Types of flour -questions

[dragnlaw]

I think you mis-understood me, pepper. My reference to 'artisanal bread' did not mean a specific flour. I used AP flour, i was meaning some poolish types or no-knead cast iron, free form types.

yeah, I've still got white rice flour, brown rice flour (both of which I really like), potato starch and flour (they are sort of interchangeable), rye, whole wheat, I used to get white whole wheat - my preferred flour for breads and pie pastry.

 

[pepperhead212]

@dragnlaw I thought you were asking about what kinds of flour we purchased, and why?

 

[larry_stewart]

I dont bake a whole lot, and when I do bake, many times the recipe gives the option of all purpose flour or bead flour. Since I always have all purpose on hand, I usually go with that. On time I decided to try the bread flour, and it really did make a difference, so now I keep that on hand too.

 

[dragnlaw]

Sorry pepper, thought you meant I was using the Artisanal Flour.

and you are right I am asking what people get and use. I was wondering how much variety everyone makes and which flours they use for them. For example, myself, I can't see keeping Pastry and Cake flour on hand for the few times I make pies. I don't have freezer space to keep left overs. Lately I've been making a lot of bread. So was wondering if the difference was enough for me to keep a 2nd kind of flour on hand.

 

[Kathleen]

We have KA-AP, KA-bread flour, 00, semolina, and rye. I've had nut flours, almond flour, etc. in the past. I cannot find White Lily flour around here, so will buy it when I take a trip south again.

 

[dragnlaw]

Used a recipe that came with my bread machine. Rye bread 1.5 lb. (1c rye to 2c bread flour). Baked in the 1 lb. pullman and as a boule. Crumb and crust is super soft, very tasty. Unfortunately I don't have any ham to go with. Is way too soft to have with smoked meat. Perhaps if I kneaded by hand it would be firmer. That sort of defeats the purpose of the bread machine, eh?
I would make a 2nd time right away with regular AP to see the difference but I have no where to store/keep.

 

[pepperhead212]

@dragnlaw If you are looking for a firmer bread, here are some suggestions. First, use a higher % of rye flour. This, in combination with using the AP flour instead of bread flour, will lower the amount of gluten, and the bread won't be able to rise as much. Also, besides the higher rye %, I use WW flour, which will also make a firmer dough. And something you could do with the same recipe is rise the dough more in the beginning (one way I do this is to do several "folds", with 15 min between folding the dough in the bowl, and re-covering it), then rise it the final time in the bowl, before shaping the loaf, then don't rise it as long - this way, you'll get a loaf not as airy, which sounds like what you are looking for. BTW, save the trouble of hand kneading it - if you develop the gluten even more, with the same dough, it will rise even better - that is, it will hold the yeast bubbles even better, which it sounds like you aren't looking for, at least in this bread!

 

[dragnlaw]

Wow! thank you pepper! I have copied and saved. Need time to study/understand.
I am using my Bread Machine to mix these doughs. This from a person who just 2 years ago swore never to get one. But time, space, etc has said different. Of course there will always be exceptions. I'm thinking for all the different types of bread I would like to explore - there will have to be an awful lot of exceptions!
We will persevere!

 

[gerardj]

bought pastry flour but haven’t since, as I can’t tell much of a difference between it and cake flour.

cake flour is bleached white with bromide gas, pastry flour is the unbleached version, pretty much the same thing. You can find references for one having slightly more gluten but for all intents you can't make bread with either but can make cake.