The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Accommodations to High Gluten Flour

nlavon's picture
nlavon

Accommodations to High Gluten Flour

I posted some time ago about trying to find high gluten flour for baking.

I finally found some in the Washington, D.C. area where I live--Costco sells Kyrol flour in 25 pound sacks but a local Amish market sells what it calls "Kyrol Flour" in 7.5 pound bags which is much more reasonable in my household.

I googled "Kyrol flour" and it seemed to be the high gluten flour that is on sale in 25-pound quantities. At any rate, I want to use it in a basic pizza recipe; what accommodations need to be made for using high gluten flour instead of all purpose in a pizza recipe?

Thanks for any help.

Neal Lavon
Takoma Park, MD
USA

ClimbHi's picture
ClimbHi

Hmmm. Most pizza recipies I've used called for hi-gluten flour to begin with, so no accommodations were needed. That said, I find that the higher the gluten, the trickier it is to get a nice, round crust -- the tend to want to spring back into a ball. The trick here is to make your dough ahead of time and let it rest for the day, or overnight, in the fridge. Makes for easier shaping as well as tastier dough.

ClimbHi

PS: Costco also sells large bags of what's labeled "All Trumps" flour. From what I can tell, it's hi-gluten and its main use is for pizza dough. It's bleached, tho', if that matters to you.

Mike Avery's picture
Mike Avery

GM makes All-Trumps in many different forms.  Bleached and bromated, bleached but not bromated, unbleached and unbromated.

 

Different forms are available different places.  When I lived in the mountains, the unbleached unbromated All-Trunps was, hands down, my favorite flour.  A nice creamy color and flavor that went on forever!

 

You might start suggesting to Costco that you want the unbleached unbromated version, that bleaching and bromating makes the flour less desireable to you.

 

Mike

 

ClimbHi's picture
ClimbHi

"You might start suggesting to Costco that you want"

LOL! I get the distinct impression that Costco ain't AT ALL interested in what I might want. ;-)

Curiously, the bleached all trumps is what the restaurant supply houses carry around here as well. I'd never heard of "all trumps" until I started on this endless bread journey, so I looked it up on the web. Not much info about it. None of my bread books seem to mention it either.

So, what the heck is a "trump" anyway, and why do I want a bag of flour with all of them?

Curious minds wanna know. . .

ClimbHi

Mike Avery's picture
Mike Avery

All Trumps is largely a professional flour, not commonly available through retail channels.

 

It is a favorite among some professional bakers, among them pizza makers and bakers at high altitudes.  It is confusing in that it is available in different varieties around the country.  For a while the unbleached unbromated version was only available west of the Mississippi river.  I haven't tried the bleached and/or bromated versions because I am opposed to them in priniciple, and because in practice bleached flours seem to deliver less flavor in the final bread.

 

If you are on good terms with a professional baker or restaurant owner, you might ask them if they could order you a sack or two of flour and then see what their suppliers carry.

 

As to trumps, I think it's a quirky reference to card playing.  Having all the trump cards would be a good thing in most games.  However, if you look at http://www.gmiflour.com/ you can find a contact us link and ask them about the name, and the availability, of the flour.

 

Mike

 

ClimbHi's picture
ClimbHi

Thanks! I have baker/restauranteur contacts -- which is how I can get into the supply houses locally -- but they only have access to bleached/bromated as well. Some folks have said KA Sir Lancelot is pretty much the same thing as All Trumps, so I plan to give that a try just for kicks if it's available in more than 3# sacks, which is what's on KA's site.

ClimbHi

PS: I just now made the connection between you and the Sourdough site. DOH!
Nice site. It pretty much tipped me over the edge towards naturally leavened doughs.

Mike Avery's picture
Mike Avery

Sometimes you can get the flour you want if you can contact the food service reps and ask them if they can get it.  Often it's available but not in the catalog.  Worst that can happen is they laugh at you.

 

Thanks for the kind words about sourdoughhome.com

 

Best wishes,

Mike