Submitted by Rosalie on July 6, 2008 - 4:54pm

Ballymaloe Bread Book - Flour Terminology?


I'm looking through my copy of the Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen.  It comes out of the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland.  I think it's a great book except for the terminology.  Some terms are explained in the book; some I can translate into American fairly easily; some I can figure out from the Internet; and then there's the rest.  I accept that the ingredients in Ireland will be different from what we have in America, but I would at least like to know what what we're talking about.

Here are some of the terms that have caught my eye, just to show you what I'm up against.  There seems to be some inconsistency, with several different terms meaning the same thing.  I don't know if I'm complaining or looking for help, but I know we have people from all over the world on this site, so SOMEONE should know.

flour - This unmodified term is used for several recipes
plain flour – Listed in glossary as, “A multi-purpose flour produced from a blend of soft and hard wheat.”
plain white flour
cream flour - pastry flour???
strong flour – listed in glossary as, “Sometimes called baker’s flour or bread flour.  It has a higher gluten content, being milled from hard wheat.”
strong white flour - Bread flour, I assume
brown flour - ???  Partially refined flour?  Like first clear???
strong brown flour - Is this the high-protein version of brown flour?
wholemeal flour – listed in glossary as, “Sometimes called whole wheat pastry flour, it is made from the whole wheat kernel.”
brown wholemeal flour - ??
cornmeal
yellow meal - corn meal?  The intro to this recipe says, "If you are a polenta lover this bread is for you."
granary flour - Listed in the glossary as, "A mixture of wholemeal, white and rye flour with some malted grains.  Improves keeping time of bread."
kibbled wheat – Listed in glossary as, “Wheat of which the kernel has been gently cracked.”
rye flour
plain rye flour
dark rye flour