Bread bakers learn about the importance of ‘strong’ flour. It means the flour is high in protein, particularly those proteins that form gluten. It is the resulting gluten that is appreciated for being ‘strong’ and elastic, meaning that it can stretch well to trap the gas being made by the yeast and its elastic strength means that it can do the stretching without collapsing or breaking. These attributes give bread that is large and open in its gaseous structure, as well as long-keeping since the high protein levels bind more water to the dough than a low protein flour would. The opposite occurs when the baker uses ‘weak’ or ‘soft’ flour (much lower in protein) for bread: the loaf is of smaller stature since feeble gluten traps less gas, and it has a drier crumb that stales quickly since lower protein flour binds less water to the dough. While strong flour can be from 12% to 15% protein, medium and weak flour (often called ‘soft’) are in the range of 9% to 11% protein – the protein information is usually written on the bag.
The home baker may be unaware that there is much choice in the vast world of flour, allowing professional bakers to order flours of different protein levels that are chosen to perform different tasks and make a range of different products. There is also the opportunity to blend different flours, something bakers did all the time when craft and artisanal baking was at its peak – in the first half of the last century.
In this article I am encouraging the home baker to blend flour. It is very simple since I am aware that the home baker can shop for basically only two different types of white flour: there is strong flour and there is ‘plain’ flour. Plain flour is called upon for short pastry, scones, cake, sauce thickening and other cookery tasks. I am suggesting the blending be done when the elasticity function of strong bread flour is annoying. The classic case that many home bakers know well is the fighting on the bench with a pizza dough. You pat or roll it out to make your expanding disc for the pizza and every time you finish a push or tug or stroke it shrinks back. With a very elastic dough it can shrink back to exactly where it was before you tried stretching it. This can be avoided by blending in plain flour as one-third of the total flour for the pizza dough. The softness of the plain flour reduces the bucky elasticity of the strong bread flour. Your pizza dogh recipe would look like this:
- strong (bread) flour 650gm
- plain flour 350gm
- water 650 gm
- yeast 20 gm
- salt 20 gm
- olive oil 50 gm
There are many products where you can benefit from softening the strong flour. Croissants and Danish pastries are another example when toughness of strong flour is not wanted. With Danish the shapes you make by folding the edges into the centre to make an envelope for custard and fruit will unfurl with the elasticity effect, leaving a distorted platform rather than an envelope. Other basket-like shaapes will distort and twist. With these yeasted pastries I work with a flour that is only 10-11% protein.
Many types of flatbreads are served by lower protein flours or blending some plain flour into the strong. The essence of flatbread is, after all, its flatness. Elasticity is not wanted, instead you want it to flow and stretch quickly to take its final flat shape.
To summarise – when elasticity or ‘buckiness’ in the dough is annoying, consider blending in some ‘plain’ or lower protein flour.
