I would guess that the larger mills in the US would use such a device. I asked the folks at King Arthur if they published the falling times on their flours and basically the answer was no. This is because they measure the falling times in their labs while milling and adjust accordingly with things like diastatic malt. In essence the flour is calibrated to within a specific falling time range before it is packaged for marketing. In that way the consumer is guaranteed a consistent product when they stick with a particular mill. A bag of King Arthur all-purpose flour should preform the same no matter what time of year the wheat was harvested and milled.
This subject came up on the Bread Bakers Guild of America forum and it pertained to small millers. From my interpretation, when a baker receives a shipment from a small mill they often prepare a series of small batches using different hydrations. Nothing is baked and no leavening is used. It is just flour and water to test the new flour's performance before they commit to using it in a large run. They choose the hydration that best matches what they have seen in the past so the baker's hydration may vary from one mill run to another.
I would like to use them but for any of flours available in Slovenia where I live I can't get them. Hope that this is not the case in other countries.
I would guess that the larger mills in the US would use such a device. I asked the folks at King Arthur if they published the falling times on their flours and basically the answer was no. This is because they measure the falling times in their labs while milling and adjust accordingly with things like diastatic malt. In essence the flour is calibrated to within a specific falling time range before it is packaged for marketing. In that way the consumer is guaranteed a consistent product when they stick with a particular mill. A bag of King Arthur all-purpose flour should preform the same no matter what time of year the wheat was harvested and milled.
This subject came up on the Bread Bakers Guild of America forum and it pertained to small millers. From my interpretation, when a baker receives a shipment from a small mill they often prepare a series of small batches using different hydrations. Nothing is baked and no leavening is used. It is just flour and water to test the new flour's performance before they commit to using it in a large run. They choose the hydration that best matches what they have seen in the past so the baker's hydration may vary from one mill run to another.