Basic Types of Flour
| Adapted from a text by Schunemann and Treu | ||
| Hard Wheat Flours | ||
| Top Patent: the purest and highest-quality commercial wheat flour available. Patent flour is made from the center portion of the endosperm. | 0.35 - 0.40% ash content: 11.0-12.0% protein | |
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Uses: - Danishes, sweet doughs, yeast doughnuts and smaller volume breads and buns.
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First Baker's:Bakers flour is a hard wheat, low-protein flour carefully milled for premier quality and consistent baking performance.
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0.50 - 0.55%. ash content: 13.0-13.8% protein | |
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Uses: All purpose strong baker's flour, breads, buns, soft rolls and puff pastry
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First Clears: is what remains after milling patent flour, giving it a darker color and higher mineral content.:
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0.70-0.80% ash content: 15.5-17% protein | |
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Uses: A dark very high protein flour used as a base for rye bread production; poor color not a factor in finished product.
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| Second Clears | Low grade flour, not used in food production. Constitutes less than 5% of flour produced by a mill. | |
| Soft Wheat Flours | ||
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Cake Flour: a finely milled, delicate flour with a low protein content; it's usually bleached. When used in cakes, it results in a super-tender texture with a fine crumb, and a good rise. The primary difference between cake flour and all-purpose (AP) flour is the protein content (which becomes gluten).
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0.36-0.40% ash content: 7.8 - 8.5% protein, chlorinated to 4.5- 5.0 pH. | |
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Uses: High-ratio cakes (cakes with a high amount of sugar and liquid in proportion to flour), angel food cakes and jelly rolls.
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Pastry Flour:a low-protein flour that's designed to produce lighter, more tender pastries and baked goods than all-purpose flour. All-purpose flour typically has a protein content around 11 percent. In contrast, cake flour's protein content is around 7-8 percent.
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0.40-0.45% ash content/8.0-8.8% protein, chlorinated to 5.0-5.5 pH, (also available unchlorinated). | |
| Uses: Cake, pastries and pies. | ||
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Cookie Flour: also known as pastry flour, is a soft, low gluten wheat flour with a high starch content. Falling between the lighter cake flour and the heavy all purpose flour, cookie flour is ideal for light and tender baked goods.
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0.45-0.50% ash content: 9.0 - 10.5% protein | |
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Uses: Cookies and blended flours. For large-scale manufacturers, flour can be chlorinated to the user's specifications.
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Whole Wheat Flour: Whole-wheat flour (in the US) or wholemeal flour (in the UK) is a powdery substance, a basic food ingredient, derived by grinding or mashing the whole grain of wheat, also known as the wheatberry.
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Various bran coat granulations produce coarse to fine whole-wheat | |
| Rye Flours | ||
| Light Rye: When small traces of the bran have been included, the flour is often called “cream” or “light” rye flour. Not a whole grain. | (75% extraction) 0.55-0.65% ash content [See Note below] | |
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Uses: Can be blended up to 40% with white flour without a major loss of loaf volume.
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Medium Rye: If yet more bran is included, you get “medium rye flour,” which begins to exhibit the flavor and character of the rye. Not a whole grain.
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(87% extraction) 0.65 - 1.00% ash content. | |
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Uses: Up to 30% blend with white flour
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Dark Rye: Dark rye from some millers is a 100% whole grain flour, while from others, it may include just the outer layers of the endosperm and some bran; from yet others, dark rye could be the leftovers from making white, light, or medium rye flour. May or may not be a whole grain.
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(100% extraction) Limited to 20% flour blend before significant volume reduction occurs in the product. | |
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Rye Meals: Also called “whole grain rye flour,” rye meal contains all of the bran, germ and endosperm of the original rye kernel. Rye meal can be ground fine, medium or coarse. Should be a whole grain, but always look for the word whole.
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Fine/medium/coarse/pumpernickel and flaked. Consist of a variety of broken or cracked rye grains after being classified in a series of sieves. | |
| Pumpernickel Flour or Meal | Coarse, whole-grain rye flour is called pumpernickel, and gives its name to the traditional German bread. Should be a whole grain, but always look for the word whole. | |
| Other Flours | ||
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Stone-Ground Flour: regarded as less processed than regular whole wheat flour and may contain more fiber and nutrients, including fats. The FDA allows flour to be labeled as “whole wheat” if at least 51 percent of the bran and germ have been added to the endosperm after milling
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(100% extraction) Usually untreated and, because of germ content, is subject to limited shelf life. | |
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Cracked Wheat/Rye: Cracked wheat is a wheat product made from whole raw wheat kernels which are crushed. Not to be confused with 'Bulgar' wheat which has been steamed and toasted before cracking
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Available in coarse, medium or fine granulations | |
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Semolina: Durum wheat, also called pasta wheat or macaroni wheat
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A fine meal consisting of particles of coarsely-ground durum. | |
| NOTE: | Extraction Rate is defined as the percentage of flour obtained from a given amount of grain. |