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Kitchen Notes: Wheat Flour
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Rocky Shoals
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:47 am    Post subject: Deep Fry flours Reply with quote

I reduced the liquid content in the recipe by at least 20% without much difference. What I think is required is a batter with a large degree of internal air bubbles. I am considering adding various combinations of baking powder, baking soda and finally even yeast. Any thoughts on this?
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd suggest a first step of posting the complete recipe - that will give folks some specifics to consider.

baking soda leavens by creating CO2 from mixed with an acidic component. buttermilk would be a good one for fritters.

baking powder - double acting - does the same thing but additionally releases CO2 when heated. (single acting exists, but is not too commonly used)

note on baking powder: it does have a shelf life - how fresh is your batch?

when using either baking soda or baking powder, the batter should be used right away - it should not be made "the night before" for example.
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guest
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:23 pm    Post subject: whole wheat vs. all purpose flour, which is healthier? Reply with quote

Could someone please help me find the answer to this question? I am in a never-ending argument w/ my brother about this.

I am under the impression that whole wheat/ whole grain flour is a flour that is not ground to such a fine texture as all purpose flour. For this reason it is a healthier flour since on the molecular level the sugar molecules are encased w/ fiber molecules and do not get absorbed by our bodies but instead pass on through our digestive system. But, all purpose flour is ground so finely that the fiber casings are destroyed and all the sugars now get absorbed by our digestive system.

Is there any science to back up ths theory I've been told?

My Kingdom for an answer that makes sense. Actually, I rent, hehehe.

Phil
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

lotta research needed to form your own opinion.

"wheat" is the seed of a plant. as such there are various "parts" to the seed.

milling "white flour" from the grain "as harvested" is not a one step process.

one grind separates the husk, another the endosperm, another the germ, another the pericarp, etc.

"white flour" is typically just the ground bits of the seed endosperm.

there are many grades of "how fine" a flour is ground.

additionally, "whole wheat" grind include parts other than the endosperm.

"all purpose" flour is not a good consideration here. the all purpose, bread, pastry, etc, type classifications refer to the gluten/protein level. that is not related to "how much of the wheat seed" is included except that protein levels are measured by weight percentages - so if you add (or do not remove) anything that affects weight and not protein, the classification will change.

so far as sugar molecules being encased in x or y or z, and being destroyed/preserved by some particular grind, that sounds a lot like some bit of snake oil. no flour grind is so fine that it destroys / preserves anything at the molecular level.

whether the part of the wheat grain that contains sugar(s) x,y,z is included in a particular whole/white/[insert marketing hype word here] four type is an entirely different question.

whole/partial grain type flours certainly add to 'dietary' fiber.

grinding a whole grain to the point the sugar is destroyed on a molecular level is a bit of a stretch.
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Helen S. Fletcher
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:04 am    Post subject: Wheat Flour Reply with quote

While I very much enjoyed your article on wheat flour and in the main found it to be useful, I feel that you mislead your readers when it comes to the weight of a cup of flour. As a professional baker with a business of 23 years as well as a food writer who develops recipes, the advice that the recipe assumes sifted flour is incorrect. As you correctly noted, most writers, magazines, books and professionals use 140 grams or 5 ounces as a cup of unsifted flour. No one sifts flour anymore which is why this measurement is used and professionally you cannot sift 20 or more pounds of flour on a routine basis as nothing would get done in the bakery for all the time spent sifting. You can aerate to some degree but not sift it. If you use recipes from a book, the reader should see if the writer explains how the flour is measured. Also, cake flour weighs 100 grams or 3 1/2 ounces sifted, while it weighs 115 grams unsifted. So all flours do not weigh alike. For all purpose or bread flour if the flour is stirred with a spoon, spooned into a measuring cup to overflowing and swept off, the measurement is a consistent 140 grams. If your readers use the 125 gram measurement they will be off by 1/2 ounce per cup which maybe does not matter in some recipes or can make a big difference in others. All of the recipes on my website, gooeychocolate.com use a non sifted weight (140 grams) by necessity. You can see the results, I wish you could have tasted them.
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gmacook
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 8:45 pm    Post subject: flour Reply with quote

I want to know more about high protein flour. Thanks for the start. I am off to experiment with my bread recipes. I have been making our bread for 4 years and want to get my bread healthier and better and better.... This will get me started. Seems that no one has an answer about good nutrition values and better than the super market values. Even then, I love making the bread and just want to be able to continue. How can I use whole wheat white flour and make it high gluten and still get a faulous loaf of challah bread. That is my benchmark.
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

within generalizations, higher protein also entails higher gluten.

whole wheat flour has less gluten; lots of other good things - but on a percentage basis less gluten. not because whole wheat is missing something "different" - but because every part of the "whole" wheat kernel is retained - but gluten doesn't occur in the bran.... so although all the gluten is still there, by weigh percentages the gluten is "less" than white flours where bran/germ, etc have been sifted out.

there is a product called "vital wheat gluten" I use to increase the gluten percentage when I make whole wheat loaves.

you will also notice in many many many "whole wheat" recipes, it is not 100% whole wheat.

100% whole wheat makes for very pretty bricks; very dense.
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Jim Cooley



Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Posts: 377
Location: Seattle

PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dilbert, you got me thinking about the different kinds of ground wheat available in India and I found a good reference HERE. I use atta (from the Indian grocery) to make chappatti and rotis, and the single time I tried to make naan I used All-Purpose, which explains the disasterous results!

What it doesn't explain is the difference between hard and soft wheats; or whether these varieties are available as non-specialty flours in the US.

Anyway, if you need a cheap source of pure whole-wheat flour, you might check with an Indian grocery if you live near one. Give it a try, at least.
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the classification of hard or soft methinks relates to the protein/gluten content of the specific wheat variety - it's an inherent trait of that specific wheat strain.

there are specialty growers / millers that can supply 100% of the type they grow or have access to - but it's uncommon to find that "on the shelf" other than "Durum"
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pzelchenko
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:22 am    Post subject: Whole wheat Reply with quote Delete this post

"Whole wheat flour contains the germ (the embryo of the wheat kernel)..."

Whole-wheat flour also contains bran. I believe it turns out to be about 85% endosperm, 12% bran, 2% germ. Whole-wheat flour is made by milling the entire groat. White flour is made by milling the groat after removing the bran and germ (it should look something like a grain of rice).

Graham flour is white flour with the proportions of wheat bran and wheat germ mixed back in. And so it is the same as whole-wheat flour in composition. The difference is that the bran and germ are much coarser in this recombined form, whereas with regular whole-wheat flour it is all milled, so you should have a finer mill. I regularly remake wheat flour by adding a handful of bran and about a tablespoon of germ to my white flour. It makes a delicious bread, and the only thing I need to keep below room temperature is the germ (which I keep in the freezer).
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