Flour Types: What to Buy and How to Use Them

Lesson objective:

The objective of this lesson is to arm you with the knowledge to intelligently choose flours for each of your baking needs and the knowledge to use them properly.

Course Outline

• The White Flours
  • Bleached or Unbleached?
  • Bromated or Unbromated?
  • Bread, All-Purpose, Self-Rising, Pastry,or Cake Flour?
  • The Role of Gluten
  • So what flour should you buy?
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Other Flours
• Storing Your Flour
• Resources Related to this Lesson
• Recipes: Knowledge in Practice

Sample Text

Rye flour is used extensively in pumpernickel and rye breads. It can be purchased in light rye, medium rye, and dark rye flours. White rye is especially prized by the bakers of artisan loaves and creates a mild, uniquely-flavored bread with a taste that is described as being sourdough-like.

Because rye proteins do not form the gluten strands necessary to create structure, bread made with rye flour alone is heavy and dense. Accordingly, when making breads with rye flour, add two to three times as much high protein content bread flour as rye flour. Often extra wheat gluten is added.

The flavor most of us associate with rye bread comes from the caraway seeds in the bread. If your family says they don’t like rye bread, make them bread without the caraway seeds. They will probably find this bread very good. At the end of this section, you will find a recipe for making an American Rye Bread with white rye flour and no caraway seeds.

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Practice Recipes: Applying What You Learned

The practice recipes for this lesson, with clearly explained steps and techniques, include Sweet Buttermilk Cornbread, European Soft Peasant Bread, 100% Whole Wheat Bread, and American Rye Bread.