difference in flours???

[mom]

If I grind my own wheat - what's the difference in bread flour vs cake flour vs just plain old flour or do I need to worry about any of that? And if I use fresh milled flour in cakes do I need to modify anything in the recipie?

[Shamrock1121]

If I grind my own wheat - what's the difference in bread flour vs cake flour vs just plain old flour or do I need to worry about any of that? *And if I use fresh milled flour in cakes do I need to modify anything in the recipie?

Flour 101-

-The more protein in the grain, the lighter the yeast bread - up to a point. Too much protein (aka gluten) will make bread tough, which is why commercial flour is a combination of protein levels so that it has an average amount correct for different baking needs.

-In foods where you don't want a lot of gluten development (cookies, quick breads, pastry), you use wheat (hard or soft) and/or low-gluten flours (spelt), or combinations of them.

-There are two types of protein that make up the gluten group - glutenins and gliadins. This is what we generally call "gluten". Glutenins provide the elastic quality that allows bread dough to expand. Gliadins play a secondary roll by contributing to the viscosity and extensibility of bread dough.

-Although durum wheat has the highest amount of protein of all wheat types, the main protein in durum wheat is gliadin, which makes it excellent for pasta, not bread, because of the viscosity and extensibility. This is the type of wheat I use for wholegrain pasta.

Triticale is a hybrid of durum wheat and rye. I also use this for pasta.

-Bread flour is highest in the protein glutenin (great for yeast breads) and is milled from hard wheat varieties. You'll want to use HARD wheat for bread (it won't matter if it's winter or spring wheat, or red or white wheat varieties. My personal preference is hard white wheat. Wheat Montana wheat is a spring variety and is excellent wheat, but I also use hard winter wheat with great results.

-All-purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheat so that it fits a protein profile that suits "all-purposes" for general baking. A little too much protein for really fine cakes, a little less protein than needed for really good bread. A middle-of-the-road flour. I occasionally temper hard wheat with some soft wheat or spelt flour, especially if it's going to be used for quick breads or cookies. Too much protein in flour will make bake goods that require less gluten development than yeast breads require, really tough. I use a lot of spelt flour in baked goods that don't require a lot of gluten development.

-Whole grain flour can have as much or more gluten than commercial flours. I'm using hard white winter wheat that has 13.1% protein - excellent for yeast breads. I've worked with wheat that had 16% protein levels. It takes more kneading to develop the gluten in high-protein wheat varieties and you won't get as tender a crumb as you do with lower protein levels.

- Pastry/Cake Flour: Mill soft wheat (which has a lower protein level than hard wheat varieties) for pastry, biscuits, cakes, quick breads; or mixtures of low-gluten flour (spelt) and hard wheat to make "all-purpose" (mentioned above) protein levels when I need lower-gluten flour (cookies, quick breads, etc.).

For low-gluten "cake" flour, I use a 3:1 mixture of soft white wheat and oats (or spelt) for fine cakes like chiffon or angel food. Soft wheat, or hard wheat tempered with some spelt is fine for something like a snack cake, crumb cake (more substantial types of cakes than tender chiffon or angel food).

The trick to cake is that the flour must be milled very fine. If all you get is a coarse flour, you need to sift the flour to get the finest you can mill. Keep out any large shards of coarse grain flour or bran when making fine cakes.

I also use rye flour in combination with wheat flour in some baked goods - such as cookies and quick breads. People under-use rye because they associate the flavor of rye with rye bread, which actually tastes like caraway seeds, not rye. Rye actually has very little flavor.

Percentage of protein in flour....
(Source: CookWise by Shirley O. Corriher)

Durum wheat - 13-13.5% protein - used for pasta

Bread flour - 11.5-12.5% - use for yeast breads, pasta, pizza (which is hard wheat)

Northern unbleached all-purpose flour (King Arthur) - 11.7% - use for yeast breads, cream puffs, puff pastry, pasta, pizza (high-gluten combination of hard and soft wheat)

Northern all-purpose flour (Robin Hood, Hecker's)- 11.7% - 11-12% - use for yeast breads, cream puffs, puff pastry (high-gluten combination of hard and soft wheat)

National brand unbleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) - 10-12% - yeast breads, cream puffs (combination of hard/soft wheat)

National brand bleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) - 9.5-12% - biscuits, quick breads, muffins
(combination of hard/soft wheat)

Bleached Southern all-purpose flour (White Lily, Martha White, Gladiola, Red Band) - 7.5-9.5% - Pie crusts, biscuits, quick breads, muffins (soft wheat)

Cake flour - 7.5-8.5% - Cakes, quick breads, muffins, pancakes (soft wheat and/or a combination of soft wheat and a low-gluten or non-gluten flour - spelt, oats, barley, rye)

With mixtures of grains, you can replicate the protein amounts of these types of flour.

If you mill wheat and can't remember if it's hard wheat or soft wheat, feel it between your fingers. Soft wheat flour is very soft to the touch, and fine like talcum powder. Hard wheat is a little more gritty.

-Karen

[mom]

I received my shipment of Spring Wheat - high protein. So you are saying I should mix it with something with less protein in it to make stuff like cakes?

[Shamrock1121]

I received my shipment of Spring Wheat - high protein. *So you are saying I should mix it with something with less protein in it to make stuff like cakes?

High Protein Spring Wheat will work BEST for yeast and sourdough breads - that's where you need high amounts of protein (gluten). NOT cakes.

It will work fairly well in some types of cookies. Just don't over-mix the batter or you'll over-develop the gluten and you'll end up with hard/tough cookies.

There's TOO much protein (gluten) in it for making good quick breads and cakes. If you DO use it for quick breads and cake, once again, keep mixing to a bare minimum. Don't use an electric mixer for mixing in the dry ingredients - do it by hand. A mixer will cause the batter to be over-mixed and too much gluten developed. You'll get a better product if you temper the gluten with a low- or no-gluten flour.

Every step in making pastry, muffins, quick breads, and cakes is geared to the least amount of gluten developed possible. If you start with a high-protein bread flour (such as the type of wheat you have), you're already making the wrong choice.

This type of wheat WILL make cake, or anything else you choose. It just won't make it correctly. You'll end up with tough textures when they should be tender.

If you use your new wheat for pastry, you can overcome some of the gluten by adding more fat. The fat coats the gluten so that when the liquid is added, the fat "shortens" the strands of gluten. You'll still get a tough pastry, but not AS tough, if you add a little more fat.

Another hint for making pastry is to mix half the fat in the flour until it's very fine and well distributed. This will give the pastry tenderness and overcome some of the gluten development. Add the last portion of the fat to the flour mixture in larger chunks (1/4-inch bits), and mix this in just until it's mixed throughout the mixture, but some larger bits still remain. This creates flakiness. When the small bits of fat melt during baking, it creates steam. When the steam forms, it separates the layers of the pastry to create flakiness. Pastry science 101 ;).

These cookie recipes will work with your wheat:

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies
-http://kansaswheat.org/general.asp?id=470

Whole Grain Oatmeal Cookies
-http://www.wheatmania.com/upload/2008%20KS%20Wheat%20Comm%20Recipes.pdf

You get better results using soft wheat for pastry, quick breads and cakes. OR a mixture of the wheat you already have and a low-gluten or non-gluten flour such as spelt, soft wheat, rye, oats, barley...

-Karen