[Sca-cooks] period flour

[Terry Decker]

> Bear mentioned:
>  <<< Check the nutritional information on the bags.  Gold Medal All
> Purpose is
> 10% protein.  High gluten bread flours are up around 14% protein.  Soft
> flours usual run 9% down to about 7%.  If you want to match traditional
> European flours, soft flours are the closest match, but you can fudge
> with the Gold Medal. >>>
>
> From this thread it sounds like most modern bread flours are harder
> flours with more protein than what was used in most of period Europe.
> Why this change? Do the high gluten/high protein flours grow better
> these days or yield more? Are they better for machine driven
> agriculture? Or is there some other reason they are preferred?
>

In the 19th Century, hard red wheat was hybridized to produce greater yields 
and be more resistant to various plant diseases at about the time Australia, 
Canada, Argentina and the U.S. were becoming the major grain producers in 
the world.  The wheat was best suited for the plains areas of the world. 
The flour produced made better bread, so the hard reds became the most 
readily available wheat in the world.  Because they produced better bread, 
European bakers chose them over the softer local flours.

Einkorn was the initial wheat, but emmer was easier to thresh and produced 
better yields and became the most common wheat in Antiquity.  Club wheat, 
which produced better yields, took over from emmer between 500 and 800 CE. 
Modern wheat is a hybridized club wheat and the hybridization has been an 
ongoing process since club wheat overtook emmer.

The entire issue is mostly a matter of what produces the most, the best and 
the amount of effort required in the production.

> <<< In the past, I have been able to get bulk whole wheat pastry
> flour from a
> local health food store, which is probably as close to period
> European flour
> as you are going to get.  Both Arrowhead Mills and Bob's Red Mill
> produce
> whole wheat pastry flour.  Quite a few groceries carry one or the
> other or
> both and might be willing to special order for you.>>>
>
> How does the bread differ, especially the period breads we know of,
> when it is made with a harder wheat than when made with the softer,
> pastry flours that are apparently closer to those of period Europe?
>
> I'm still keeping the back of mind the idea that the reason that
> medieval Europeans didn't make/use the sandwich is that their bread
> wasn't conducive to sandwich making. Perhaps the type of flour enters
> into this. Or maybe not.
>
> Stefan

You get a better rise with the harder wheats, but the variance between 7% 
and 10 % protein content is not particularly noticeable.  All Purpose Flour 
is blended to be useable in recipes requiring hard or soft flour, but is not 
necessarily the optimal choice.

Medieval bread would work just fine in sandwiches.  I suspect it was used 
for sandwiches, but doesn't appear in any observation that was written down.

Bear