Ingredients

excerpted from Professional Baking -

Chapter 4
 Wheat Flour
• The most important ingredient in the bakeshop

• Hard wheats
– Contain greater quantities of protein called glutenin and
gliadin
• Together form gluten when flour is moistened and
mixed
– Strong flours
• From hard wheats, high protein content
• Used for breads and other yeast products

• Weak flours
– Flours from soft wheats
– Soft wheats
• Low protein content
• Used for cakes, cookies, and pastries
 Wheat Flour
Hard and Soft Wheats
• Six principal classes of wheat grown in
North America
1. Hard red winter
2. Hard red spring
3. Hard white
4. Soft white
5. Soft red winter
6. Durum
Kernel of Wheat
 Composition of Wheat

Wheat Kernel
1. Bran
 Hard outer covering of the kernel.
 Present in whole wheat flour as tiny brown flakes
 Removed in milling white flour
2. Germ
 Part of the kernel that becomes the new wheat plant if sprouted.
 Has high fat content
 Can become rancid
 Wheat flour containing the germ has poor keeping qualities
3. Endosperm
 Starchy part of the kernel that remains when the bran and germ are
removed.
 Contains 63 to 73% starch
 7 to 15% protein
 The Milling of Wheat
• The purpose of milling wheat:
1. To separate the endosperm from the bran
and germ

2. To grind the endosperm to a fine powder

 The Milling of Wheat
• Stone Grinding
– Wheat ground between two large stones then
sifted to remove some of the bran
• Known as bolting
 The Milling of Wheat
• Roller Milling and the Break System
– System of grooved steel rollers
– Rollers set so the space is slightly smaller than the
width of the kernels
– Rollers flake off the bran and germ and crack the
endosperm
– Sifting done to separate the broken grains
• 72% endosperm, 14% bran, 3% germ, 11% shorts
– Sifting separates the flour into streams
– Grain passed through many rollers, each time the
rollers are closer together, until ground fine
enough
 Flour Grades
• Patent flour
– Highest grade flour
• Fancy patent or extra short
– Made of 40% to 60% of the inner endosperm
• Short patent
– May contain up to 80% of the endosperm
• Long patent
– May contain up to 95% of the endosperm

• Clear flour
– Portion of the endosperm left after the patent flour is
removed
– Comes from the outer parts of the endosperm
– Darker in color and higher in protein
 Flour Grades
• Straight Flour
– Made by combining all streams of the milling
process
– Darker in color than patent flour
– Contain small amounts of bran and germ

• Extraction
– Amount of flour milled from a given amount of
grain
– Expressed as a percentage to the total amount
of grain.
 Composition of Flour
• Starch
– 68 to 76% starch content

• Protein
– 6 to 18% protein content
• 80% of proteins in flour called glutenin and gliadin
– Amylase and Diastase
• Enzymes that break down starch into simple sugars
– Important for yeast fermentation

• Moisture
– 11 to 14%
 Composition of Flour
• Gums
– 2 to 3%
– Pentosans
• Most important gum – absorbs 10 to 15 times their weight in
water
• Fats
– 1% fat content
• Ash
– Mineral content of flour
– Low ash content make whiter breads
– Higher ash content makes breads with a more robust wheat flour
– Ranges of ash
• 0.3% for white cake flour
• 1.5% for whole wheat flour
• Pigments
– Carotenoids (orange-yellow pigments) present in flour in tiny
amounts
 Absorption
• The amount of water a flour can take up and hold while being made
into a simple dough.

• Differences in absorption ratio

– Starch largest component of flour, absorbs most of the water
• Only absorbs one-quarter to one-half its weight in flour
– Pentosan gums absorb 10 to 15 times their weight in water
• Present in tiny quantities and do not account for much
variation
– Proteins present in significant amounts and absorb up to twice
their weight in water
• Absorption ratio caused primarily by variations in protein
content

• The higher the protein content of the flour, the more water it can
absorb
Flour Treatments and Additives
• Enzymes
– Malt flour may be added because it is high in diastase

• Aging and Bleaching

– Freshly milled flour gluten is weak and inelastic, color may be
yellowish
• When aged oxygen in the air matures the proteins
– Makes it stronger and more elastic
• Bleaches the color slightly
– Aging costly so chemicals may be added

• Nutrients
– Enriched flour – flour which vitamins and minerals are added to
compensate nutrient loss when the bran and germ are removed
• Iron and B vitamin
Flour Treatments and Additives
• Dough Conditioners
– Also called dough improvers
– Help to improve gluten development, aid yeast
fermentation, and delay staling

• Vital Wheat Gluten

– Wheat gluten in concentrated form, usually
75% by weight
– Improves the quality of yeast-raised doughs
• Increasing volume of yeast breads
• Aid in development of gluten
 Types of Patent Flour
• Bread Flour
– Hard wheat ideal for yeast breads
– 11 to 13.5% protein
– 0.35 to 0.55% ash
– Bleached or unbleached

• High-Gluten Flour
– High protein content flour used in hard-
crusted breads, pizza dough and bagels
– 14% protein
– 0.5% ash
 Types of Patent Flour
• Cake Flour
– Weak or low-gluten flour from soft wheat
– 8% protein
– Approximately 0.3% ash

• Pastry Flour
– Weak or low-gluten flour, slightly stronger
than cake, used for pie doughs, some cookies,
biscuits, and muffins
– 9% protein
– 0.4% to 0.45% ash
 Types of Patent Flour
• European Flour Types
– Flours grades based on ash content
– Generally have a lower protein content then
North American bread flours.
• Around 11.5%
– Some North American mills producing these
types of flours for artisanal bread bakers
 Hand Test for Flour Strength
• Cake, pastry and bread flour identifiable by sight and touch

• Bread flour
– Feels slightly coarse when rubbed between the fingers
– If squeezed into a lump in the hand, it falls apart as soon as the
hand is opened.
– Color is creamy white

• Cake flour
– Feels very smooth and fine
– Stays in a lump when squeezed in the hand
– Color is pure white

• Pastry flour
– Feels smooth and fine, like cake flour
– Has a creamy color of bread flour, not the pure color of cake flour
 Types of Flour
Flour Protein Ash
• Straight Flour 13 – 15% 0.4 – 0.45%
• Patent Flour 11 – 13.5% 0.35 – 0.55%
• Clear Flour 17% 0.7 – 0.8%
• High Gluten Flour 14% 0.5%
• Cake Flour 8% 0.3%
• Pastry Flour 9% 0.4 – 0.45%
• All-Purpose Flour 11 – 11.5% 0.39% - 4.4%
 Other Wheat Flours
• All-purpose flour
– Not found in bakeshops
– Slightly weaker than bread flour
– 11 to 11.5% protein content

• Durum flour
– Made from durum wheat
– Also called semolina flour or durum meal
– 12 to 15% protein content
 Other Wheat Flours
• Self-Rising flour
– White flour with baking powder and sometimes salt added
– Pros
• Baking powder is blended in uniformly
– Cons or limitations
• Different formulas call for different proportions of
baking powder
• Baking powder loses its aerating or leavening power
with time

• Whole wheat flour

– Made by grinding the entire wheat kernel, including the
bran and germ
– Protein content 12 to 13%
 Other Wheat Flours
• Bran flour
– Flour in which bran flakes have been added
– Comes coarse or fine

• Cracked Wheat
– Not flour but type of meal
• Grains are broken into coarse pieces
– Used in small quantities to give texture and
flavor to some specialty breads
 Other Flours, Meals, and Starches
• Rye flour
– Low in glutenin
• Makes breads heavy and dense
– High in pentosan gums
– Grades:
• Light rye
• Medium rye
• Dark rye
• Whole rye flour
• Rye meal or pumpernickel flour
• Rye blend