[Sca-cooks] Beans and Flour

Terry Decker t.d.decker at att.net
Tue Aug 13 21:00:50 PDT 2013


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.

Bear

>
> This may say more about how often I buy flour than anything else, but is 
> the amount of protein/starch given on the flour sack? Or can you only go 
> by such titles as "cake flour", "hard"? or "soft" flour? or by selecting 
> specific brand names?
>
> I can see where someone's "cake flour" might differ in composition from 
> someone else's.
>
> Thanks,
>  Stefan




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