[Sca-cooks] flour experimentation

[Terry Decker]

> Well, when I looked at the website for King Arthur flours, the description 
> each variety said it was made from hard - usually red_ wheat.  If their 
> marketing people say one of their flours is good for every use, perhaps it 
> is.  Or perhaps that's just how marketing people present their products.
>

King Arthur cake flour is about 9% protein, the lowest of any KA flour. 
That would put it within the range of traditional European flour.


>  When I want to make a dough that is kneaded I will go for the higher 
> gluten flour every time.  Everything I have read indicates that hard 
> wheats have more gluten.
>

"Hard" and "soft" refer to the protein content of the flour a wheat produces 
and the traditional method of testing a flour's protein content by squeezing 
a handful.  In general, the lower the protein, the finer the milling, the 
more compression ("softness") in the hand.

>  Southern flour is made from soft wheat, which is lower in gluten.  I find 
> making tender piecrust and biscuits much easier with southern flour.  How 
> much of that is my upbringing I cannot say.
>

Southern wheats tend more to yellows which are usually softer than reds. 
White Lily is about the softest commercial flour available.

>  Some period recipes say take the whitest flour you have.  I would take 
> this instruction to possibly mean use the flour which browns more slowly, 
> which lower gluten flour does - at least in my limited experimentation 
> thus far.
>
> I will ask madbaker (Master Wulfric of Creigull) his opinion about this 
> subject and report back to you.  He got his Laurel for baking breads in a 
> camp oven he built from bricks and mud, among many other baking feats.
>
>  I am trying to be methodical as I learn about this particular ingredient, 
> but am still in the early stages of my search for information on the 
> topic.
>
>  Cordelia Toser

"White" in this context refers to a finely milled, thrice bolted flour that 
has aged for six or more months.  Freshly milled flour has a yellow tinge 
from the xanthopyll it contains.  Aging provides a natural bleaching making 
the flour look whiter.  The finer the milling, the more surface area exposed 
to the aging process.  Bolting removes the bran and any larger unmilled 
pieces.

Bear