[Sca-cooks] "Adulterated" Flour

[Dragon]

Elise Fleming wrote:
>Greetings!  Richard, the primary researcher of the Hampton Court cooks,
>commented about his visit to the US earlier this year that the flour and
>sugar sold over here had other things added to it, implying that wheat
>flour in the UK was just that - wheat flour.  I noticed on the bags of
>flour in the grocery store this week that (at least for the brands I looked
>at) they all had malted barley flour added.  Does anyone know why?  Is
>there any flour in grocery stores in your area that is only wheat flour
>with no other grain added?  Would the addition of barley flour affect the
>baking properties differently than a product made entirely of wheat flour?
>(My tart cases still don't seem to handle quite the same way as the ones in
>the Hampton Court video!)
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Malted barley flour is added to a lot of wheat flour to act as a 
source of diastatic enzymes that break down starch into simpler 
sugars that yeast can use.

Other items are sometimes added like calcium propionate and ascorbic 
acid. These ingredients act as dough conditioners and promote the 
formation of gluten.

There are brands of flour that are just wheat flour. Read the labels. 
Two I can think of off the top of my head are Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur.

I don't know about anything being added to sugar, again, the labels 
must state what is in the package to be legally sold in the U.S. 
Check the label.

Dragon

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