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Pantry Audit: Flour
February 20, 2007 | 14 Comments
We kick off the Crusts n Crumbs series with an explanation of a variety of flours used in baking.
In every culinary tradition, flour+water = bread. Salt, yeast, sugar etc. often find their way into the mix, but it’s the texture and treatment of the flour that gives the bread its unique character and flavour.
(Flour+water= glue as well, but bread is not glue, and the difference between the two is enunciated in in scientific detail here)
We usually have three, sometimes four types of flour in our pantry.
In the picture – from top to bottom: whole wheat pastry flour, unbleached all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and chapati flour.
We use these to create a gamut of flour mixes to enhance our breads, cakes and pancakes.
1. Unbleached all purpose flour: This has general use for baking both yeasted breads and lighter sweetbreads like cakes and muffins.
2. Whole Wheat flour: Usually made from the whole kernel of red hard wheat, and includes the bran and germ. It absorbs more water than white flour.
3. Chapati flour or atta: Usually a finer version of whole wheat flour, or a combination of whole wheat and refined flour. Used for making Indian flatbreads. Whole wheat flour is a good substitute.
4. Whole wheat pastry flour: Has less protein than whole wheat flour. Usually made with whole white wheat kernels, and has a less gluten and a lower protein content. Ideal for lighter baked goods like muffins and cakes, and is a healthy, high fibre substitution for white flour.
5. Bread flour is a high-protein version of all purpose flour, ideal for baking yeasted breads. It has added gluten, as well as barley malt to help the yeast.
8 cups of unbleached all purpose flour + 2.75 tbsp. vital gluten + 1 tsp ascorbic/citric acid (powdered vitamin C) plus 3 tablespoons of sprouted wheat flour (or diastatic malt).
(Add the sprouted wheat flour only if your all-purpose flour does not have barley malt added to it. A good substitute for ascorbic acid is 1 tsp. lemon juice for each loaf of bread)
For whole wheat bread flour, replace the white flour with whole wheat flour.
6. White whole wheat flour: Increasingly found in supermarket shelves, it is the whole kernel of hard whole white wheat (unlike the red wheat used in regular whole wheat flour), and has a milder flavour without compromising on the fibre and benefits.
7. Vital gluten powder: It is the isolated natural protein found in wheat. It is added to flour to yield better textured, chewier breads.
8. Self-rising flour: A bit lighter than all purpose flour. Refined flour made with soft wheat. To every 2 cups of all purpose flour, add 1 tsp. salt and 4 tsps. of double acting baking powder. (We use whole wheat pastry flour plus baking powder and salt).
9. Cake flour: The lightest of all flours. Use 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and unbleached all purpose flour to make one cup. (We use whole wheat pastry flour).
STORAGE
Whole wheat flours usually have a higher oil content from the wheat germ, and need to be refrigerated.
White flours can be stored unrefrigerated if consumed within 3 months.
Substitutions for yeasted breads
- Whole wheat flour usually absorbs more water than refined flour. Use 7/8 cup of whole what in lieu of a cup of white flour.
- Whole wheat flour yields a denser loaf that doesn’t rise as well. If you are making a 100% whole wheat loaf, increase the active dry yeast in the recipe by ½ tsp.
- Usually, the optimum proportion for a well-risen loaf is 50-50 whole wheat to refined flour.
- For every cup of whole wheat flour that you substitute in the recipe, use 1 tsp. of vital gluten.
- This also applies to any other kind of flour – rye, oat, rice, spelt, barley, kamut, amaranth, etc.
- You can use 25-40% of any of these flours in a recipe, instead of all purpose flour. Tips on proportions and substitutions here.
MEASURING FLOUR
Baking is a precise culinary discipline, and measuring correctly is key.
When measuring flour, spoon your flour into a measuring cup and then level off the cup with a knife. Do not pack it down. As stated above, flour gets compacted in the bag during shipping, so scooping your flour right out of the bag using your measuring cup will result in too much flour.
Flour, when packaged, has about a 14% moisture content. When stored, however, its moisture content will vary. In general, the longer flour is stored the more moisture it loses. This is why on a dry day using old flour your pastry will require more water than on a wet day using new flour.
A pictorial guiide to measurement.
The most precise measurement of dry goods is by weight.
Filed Under: Grains, NUTRITION, PANTRY AUDIT, Wheat
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14 Comments
Thats a cool pic!
you think so? j takes most of the pix. i took this.
) – bee
[...] maple syrup/jaggery/dark brown sugar 1 cup unsweetened applesauce 3 tbsps. vegetable oil 1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 tsp ginger powder 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder 1/2 [...]
[...] 1 cup whole grain regular oats 1 cup whole wheat flour 2 cups bread flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour) 2/3 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt **milk plus 2 tsps. lime/lemon [...]
What did you make from those flours? Must not have been easy to separate them again.
don’t remember. most likely i threw them in the next batch of bread or pizza dough. – b.
Speak your mind??
[That's cool, btw]
This is very informative for a newbie-baker like me. Thanks!
So, bee, Can I substitute “Whole wheat pastry flour” for “all purpose flour” in equal measurements?
Yes, you can do that. –j
Hi!! Cool site u guys have here! I was just wondering can i substitute whole wheat cake and pasrty flour for regular cake and pastry flour in recipes or does it need adjustment??
the whole wheat will absorb a little more liquid…so you might add couple of tablespoons per recipe.
[...] 3 and ¼ cups flour (we used 1.5 cups whole wheat and 1 and ¾ cup bread flour) 3 tsps. active dry yeast 1 tbsp maple syrup (or sugar) 1.5 tbsp. butter (melted) 1 tsp. salt 1 cup [...]
i found my answer! thanks you guys informative post.
HI,
Where do you find whole wheat pastry flour? I have seen just pastry flour in the super market but not sure if is whole wheat. Can we mix up different things to make whole wheat pastry flour?
Thanks
if you don’t find whole wheat pastry flour, take 2 tbsps cornstarch or arrowroot powder, mix it with enough whole wheat flour to get one cup.
Is self-rising flour same as the refined flour?
When I try to flatten the dough made from unbleached all purpose flour the dough seems to go back to being compact and does not stay flat. It is very elastic.
Does the refined flour stay flat?
I am trying to make malabar parathas (layered) which requires maida (super refined flour available in India). Do you know the equivalent of that in US?
Thanks for your response in advance.
-Raj
if it springs back, it needs to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. self-raising flour has less gluten, so it won’t spring back as fast as all-purpose flour. the indian maida has less gluten than all purpose flour, so try that as well. the equivalent of maida in the u.s. is all purpose flour, but they are slightly different. let it rest. that should help a lot.
Thanks a lot.
[...] our favourite is the Pantry Audit series where we have, so far, researched and written about Rice, Flour, Sweeteners, and The Thai [...]
Hi,
Would you be able to tell me 1.) What is *whole wheat pastry flour* known as in India? 2.) What is *white whole wheat flour* known as in India?
The thing is, I have a complete aversion to using/eating white/all purpose flour. I’m going to be going to India for around 3 months, and I’m probably going to be doing a lot of baking/cooking. I usually don’t have much luck with baking cakes, cookies, muffins, etc. with regular (red) whole wheat flour, and have been told that the above two work well for such stuff. The problem is that I haven’t been able to figure out what they’re called in Hindi, or if it’s even sold there (*a lot of searching on the internet shows that it IS available) and I’m really hoping someone could help me out.
Sorry if it sounds like a stupid question, I’m not very knowledgeable about such stuff as I’m a teenager with not much cooking experience. Hope you can help me out!
PS: Love your blog, especially the Indian recipes (miss Indian food so much). Great job!
you don’t get these in india.
Found exactly what I was looking for. Your site was #1 in the results that google brought me. I should have just come straight to you guys
Thanks for the very helpful comparisons. Awesome picture as usual