May 10, 2018 - 7:01am
Understanding Spanish flour types
Hi everybody!
I‘m from Germany and want to try some recipes from the Spanish book Pan de Pueblo by Iban Yarza. So I have to substitute Spanish flour with German flour. In the book different names and/or numbers are used. I already found out, that the names and numbers used in the book (i.e. panificable W180) refer to gluten or protein in common (I’m not 100 percent sure about that). The question I’m after is, if the ash content is the same for most of these flours (like harina panificable, harina de media fuerza and harina de fuerza) or if the ash content in harina de fuerza is higher then in harina panificable.
I would be really happy if someone could help me with that. Thanks!
Christoph
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All these flours are white flours. I am a spanish baker. By the way Iban Yarza is a friend of mine. Harina panificable is All purpose flour. Harina de fuerza is Strong Flour (13 gr of protein or more). Harina de media fuerza is something in between, similar to french T55. You can mix 50% of AP Flour with 50% Strong flour and you get an Harina de media fuerza.
Hey man, have you heard about a flour called anza flour.....? id really appreciate any leads you can give me for understanding the grain and if possible where to get some cheers!
simon
I supose it's a local wheat grain.
Hello! I hope you don't mind one more question about Spanish flours; you seem to be the person to ask! I am starting to make coca de vidre at home after falling in love with it while visiting Barcelona a few years back. I am not 100% sure what type of flour to use, however. One recipe just says "flour" while another says "farina de força." Is this just the same as "harina de fuerza" but in Catalan? So would I just use bread flour as the closest thing in America? Would that be what you would recommend for coca de vidre? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Thank you! If you say white flours, is it all around the same ash content/extraction rate or are some of the flours whiter than others? I ask this, because German flour is classified by the ash content, not by protein. If I understand you right, I think I have to look for the protein content of the German 550 flours, which seem to be similar to what is white flour in Spain.
Iban Yarza already helped me with a question about masa madre on Twitter. But I did not want to go on his nerves with to many questions. ;)
Spain is a country is white bread. If you take a look at the pages of that book, you will notice. There's not a culture of whole cereal bread. Maybe in some areas of Galicia, Catalonia or Mallorca are the excepction. Usually in Spain there are two criterium to classify flour: the first one, the quantity of proteine (from 9gr to 10,5-11 gr of protein is Harina panadera, from 10.5-11 to 13 gr is harina de media fuerza and between 13 to 15 is harina de fuerza). The second classificacion is the ratio P/L, which defines the balance of the flour (equilibrium between attributes like tenacity, extensibility, elasticity). I hope this info is valid for you.
Thanks a lot! That’s the information I was looking for. So I will do it like i wrote before. I was not sure if I interpreted the pictures in the book right. I also remember the breads, when I visited friends in Spain in my youth as white breads. But I did not trust myself.
(And sorry for the bold font in the upper post.)
Hello! Do you recommend any recipes for home bakers to get that lovely fluffy crusty texture for flautas/baguettes? I just came home from Barcelona with some 100% Iberico Ballotes jamon and would love to try and replicate the sandwiches.
gracias de antemano
Most of these are made with "harina panadera". It's the spanish version of french T65 flour, more or less. Less protein than an american bread flour. Mix cake flour and bread flour until you get a 10.5 to 11.5 proteine flour.
See you.
Hello,
I have been trying to find carina Gallega in US but couldn't and I do not which flour I should use for that. Could you please tell me with which flour I can substitute with Gallega?
Thank you,
Mert
A few Spanish-speaking blogs (not on TFL but "out there on the internet") had this question in their comment sections several years ago, and each time the answer was something like "Sorry, it's a regional product, I don't know where else to find it". One person vaguely said to try different flour and hope it works, and another claimed it's unique and hard to duplicate.
These blog entries were 5 years ago or more; maybe something has changed since then.
Pan Gallego is made with a mixture of Farina do pais (local wheat grains, quite strong), and some medium-rye flour. I live in mexico, sometimes I make Pan Gallego, so I mix around 80% white flour, 10% stoneground wheat flour and 10% medium rye flour. It can work for you.
Can you share a recipe for Pan Gallego? I have it on my radar after I experiment with Pan de Cristal. Some recipes I have come across seem to use the same or similar dough. (If you have a recipe for Pan Cristal using North American flours I would love that too!)
You can combine 80% white flour, 10% stoneground flour and 10% rye flour. If you make baguettes, you can hydrate around 75%-80%, if you wanna shape round bread you can arrive to 100% hydration. Water addition must be litlle by little. First mix around 10 minutes at slow speed with 60% of water, and then increase speed and add the rest of water slowly. You should use some sourdough and some extra salt.
Crunchy can come from different ways. I am from Barcelona and catalans enjoy crunchy bread. We achieve it in several ways: using not so strong flour (10-11 proteine is just fine), proofing the baguette at cool temperature (wich improves the crust) and also the way you bake is important (quantity of steam and the moment you release it).
Hey Abel, me llamo Eduardoy soy chef y amante del buen pan, he estudiado en el Gremio de Panaderos de Bcn ya que me encuentro residiendo en Barcelona en este momento, pero he vivido el Tirol Austriaco, en Inglaterra y USA e intento unificar todas las culturas del pan de estos sitios para darle mi estilo.
Queria preguntarte, siguiendo libros como Tartine o el de Ken Forkish, ellos siempre utilizan la Bread flour que se que es la harina de Fuerza aqui, pero literalmente? Quiero en realidad tener mas hidatacion en las masas que la costumbre española, a pesar de que quiero conseguirlos lo maximo integrales posible con alveolatura de un 75% - 80%.
Obviamente a veces me siento algo confundido y si tienes algun consejo te lo agradeceria.
Gracias!
Saludos
Hola Eduardo. Un saludo, yo soy de Barcelona pero actualmente vivo en México. Si pasas por la escuela del Gremi le mandas un fuerte abrazo a Tony Valls y a Ramonet.
El tema de las harinas es crítico. No puedes obtener mismos resultados con harinas diferentes. Si quieres obtener resultados parecidos con las harinas europeas o españolas, que en general son más débiles, tendrás que cambiar algunos parámetros, en especial las temperaturas de base. Tratar de que la masa te agarre más fuerza trabajando con una temperatura 1-2 grados por encima, se me ocurre.
Desde mi punto de vista trabajar con harinas tan fuertes tiene más inconvenenientes que ventajas. Yo prefiero trabajar con harinas más débiles, tardas menos en amasar, tienes menos proteinas a degradar, te aguantan una fermentación moderadamente larga, sacas el pan con corteza más crujiente, la miga menos gomosa. La harina de alta proteina para pan yo no la recomiendo.
Thanks for the info. I am just trying to find the best suitable one for that.
What does W=350 mean?
I am working on the Pan de Cristal recipe from https://cortezaymiga.blogspot.com/2014/03/pan-de-cristal.html which recommends “ harina de gran fuerza del Moli de Picó que tiene una W =de 350.” I am adapting 12% protein Gold Medal Bread flour as best I can since 13% protein King Arthur is nowhere to be found in pandemic times. I have added vital wheat gluten to up the protein to 13%.
That's strong flour.
Hola Abel
Es posible conseguir un buen alveolado y crecimiento con harinas que no sean de fuerza?
Sí. De hecho ahora la tendencia en panadería moderna europea es usar harinas lo más débiles posibles. Es evidente que has de partir de una cantidad de proteina mínima. Con una harina de 10,5 a 11,5 de proteína puedes hacer un pan fantástico.
Hola Abel, me alegra haber dado contigo ya que llevo meses buscando la mejor harina comparable a la All Purpose Americana. Necesito una harina estable con un 10,5% de proteína. Me podrías recomendar tipo y harinera que pueda tenerla?
Muchísimas gracias!!
Hola. Sería una harina panadera, una harina blanca común para hacer pan. ¿En qué zona de España te encuentras? Lo mejor es que busques alguna harinera local. Encontrarás ese tipo de harina sin problema porque es la más común para hacer pan.
Hola! Estoy en Madrid. Y la Manitoba? muchas gracias!
Manitoba es una harina de alta proteína, por tanto es desaconsejable para hacer pan común. Una harina muy equilibrada que te recomiendo para hacer un pan rico y saludable es la Harina Tradicional Zamorana de Molinos del Duero. De las harinas españolas es una de mis favoritas.
Muchas gracias voy a probar!!