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Advice on buying Central Milling flours

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Advice on buying Central Milling flours

 

Hi,

 

Which of the following flours are all-purpose and bread flour equivalent?  There are so many choices, I am getting confused. And which one would keep longer than the other?

 

Thanks,

 

 Yippee

 

 

Well, the first one is obvious, but what about the last three? 

Bulk Organic All Purpose Flour - 50 lb bag

Organic Beehive - 50 LB Bag (22.68 KG)

Organic Type 110 Wheat Flour - 50 lb. Bag

Organic Type 110 - 50 LB Bag (22.68 KG)

 

 

 

Organic Type 70 Malted Flour - 50 lb. Bag

Organic Type 70 Malted - 50 LB Bag (22.68 KG)

 

 


 

 

Organic Type 85 Malted Flour - 50 lb. Bag

Organic Type 85 Malted - 50 LB Bag (22.68 KG)

 

 

 

 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

AP flour generally goes from .52% up to .56% ash.  

( So type 70 (.70% ash) and higher are ruled out.  Unless you want the extra bran that comes in Type 70, 85, 110 etc.   100% whole wheat is 1.6% ash.)

Generic AP flour is 10% to 11.3% protein.   

King Arthur AP flour is 11.7%   (KA Bread flour is 12.5%)

--

So anything .52 to .56% ash, and 10 to 11.7% protein.   But, there is so much variation between different brands of AP flour, it depends on what/who's brand you are trying to match.  CM gives you all the variables, you just have to match them up.

The descriptions on each product page at CM web site are usually pretty good.

--

Not to disrespect CM, but if you are not close to them, and are near a big city, there may be a General Mills flour distributor or restaurant supplier near you, where you can go and pick up a 50 pound bag for around $24.  Check out this list: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/62291/experience-w-general-mills-50-lb-flour and follow the links to the product page at General Mills.  There is a form on the right hand side of each product page to find a distributor. Call the distributor and ask about "counter sales".  Order over phone, drive over and pay and pick up in person.

Someone here local to Indianapolis just got a 50 pound bag of King Arthur All Purpose (50 pound has a different name, but same flour) for real cheap, from a food supplier to pizzerias,  but he did have to drive to pick it up.

Yippee's picture
Yippee

I have to look again at CM's site for the %s that you mentioned.  The descriptions I read tell me "this flour is good for making rustic bread, baguettes, etc. but I don't recall seeing the %s.  Even if I saw the %s, I probably would be confused anyways. :-)

Thanks for the other info, I'll look into it.  The place from where I usually order flour only sells bulk to commercial customers now, bummer!

 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

to see ash% and protein % at the CM web site.

breadforfun's picture
breadforfun

Hi, I’ve used all of these flours. They consider “beehive” to be all purpose, and it works well for that. 

Type 85 is a high extraction flour, much like what Chad Robertson recommends in many of his books, and I’ve used it for those recipes. It’s very flavorful flour. 

Type 110, according to Stan Ginsberg (aka The Rye Baker) is very close to first clear flour, and I have used it for that purpose. 

I‘m least familiar with the Type 70, but a previous poster said, the numbers relate to the ash content. 

What they sell as their bread flour is Artisans Baker Craft flour, commonly called ABC. They have a malted version (Plus) and an unmalted version. Since you didn’t mention it, I am guessing that they are out of stock temporarily due to increased online ordering. Perhaps you can pre-order it.  I have been using it for my bread flour for years and never been disappointed. Luckily, I’m only an hour or so drive from the warehouse, so I can make periodic trips. 
-Brad

 

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Isn't Central Milling in Utah? And you are in S.F.?

breadforfun's picture
breadforfun

...on both counts. They have a retail outlet and distributor in Petaluma, just an hour north. It’s called Keith Guisto Baking Supply. I’ve been going for many years, and early on you could see their white board showing the delivery schedule to Acme, Tartine, and many other large bread bakers in the area. They’ve greatly expanded the retail operation and also now have a small classroom in back where they offer a series of artisan bread and pastry classes. 
-Brad

pastrydennis's picture
pastrydennis

I've been using the Breadtopia Select bread flour for a variety of loaves with excellent results.  I mainly use recipes from  Chad Robertson's book.  I'm wondering how this high extraction flour compares in bread quality to other products such as Central Milling type 85 flour.  The Breadtopia Select is rated at 14% protein but there is no info on extraction.   

Thanks

Dennis

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, Yippee.

I can confirm what Brad said. CM's "ABC" flour was originally milled for Acme bread to use for their baguettes. It is wonderful flour. I generally use the un-malted version but am currently testing the malted version. ABC flour is similar to King Arthur AP flour except it makes a slightly more extensible dough, in my experience. It has the same protein content - 11.5 to 11.7%.

Hope you and your family are well.

David

Yippee's picture
Yippee

We are fine. Thank you!  I hope you and yours are safe and healthy, too!

What difference does it make when flour is malted/unmalted? 

It's nice to hear from you.

Yippee

 

 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Malted flour has some small addition of malted barley. This provides some additional enzymes that accelerate conversion of starch to simple sugar, thus boosting fermentation. At least that's my understanding. I don't find it necessary but am curious how it will effect the length of bulk fermentation in my sourdough breads. No data yet.

We're fine, thank you. My biggest problem is having to avoid excursions to farmer's markets in strawberry season (!) and favorite restaurants. 

David

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

Yippee:   to put "malted flour" in perspective, in the U.S., all regular 5 pound bags of wheat-based  (meaning not Gluten free) AP flour and Bread flour at retail grocery stores are "malted".  Gold Medal, King Arthur, store brands, etc.   "Cake flour" likely does not have it.  "Pastry flour", I don't know.

Whole-wheat flour has the bran, that's where the natural enzymes are (that dmsnyder mentioned), so WW flour doesn't need added enzymes to break down starch into sugar.

For any recipe intended/designed to be used in a home kitchen in the U.S., that calls for All Purpose flour, or Bread flour, you can be near certain that the recipe-maker was using a malted flour.

You can verify whether your bag of flour is malted by looking at the "official" ingredients list under the Nutrition Info box.  It will include "malted barley flour", or "malted wheat flour", or "amylase" or "alpha-amylase."  

Exceptions would include imported flour.

Hope this helps.

Yippee's picture
Yippee

It surely helps!

Yippee

suave's picture
suave

Some of the more hardocre/orthodox organic millers do not add malt.

Yippee's picture
Yippee

any particular reason?