Over the last years baking bread at home has become more and more popular. Not only because baking is "cool", but also because baking bread at home can give you great results at a much cheaper price, which is something very valuable these days. As a consequence of a higher demand, the offer of flours in the supermarkets has remarkably increased, to the point that it is sometimes confusing to understand what they are made of and what they are for.
In this article I will talk about wheat flour, the most used for breads all over the world. Historically, wheat is one of the first and most important cereals to be used by ancient civilizations. It first appeared almost 10000 years BC in the area in the Near East watered by rivers Tigris and Euphrates, called the Fertile crescent. Over the centuries, wheat started to be grown in other areas such as Europe and China. Worldwide, wheat is now produced for the most part in the European Union, mostly in Italy and France.
To understand the different wheat flours, it is important to have an idea of the structure of the wheat kernel, whose three parts can be combined in different ways. The bran is the external protection of the kernel, and contains fibers. The germ is the "warehouse" of the seed, it contains antioxidants, vitamins and carbohydrates, and the most used part, the endosperm, which contains starch and proteins.
Depending on the type of flour, the three parts are grounded together or separately. The flour obtained from the whole kernel is called wholemeal (or wholegrain). In this case the three parts are grounded together, but there can be also grounded separately to produce a particular kind of wholemeal flour. White flour is obtained from endosperm only, whereas germ flour is composed of the endosperm and the germ.
The right flour for bread baking is "strong." The strength of a flour depends on the content of gluten, a proteic complex composed of glutenin and gliadin. Gluten absorbs water up to 150% of its weight, and when the dough is left to rise, it withholds the CO2 produced by the yeast, giving bread its typical bubbly and spongy texture. If you have ever kneaded strong flour you will have noticed that the more you work it, the harder the dough gets. This is the flour's strength. Gluten forms a kind of elastic coat, that can be stretched while kneading and holds its shape when baked.
In the flour industry, there are different indicators and machineries to measure the strength of flours, but at the supermarket the only indicator left is the content of proteins on the label. Less than 10% means it is "soft", 11-12% means it is strong enough to bake bread. Other than bread, strong flour is also used for bread-like products like pizza and Italian focaccia, or for fresh Italian pasta. All-purpose flour on the other hand, is "softer" and is used for cakes and pastries.
In this article I will talk about wheat flour, the most used for breads all over the world. Historically, wheat is one of the first and most important cereals to be used by ancient civilizations. It first appeared almost 10000 years BC in the area in the Near East watered by rivers Tigris and Euphrates, called the Fertile crescent. Over the centuries, wheat started to be grown in other areas such as Europe and China. Worldwide, wheat is now produced for the most part in the European Union, mostly in Italy and France.
To understand the different wheat flours, it is important to have an idea of the structure of the wheat kernel, whose three parts can be combined in different ways. The bran is the external protection of the kernel, and contains fibers. The germ is the "warehouse" of the seed, it contains antioxidants, vitamins and carbohydrates, and the most used part, the endosperm, which contains starch and proteins.
Depending on the type of flour, the three parts are grounded together or separately. The flour obtained from the whole kernel is called wholemeal (or wholegrain). In this case the three parts are grounded together, but there can be also grounded separately to produce a particular kind of wholemeal flour. White flour is obtained from endosperm only, whereas germ flour is composed of the endosperm and the germ.
The right flour for bread baking is "strong." The strength of a flour depends on the content of gluten, a proteic complex composed of glutenin and gliadin. Gluten absorbs water up to 150% of its weight, and when the dough is left to rise, it withholds the CO2 produced by the yeast, giving bread its typical bubbly and spongy texture. If you have ever kneaded strong flour you will have noticed that the more you work it, the harder the dough gets. This is the flour's strength. Gluten forms a kind of elastic coat, that can be stretched while kneading and holds its shape when baked.
In the flour industry, there are different indicators and machineries to measure the strength of flours, but at the supermarket the only indicator left is the content of proteins on the label. Less than 10% means it is "soft", 11-12% means it is strong enough to bake bread. Other than bread, strong flour is also used for bread-like products like pizza and Italian focaccia, or for fresh Italian pasta. All-purpose flour on the other hand, is "softer" and is used for cakes and pastries.
About the Author:
Maria is a mother of three from Andalusia, and a "bread machine." She shares her love for bread baking in a blog, where all bread recipes have the approval of a very severe committee composed of three hungry kids and a hungry husband. Try her Focaccia or the Traditional Irish Soda Bread
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