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FLOUR

The information below, and the pictures, were obtained from The Flour Advisory Bureau. www.fabflour.co.uk

Basic Types of Flour

The three basic flour categories are:

Wholemeal - 100% extraction, made from the whole wheat grain with nothing added or taken away.

Brown - usually contains about 85% of the original grain, some bran and germ have been removed.

White - usually 75% of the wheat grain. Most of the bran and wheat germ have been removed during milling.

Other Varieties of Flour

Wheat germ - white or brown flour with at least 10% added wheat germ.

Malted wheat grain - Brown or wholemeal flour with added malted grains.

Stone-ground - Wholemeal flour ground in a traditional way between two stones.

Organic - Flour milled from grain grown that has been grown to organic standards. Growers and millers must be registered and are subject to regular inspections.

The choice of flours for home cooking and baking

Plain Flour - also known as all-purpose. Use for short crust pastry, sauces and gravies where a raising agent is not required.

Self-raising - Flour to which a raising agent has been evenly mixed. Use for cakes, scones and puddings.

Soft Flour - soft white flour that has been milled very finely to give sponges, cake and scones a higher rise and finer texture.

Strong Flour - flour with a high protein content providing a high volume and open texture. Ideal for bread and all types of yeast cookery, Yorkshire puddings and puff pastry

QUICK WHITE BREAD (Makes 1 large or 2 small loaves)

•  1lb 6oz/625g strong white flour

• 1 level tsp salt

• 1 rounded tsp sugar

• 1 sachet easy-blend dried yeast

• ¾ pint/ 425ml lukewarm water

1. Sieve the flour into a large bowl.
2. Mix in the salt and sugar.
3. Sprinkle on the yeast.
4. Pour on the warm water and mix to an elastic dough using a round bladed knife.
5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes.

NB. You can freeze at this point, in an oiled polythene bag, for up to 3 months. Once thawed continue as below

6. Grease and flour one 2lb/900g or two 1lb/450g tin(s), add the dough, and cover with greaseproof paper.
7. Leave in a warm place for about 30-40minutes until the dough has doubled in size or reached the top of the tin.
8. Preheat oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6.
9. Remove the covering paper before baking.
10. Bake large loaves for about 30-40minutes and small loaves for about 20minutes.
11. Remove from the tin and leave on a wire rack to cool.

Tip: If the bread has been baked long enough it should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. If you feel the bread is not quite cooked, put it back in the oven without the tin.

QUICK WHOLEMEAL BREAD (Makes 1 large or 2 small loaves)

Wholemeal bread has more flavour than white, keeps better and is a valuable source of dietary fibre.

• 1½lbs/700g plain wholemeal flour

• 1 level tsp sugar

• 1 sachet easy-blend dried yeast

• ¾pt/425ml lukewarm water

 Follow the instructions in the previous recipe for making and cooking but do not sieve the wholemeal flour.

NB: The English equivalent of Baking Soda as mentioned in some recipes, is Bicarbonate of Soda.

I hope you like this feature and can make use of the recipes. I know a lot of people have Bread-makers these days but maybe they can adapt the recipes to suit their particular machine.

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