Kitchen Tips: Bread Making

Bread Making 101- Wheat Flour Guide

HARD WHEAT FLOURS:

Bran flour - flour which the bran flakes have been added. The bran may be coarse or fine. 

Bread (patent) flour - comes from the center of the wheat kernel. It has a lot of elasticity, and produces a moister product than high-gluten flour.

Cracked wheat - same as whole wheat, but milled more coarsely.

First clear flour - used to mix with rye and pumpernickel to give them the gluten they lack.

Graham flour - milled from whole wheat, but much finer.

High-gluten flour - the whole wheat kernel of the wheat is used and results in a drier product with a harder crust.

Whole wheat flour - made by grinding the entire wheat kernel, including the bran and germ. Since it is made from the whole kernel, it has some gluten and can be used alone in bread making, however the end result of 100% whole wheat is heavier than white bread.

SOFT WHEAT FLOURS:

All-purpose flour - a combination of 40% cake flour and 60% bread flour.

Cake flour - comes from the center of the endosperm and is fine-textured, silky flour which keeps cakes and pastries tender and delicate.

Pastry flour - has poor gluten quality and is used in baked goods with low amounts of leavening (pies, cookies, biscuits).

Rye - milled much like whole wheat, but comes from rye grain. It has a low gluten content.

Pumpernickel – same as rye meal.  Made as a dark, coarse meal from the entire rye grain kernel, including the bran.