People love baking bread at home more and more. There is a kind of magic in putting together flour and water and kneading, and home baking is also much cheaper than buying baked goods (bread in particular) at the supermarket. Flour industry has responded to this demand by making more flours available on the supermarket shelves.
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.
The seed (or kernel) of wheat is composed of three parts. The bran is the outer shell, and contains fibers and vitamins (especially B). The endosperm is a source for starch (a polysaccharide carbohydrate). The germ is small, but full of vitamin E and B and antioxidants. These three parts can be combined to obtain different kinds of flour.
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 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.
The higher the protein content, the stronger the flour. Ideally, percentage of protein should be 15% but 12% is also fine. If the protein is below 10%, it means that the flour is "soft" and should be used to prepare cakes. Apart from bread, strong flour is also used to prepare Italian dishes like pizza, focaccia, and fresh pasta.
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.
The seed (or kernel) of wheat is composed of three parts. The bran is the outer shell, and contains fibers and vitamins (especially B). The endosperm is a source for starch (a polysaccharide carbohydrate). The germ is small, but full of vitamin E and B and antioxidants. These three parts can be combined to obtain different kinds of flour.
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 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.
The higher the protein content, the stronger the flour. Ideally, percentage of protein should be 15% but 12% is also fine. If the protein is below 10%, it means that the flour is "soft" and should be used to prepare cakes. Apart from bread, strong flour is also used to prepare Italian dishes like pizza, focaccia, and fresh pasta.
About the Author:
Maria is a mother of three from Malaga, and a "bread machine." She shares her passion for bread baking in a blog, where all bread recipes have the approval of a very severe committee composed of three kids and a husband. Try her Italian Focaccia bread or the Traditional Irish Soda Bread
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