On a confusion of Flour.
Hey guys,
I am new to baking and just realized that there are quite a few refernce son here that I am unable to figure out.
1. I have purchased some un-bleached bread flour from a local (Toronto) bulk barn. It is WAY better than the robin hood stuff I was buying. I have been reading that most people seem to stick with either All Purpose or mix All Pupose with bread flour. I have been making so many diffrent kinds of bread, from baguettes, to rolls, to sandwhich loaves. I am not sure which flours I should be using. The only thing I have noticed is that for french type breads I am not getting a really cripsy crust. Not sure if this is from my poor steaming or the bread flour.
2. La Milanaise flour- What is it? Why does everyone seem to want it?
3. What are the T ratings I see? T-55, T-70, that type of thing.
Thank you in advance
-D
I think La Milanaise is stone ground, but I'm not sure. I do know they make a variety of flours and I've used them fairly often, but since they come in smallish bags, I don't use them regularly. I refuse to use Robin Hood flour now because the last two bags I got were full of lumps that had to be either sifted or run through my fingers before using. I generally buy any unbleached flour I can find, usually the no name brand in our Loblaw's.
Here's a TFL thread describing T-ratings and European flour types. I believe the T ratings have to do with ash content in the flour.
Regarding your bulk flour, finding out at least the gluten percentage should provide some information about its suitability for different applications.
A quality AP flour (like King Arthur AP) has a pretty high gluten percentage than many store-bought bread flours.