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Submitted by IBringThePain on July 6, 2011 - 7:22pm Pros and cons of high-gluten flourI've been operating for several months under the assumption that the higher the protein level in the flour, the better the bread I make would be. I guess I can blame Daniel Leader for this a little bit. But in the past few weeks, I've finally started noticing all the recipes on TFL that call for AP flour, and when I saw Anis Bouabsa's baguette recipe I realized my assumption must be wrong. What I need help understanding is when to use high-gluten flour and when to use AP. I thought that higher gluten levels meant more elasticity, more strength, and a better rise. But if the best baguettes in Paris use AP, I have to be wrong. Right? Help me, please. I'm hopelessly confused.
Submitted by cranbo on February 20, 2011 - 2:06pm wheat flours, protein percentages and fortifying flourEDIT: based on some feedback, I have corrected my original post. I set out to locate a list of protein levels in common flours, and I found a handy list, reposting for your perusal: Flour Names & Protein Percentages
FYI, this came from a very handy page & calculator I came across at http://tools.foodsim.com/
The reason I was interested in this is because I wanted to find out how much my protein would be boosted by adding vital wheat gluten to my flour.
I usually use KA All Purpose, which has 11.7% protein. To supplement, I planned to use Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour.
WARNING...MATH AHEAD :)
You can use this same method to calculate the adjusted protein in your flour.
END OF MATH :)
What's interesting to me is that at the recommended dosage, adding 1 tbsp. of Bob's Red Mill gluten to every 1 cup of KA flour would make an extremely high protein flour, higher than what is typically commercially available. I wonder if it would make it totally unusable & gummy?
Then again, if you had a relatively weak, generic AP flour (9% protein), then 1 tbsp per cup would probably bump you to a very respectable 13.2% protein level, close to that of KA Bread Flour. For those that have actually tried this technique, I wonder if it actually performs in a similar way (e.g., similar to KA Bread flour) or do other flour factors (such as ash content, type of wheat, etc) play more into the overall performance of the flour and resulting bread?
Submitted by ZenSojourner on February 2, 2011 - 12:53pm Costco ConAgra Harvest FlourOK so I've been having an AWFUL time trying to make my bread come out right and I finally found out what's wrong. ConAgra Harvest All Purpose Flour is about the same protein content as biscuit mix. It's barely above a cake flour. At least what's available in MY area is. I had to call ConAgra to get this information and if you are in some other part of the country it's going to be different. Unlike King Arthur, Con Agra does not mill their wheat to meet any particular definition of what we would typically think of as "bread flour" or "all purpose flour". SO for the South East, that would be from AT LEAST North Carolina down and I'm not sure how far west; the ConAgra mill is in Alabama. All Purpose Flour coming out of that mill is 9.2% protein (compare to 11.7% protein for King Arthur) "Bread flour" coming out of that mill is 11.6% protein (compare to 12.7% protein for King Arthur) Kyrol "high gluten" flour is 13.8% protein (compare to KA Sir Lancelot at 14.2% protein) - not all Costco's carry this, mine unfortunately does not. The ConAgra representative to whom I spoke swore that although the ConAgra Harvest flour available at Costco is bleached, it is NOT bromated. I could have sworn the bags I bought actually did say it was bromated, but I've long since repackaged the flour and tossed the bags. It'll be a couple of weeks yet before I can get to Costco to double check that. Typically we think of bread flour being something close to 13% protein, high gluten 14% to 15%, all purpose around 10% to 12%, pastry flour at about 9%, and cake flour being about 6% - 8%. Or at least I have, up to now. (Then there's White Lily, which historically was around 8%, not sure what it is now that it's been sold off) This means the ConAgra Harvest AP flour is actually a PASTRY flour. No wonder none of my AP bread recipes were coming out! And I guess maybe some of the credit for the success I've finally had with pie crust is due to the flour rather than my increased prowess at pie making. *sigh* Even the ConAgra Harvest Bread flour is too low in protein to actually qualify as a bread flour - it's slightly lower in protein than King Arthur's All Purpose flour! Most national store brands of AP flour are nominally listed at 10.5% protein though I'm told in actuality they vary regionally from around 10% to 11%. National brands have a bigger stake in maintaining some level of consistency I guess. I'm talking Pillsbury, Gold Medal, etc. SO, if you want to use the ConAgra Harvest flour from Costco, and you're in the SE, you may want to avoid the AP flour and stick to the Bread flour, treating it like it's equivalent to King Arther AP. It should be roughly equivalent for recipes on the King Arthur website that call for AP flour. Adding vital wheat gluten to the ConAgra Harvest Bread flour will probably bring it up to the range of actual bread flour - I'm told it adds about 1% to the protein content when used as directed. Submitted by bglass2 on January 12, 2011 - 8:41pm Protein level in sprouted wheat flourI have been buying bulk hard red winter wheat berries and sprouting them. I then dry them in a dehydrator and mill them into flour. I am going to attempt my first sourdough bread with this flour. I would like to figure out the percent protein in the flour I have. Is there a way to do this at home without sending it to a lab? Thanks, Brandon Submitted by breitbaker on October 7, 2009 - 8:03am comparison of protein content in flourhas anyone posted a comparison of various protein percentages in different brands/types of flour? KA flour lists theirs, but many companies do not...I would really appreciate it if anyone here has some resources for me..it would certainly be helpful when comparing different "bread book" authors and which flours they use in their recipes....thanks! cathy in WI Submitted by tams on April 18, 2008 - 11:50pm help! balancing/improving breadHelp Please! I'm making round loaf, rustic breads and I'm not sure how to know when to "improve" the flour/dough with something to optimize the bread. I know its done ahead of time in Europe for bakers which is apart of why the bread is so fabulous...please assist
Thanks
 Submitted by Mini Oven on April 7, 2008 - 9:27pm Water absorptionJust found a gem of a tip: "The more protein a flour contains, the more water it absorbs. Flours can vary more than 20% in their ability to absorb moisture."
Meaning.... when substituting flours in a recipe, you will need more or less water (moisture) if you use a flour with a different protein content! Mini O Submitted by pseudobaker on May 10, 2007 - 8:00pm Anyone familiar with this flour?I've been part of a buy group from an organic wholesaler for a few months now, and I've so far ordered 2 50lb bags of organic flour (and gone through them astonishingly quickly) - one was a local (B.C. mainland) unbleached white, 12% protein, and the other was an American unbleached white, 10% protein. Both were good flours, although the 10% flour made my loaves a little softer than I like (due to the protein content, I know).
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