fermented, air bubbles try to develop. She is caught with gluten.
All-purpose flour can also be used to make the bread. Cake flour is not recommended because it does not contain much protein.
Your bread will not bake appropriately because the cake flour is not strong enough to handle the gas pressure from the yeast.
Whole-wheat flour does not have enough gluten to justify a loaf of bread. You need to include all-purpose flour or bread flour to structure it.
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Using Liquids
Depending on what type of liquid is used in the dough, it is determined how it comes out. If you use water, the crust will be sharper, and the bread will taste more of wheat.
If you use cream or milk, the bread will have a richer taste and texture. With cream or milk, the bread will turn brown faster. The dough contains more sugar and butterfat.
When orange juice is added, it will still be sweet and will help kill the strong taste of the wholegrain effect.
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Fats
If you use shortening, oils or butter, the bread has more flavor. It is not a good idea to use margarine or beaten butter because they have water.
Water is also present in low-fat products, so they are not good either. Your loaf of bread will not hold up very well.
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Use eggs
Your bread dough will have flavor when you add the eggs. Eggs also give the dough fullness and color. Eggs give your bread a good taste.
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Add salt
Whenever you make bread, you should always add salt. Salt helps with how the yeast is developed and the bread will not do more than increase it.
The bread will also have good taste. Of course, some people would prefer not to use salt. You can substitute it with items such as yogurt to allow the bread to rise usually.
How To Choose Pasta Flour For Pasta Making
Just like bread baking flour, you have to select the best past floor. So what to consider when picking pasta flour? Below are some of the consideration
Protein Content
When one thinks about the differences between different flours, one notices the protein content and thus the amount of gluten.
It jumps on me that I did not generally have an opportunity to examine gluten here on Fine Cooking, and I adore talking about gluten.
In fact, it’s rarely inappropriate to be with me at a mixed drink party, and I do not have a terrible time to discuss gluten.
Wheat and the flour we make of it is the exciting source of some proteins called glutenin and gliadin. If you combine these two proteins with some water, they will solidify into long strands of gluten.
Gluten gives our wheat flour based products the structure and quality and is the motivation behind why wheat is so mainstream of a crop.
Harold McGee tells us in On Food and Cooking that the Chinese call gluten “the muscle of the flour,” which is an incredibly incredible state of mind.
With gluten, you can complete two things: lengthen your blend and shape it. Glutenin gives gluten its elasticity or flexibility.
Gliadin gives gluten its ability to hold a shape or flexibility. Depending on how you have your dough will either be more dynamic.
For example, if you have applied a bread mixture, the glutenin will be incredibly dynamic, and in this way, any extension that you make will correctly set the right back.
If you let the dough rest for 20 minutes or something similar, the glutenin smoothes, and in this way, you can use the gliadin to form and hold the mixture.
Balance
However, if you need a specific texture, you need to consider balance. Gluten gives the cooked food a certain amount of strength.
For this reason, you have to hold back the mixture you are making with biscuits, and for cakes, you must use a low-protein flour.
Moderately little of the liquid volume is water, so you can turn everything into a wet player, with less gluten being formed.
In any case, nothing is as simple as just “gluten content”. After all, semolina is a wheat flour made from durum wheat, one of the high protein types of wheat used in many pasta products.
In any case, it is a coarser grain, which means that it does not provide as much gluten as a fine-grained durum wheat flour with a similar amount of work.
However, it is a tiny granule that makes working with the mixture to a greater extent a task, and it will give the pasta a good surface when cooked.
Her request, however, was, “What would a handcrafted pasta, semolina, or conventional wheat improve?” What I say, “What do you like?”
Fresh pasta is not necessarily superior to dried pasta, and it merely has a different surface and a different taste. Everyone is exceptional for different things.
If you would not mind the extra work with semolina, and you like your surface, then the semolina is prevalent. All in all, it would not take much to make a lump with more refined flour.
If you are looking for a more delicate surface, the approach is more sophisticated. No doubt it depends on what kind of state of mind you are in.
Conclusion
No matter what you bake, pay attention to the type of flour in the recipe. It is essential for the result to use the right kind for the job.
The names make it easy to remember which type to use. Use bread flour for making bread, pasta flour for making pasta and all-purpose flour for everyday use.