Home baking is now a normal activity in many households. The manual part of bread making (mixing flours, kneading) is fascinating, but the main reason is that it is very easy to do the math: bake bread yourself rather than buying it at the supermarket, and you will save a lot of money.
In this article I will give en overview of wheat flour, by far the most common in bread baking. Wheat was one of the first plants to be grown by humanity, its first appearance dating back to thousands of years BC in the Fertile crescent in Southwest Asia. Later it spread to other areas, like Europe, Ethiopia and China. Nowadays the European Union is the world first producer of wheat (with France and Italy the main producers within the EU), followed by China.
There are different wheat flours that can be obtained, depending on which part of the kernel is used.
The wheat kernel is composed of three parts. The bran: it is the outer protecting skin of the seed and is a good source of fiber and vitamin B. The endosperm: it contains carbohydrates (starch) and proteins. The germ: much smaller than the endosperm, it is where the nourishment for the seed is stocked. It's also a source of carbohydrates, along with antioxidants, vitamin E and B.
White flour is produced from ground endosperm. Whole grain (also called wholemeal) flour is made grounding all three parts together. A particular type of wholemeal flour is called Graham flour, where the three parts are grounded separately (the endosperm more finely, and the bran and the germ more coarsely) then mixed back together. Germ flour is made from the endosperm plus the germ. Germ and bran can also be found alone as by-products of milling process. Germ is often used as supplement for athletes as an aid to gain muscle resistance, whereas bran is added to breads to enrich their fiber content.
The proper flour to bake bread at home is (guess what) bread flour, or "strong" flour. The more you knead a dough made with strong flour, the more resistant (strong) and elastic it becomes. This is because kneading develops gluten, a proteic composite. Gluten prevents the molecules of carbon dioxide (produced by the action of yeast) from leaving the dough, leaving the bread with its typical holes inside once it is baked.
To know if a flour is strong enough to be used in bread making, we should look at the content of proteins: if it is below 10% then the flour is soft, over 10% (11-12%) then it suitable for bread. Other uses of strong flour are pizza, Italian focaccia or fresh Italian pasta. Soft flour is used for pastries and cakes. One exception is Irish soda bread, made with soft flour.
In this article I will give en overview of wheat flour, by far the most common in bread baking. Wheat was one of the first plants to be grown by humanity, its first appearance dating back to thousands of years BC in the Fertile crescent in Southwest Asia. Later it spread to other areas, like Europe, Ethiopia and China. Nowadays the European Union is the world first producer of wheat (with France and Italy the main producers within the EU), followed by China.
There are different wheat flours that can be obtained, depending on which part of the kernel is used.
White flour is produced from ground endosperm. Whole grain (also called wholemeal) flour is made grounding all three parts together. A particular type of wholemeal flour is called Graham flour, where the three parts are grounded separately (the endosperm more finely, and the bran and the germ more coarsely) then mixed back together. Germ flour is made from the endosperm plus the germ. Germ and bran can also be found alone as by-products of milling process. Germ is often used as supplement for athletes as an aid to gain muscle resistance, whereas bran is added to breads to enrich their fiber content.
The proper flour to bake bread at home is (guess what) bread flour, or "strong" flour. The more you knead a dough made with strong flour, the more resistant (strong) and elastic it becomes. This is because kneading develops gluten, a proteic composite. Gluten prevents the molecules of carbon dioxide (produced by the action of yeast) from leaving the dough, leaving the bread with its typical holes inside once it is baked.
To know if a flour is strong enough to be used in bread making, we should look at the content of proteins: if it is below 10% then the flour is soft, over 10% (11-12%) then it suitable for bread. Other uses of strong flour are pizza, Italian focaccia or fresh Italian pasta. Soft flour is used for pastries and cakes. One exception is Irish soda bread, made with soft flour.
About the Author:
Maria is a mother of three from Malaga, 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 husband. Try her Focaccia or the Traditional Irish Soda Bread
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