October 22, 2009 - 7:02am
KAF Flours
I am looking to order Flour from KAF's website, but I'm not sure which type to buy. I mostly bake Baguettes, Pizza/Calzone, Foccocia etc. Is it worth the extra money to spend on the KAF French style and Italian style flours? I was also going to the the Bread and AP for my wife; she likes to make hearth breads, Rolls, Crossants etc. So if its not worth the extra money, then I just won't purchase them.
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I have used KAF AP flour for many years for ciabatta and foccacia, with great results, so I don't think you can go wrong with it. I have not used their French or Italian flours, so I can't address whether you would get even better results with those.
This past summer I took a 3-day class on the classic French breads with Jeffrey Hammelman, who is director of KAF's bakery education center and production bakery, and James MacGuire. We used their Sir Galahad, which is also marketed as their AP flour, exclusively. Turned out beautiful baguettes, sourdough and miche using it.
I'd stick with that.
Larry
is Sir Galahad, but just doesn't say so? I was wondering about that and also why JH and JM don't use the KAF bread flour.
BH
BH-
The Bread Flour KAF sells has a protein content of 12.7%. For artisanal or hearth breads like baguetes, you want flour whose protein is below 12% to ensure crispy, as opposed to soft or chewy, crust.
Larry
douginjapan, while you have "Japan" in your handle, I don't know where you live. If you're in the US, have you checked locally? WalMart carries the bread flour and our local supermarket carries the AP. Actually, a local store has both BF and AP on sale this week for $2.99 for 5#.
I use KA bread flour primarily because it is less expensive here than the AP (excepting the above noted sale) and have always had good results. Will pick up 25# of the sale priced AP and give it a try, just to see if I can discern any real difference.
The Sir Galahad and AP flours have the same 11.7 protein but I don't know if the ash content is the same.
I currently live in Japan, so I don't have access to KAF flours over here. The Military Commisary I do my shopping at only carries Gold Medal flours, so I have been using their Better for Bread varity. I have found a store that sells flour, but they don't sell the quantities that I need, and it is rather expensive(Yen to Dollar rate, and general price). I would just like to experiment with KAF Flours to see if there is a difference in flavors and dough qualities between KAF and Gold Medal flours, which includes the speciality flour varities.
I can say from experience that I taste a difference between the GM and KAF bread flours, confirmed by family members. I prefer KAF so the GM is used for my starter because it costs only two bucks for five pounds here.
I have tried the KAF artisan bread flour, but didn't find any difference sufficient to justify the cost. I like ten percent rye in my wheat breads and can always crush a vitamin C tablet if I want to add ascorbic acid.
I have KAF French-style flour and first clear flour on hand, but haven't had the opportunity to try them yet. Soon!
The one specialty KA flour I can't do without is Sir Lancelot high gluten flour. It is awesome for bagels and while I tried using bread flour once, they tasted more like bread donuts than bagels.
Go for it! The experimentation will be fun and best of all, you can eat the experiments.
Thanks for the info, I guess I will stick with AP, Bread, and a small bag of Hi Gluten (I don't make bagels that often).