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Question about Hamelman's Bread

mgirard's picture
mgirard

Question about Hamelman's Bread

Hi everyone,

I am a newly addicted newbie baker. Besides watching lots of YouTube videos and reading a number of blogs on TFL, I began my bread making journey reading both "Tartine" and "Flour Water Salt Yeast". While I enjoyed both, I recently bought Hamelman's "Bread". After reading the book cover to cover (or almost), I still can't figure out if by bread flour Hamelman means AP flour or bread flour per se. Any pointers?

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

Dsr303's picture
Dsr303

He states bread flour.  That's what I would use...Probably won't notice much difference if you use AP . In King Arthur Flour I think its just a 1% gluten difference

Arjon's picture
Arjon

depending on which frame of reference you choose. For instance, the difference between say 11% and 12% gluten is 1% if you look at the % of gluten relative to the total flour, but if you only look at the gluten, the latter has 9.1% more. 

Dsr303's picture
Dsr303

He states bread flour.  That's what I would use...Probably won't notice much difference if you use AP . In King Arthur Flour I think its just a 1% gluten difference

mgirard's picture
mgirard

Thank you. In general, I've been struggling to find a good overview of the different types of flours (bread, AP, ...) from various cereals (wheat, rye, spelt, ...). When to use them? What should I be careful about? Do you have any suggestions?

AlanG's picture
AlanG

with a variety of Hamelman recipes.  I only use King Arthur flours and have found little difference between breads made with each grade.  I have settled on King Arthur AP as the general flour used for everything other than cakes or pasta. I don't have a lot of storage space and eliminating a canister or two is helpful. 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Unlike the situation in France and Germany, the U.S. does not have government-sanctioned terminology and definitions for flours.

In the 2nd edition of "Bread," Hamelman does differentiate pastry flour, bread flour and high-gluten flour, but he does not distinguish Bread Flour from All Purpose Flour. I gave my 1st edition of Bread to one of my sons, but, I seem to recall that in it he defined "bread flour" in terms of a protein content range that includes both KAF AP and Bread Flour. I am very sure that, if asked, Hamelman would leave the choice up to you but point out instances where one or the other is preferable.

In my experience, both make good lean breads. I almost always use a flour with around 11.5% protein. For enriched breads, I prefer the higher gluten content of Bread Flour. I also often use bread flour for mixing sourdough starter I intend to store for a week or more. On the other hand, I prefer the lower protein flour for bread where a more extensible dough is needed, for example baguettes.

Happy baking!

David

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Monterrey Mexico.  It is 11.2% protein and perfect for bred making,  I find that using Bread flour is too much of of an overkill using the slap and folds and stretch and folds I use to make bread.  The crumb using bread flour is inferior in every way.  But, it I was going to us a professional spiral  mixer like JH and beat the heck out of 20 kg of dough for several minutes I would use bread flour instead..  I like a mix if AP and bread flour for pizza since it is retarded for a couple of days and if I am making a white levain to retard in the fridge for a few days then I would use bread flour.  Other than that LaFama works great for all kinds of breads, tortillas especially when mixed with the many whole sprouted grains I usually put into breads.

Happy  baking  

golfermd's picture
golfermd

reading about flours. There are a bazillion bakers (professional and really good amateurs), and there are probably just as many opinions on flours. Most of the really knowledgeable state that they prefer flours milled locally. I don't know where everyone is but there is a dearth of "local" millers here in the Washington D.C. suburbs, unless you mill your own. In addition it also depends on the wheat variety being milled. So for me, your average home baker, I'll stick with the major brand name flours because I have no idea where to even begin to locate the more specialized flours (beyond bread, cake, and AP flours). Also, the quantity I would need from a mill would probably get me laughed out the door...