November 10, 2020 - 10:35am
Rye flour protein content
Is there a way for the amateur, home rye flour miller (me) to determine the protein and ash content of flour? Stated another way, how can I mill white, medium, and dark rye flour? In the future I'd also like to be able to determine the protein content of wheat flour - as in milling all-purpose, bread, high-gluten, and first clear flours. Thanks.
Harvey
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As far as I know, there is no way to determine protein content in your kitchen. You can roughly figure gluten in wheat flours. But not all protein is gluten. Unless it is labled about the only thing you can do is take educated guesses.
Certain basic rules will apply like ...the more fiber, outer layers of the berry, the higher the protein content. Whole berry flours will contain more protein and this range varies with the type of grain (wheats vary as well.) Get to know your particular grain protein perameters. The more bran sifted out, the lower the protein but not necessarily less gluten. Whole flours have higher ash contents because they contain more fiber and minerals, especially rye is known for its ability to buffer acid in the dough. The more ash content the more acid buffering the rye matrix can handle before breaking down and this is especially important when working with sourdoughs.