[Sca-cooks] Beans and Flour

[Stefan li Rous]

Bear replied to me with:
<<< You'll find protein and carbohydrate percentages listed in the ingredient 
label.

Hard and soft refer to the percentage of protein in the flour.  The higher 
the protein (the gluten), the harder the flour.  White Lily is roughly 2 
percent protein.  All purpose flour runs around 9 percent.  Bread flour runs 
12 percent and above (King Arthur bread flour is 14 percent, IIRC).  The 
hard and soft come from an old test for gluten, where you compress a scoop 
of flour in your hand.  The higher the protein the harder the flour feels.

Cake flour is a soft, very finely ground flour which may contain additives 
such as malted barley flour.

Specific brands use mixtures of wheats to produce a consistent product. If 
you know the percentages for the brand and type of flour, you can easily 
select by brand.  If you don't or you're looking for something special, read 
the ingredient label and choose the flour that best suits your needs.  If 
you don't have an idea of what you need for a project, an all purpose flour 
should get you in the ball park. >>>

Wow. Thank you for the wonderful summation. I've saved this for the Florilegium flour-msg file because I suspect that others might find it useful as well, especially those who are not regular bakers.

What does malted barley flour give you in cake flour? Additional sweetness?

Malted barley (flour?) was used in medieval beer and ale(?) making. Was there any other use for it in medieval times?

Thanks,
  Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****