How much gluten is in your flour?

[pmcleanj]

I'll post my hot-cross bun recipe shortly; but Timothy intrigued me when he suggested the interchangeability of English and Canadian ingredients.

In Canada, we can buy three kinds of white flour: "cake flour", "bread flour", and "All-purpose flour". "Bread flour" is high in gluten (14% by weight) and generally only used for commercial bread-baking. Our "All-purpose flour" is sufficiently high in gluten (13% by weight) that it is quite adequate for most domestic bread-baking. "Cake flour" is quite low in gluten (10% by weight or less.

American "All-purpose flour" is much lower in gluten (10%), and cannot be used successfully for bread-baking, so if you are making bread in the States, you have to buy bread flour (12%). In fact, American bread flour is lower in gluten than Canadian All-purpose flour!! This may be a climatic effect, as milder climates result in lower-gluten grain.

England isn't known either as a great wheat-producer, nor for its bracing climate -- but labelling, processing and food standards play a role in the mystery too. Do you know what your gluten contents are?

[Naomi4Christ]

Our stand flour is called plain flour and contains around 8% gluten, and we have to buy special flour for bread (strong flour) and pasta (durum flour).

[SirTimothy]

I have no idea. Locally produced stuff (even local bread flour) makes absolutely awful bread, so we buy imported English stuff.

Wouldn't it more depend on elevation than climate? Colorado Springs flour and baking we found completely different (it being at 6000 feet and all) than baking in say California.

Timothy

[RedneckAnglican]

How Much Gluten Is In My What?!?!?!?!?!?


That's A Little Personal Isn't It?

[ContraMundum]

Funny....I still keep Jewish traditions and have no yeast in my house or diet over the Passover/Easter period....so when I read this I have to have a little chuckle. But I still think buns are a good tradition too!

[pmcleanj]

I have no idea. Locally produced stuff (even local bread flour) makes absolutely awful bread, so we buy imported English stuff.

Wouldn't it more depend on elevation than climate? Colorado Springs flour and baking we found completely different (it being at 6000 feet and all) than baking in say California.

Timothy

The elevation at which you bake matters -- primarily it affects the rising of baked goods. The yeast in the bread is a living organism that produces carbon dioxide bubbles (in quick breads, the reaction between sodium bicarbonate and acidic ingredients in the quickbread produces carbon dioxide bubbles. These bubbles push back against the atmospheric pressure, leavening the loaf. At high altitude, the atmospheric pressure is lower, so the bubbles push too hard too fast, pop, and your cake or loaf falls. So, at high altitudes (I live at 3500 feet, so I take this into account all the time) you reduce the amount of yeast or baking soda or baking powder; you use only single-acting baking powder; and you bake at a slightly higher temperature in order to harden the little bubble-shells faster.

The climate in which you grow the wheat affects gluten content. Gluten is the protein that makes dough stretchy and chewy -- it forms the latex-like balloons that contain the carbon dioxide described in the preceeding paragraph. The more gluten, the stretchier the little balloons will be, and the lighter and more resilient your bread will be.

So, for worst results, use wheat grown in the Mediterranean, and bake the bread on top of a mountain.

You can measure the amount of gluten in your flour if you really want to know. Mix a weighed quantity of flour and water to a light dough, knead the daylights out of it to convert all the glutelins to gluten, and then put it in a collander under gently running water until all the starch washes out. Gluten is not water-soluable, so it will be left behind in the collander. Dry the gluten completely, weigh it, and divide by the initial weight of flour.

Then you can buy wheat gluten at the health-food store, (or grind up the gluten from your experiment) and add the appropriate proportion to your flour to fortify it for bread-making.

Or, just import Canadian all-purpose flour. I did some baking in the States on my last vacation down there, and noticed the different feel to the results, so I did some research on flour characteristics. I already knew that Canadian flour was higher-gluten than American flour, but I didn't know just how marked the difference was. And what really surprised me was the amount of envy expressed on European baking-and-cooking websites, of those of us who have Canadian all-purpose flour readily at hand. One website referred to it as "miraculous"! Ah, the blessing that we enjoy in ignorance!

[pmcleanj]

Okay -- recipe still coming (I had a professional emergency last night that kept me at work until late, and then a domestic urgency that kept me running around until later, so I didn't get it typed in last night). However, you will need to have on hand (I'll need to double-check the quantities later):


1 litre or 4 American cups or 500 grams of Flour
Wheat gluten: 30g/2Tbsp if using "plain flour" or 15g/1Tbsp if using American All-purpose flour; 5g/1tsp if using 12%-gluten bread flour (none if using Canadian all-purpose flour, who knows how much if using Cyprian flour)
2 eggs
1 1/3 American cup or 320ml milk
2/3 American cup or 160g of white sugar
Traditional bread yeast (1 package, or 7 grams, or a rounded teaspoon) -- "Bread Machine" yeast is okay, but don't use "Fast Rising" yeast unless it's your only option. If you have to rely on natural or sourdough yeast, raise your hand now 'cause you have to start it yesterday.
cinnamon
nutmeg
ground cloves
dried currents and/or candied peel, or if necessary in your community you can resort to raisins, dried cranberries, or dried cherries. Or other dried fruit. If you can't get any of the above, you can candy your own fruit peel, but again you have to start NOW, and it helps to be in a dry climate or season.


Questions or suggestions?

[Naomi4Christ]

Here's the recipe I use:

450g plain flour
50g caster sugar
tablespoon dried yeast
teaspoon salt
rounded teaspoon mixed spice
75g currants
50g mixed peel
50ml warm milk
1 egg
50g melted butter

Note: we tend to use plain flour (ie low gluten) for HCB.

[gtsecc]

Do you know what your gluten contents are?

Roughly.
Cake flour – low
All purpose – medium
Bread and whole wheat - high

The more gluten, the stretchier the little balloons will be, and the lighter and more resilient your bread will be.


I agree, it does make it strechier. I want this in pizza dough, so I add gluten, usually Hodgens Mills.

May I quibble?
The gluten holds the CO2 in the dough, and the rising makes it relatively lighter than the same dough risen less. However, the gluten makes the bread much heavier and chewier.

So, in theory, one could, to a degree, use lower protein flower, and let it rise longer, and get a loaf which is over all slightly lighter.
In reality, I find I have to watch it and guess.
I am always fooling with the protein content, the yeast is never the same age, the temperature and humidity are always different, and I don’t have a proofer, so rising times are always different. My goal, for most things, other than pizza dough, is to try and use a little less gluten than most recipes call for and try to get the recipe to work.

[pmcleanj]

.. we tend to use plain flour (ie low gluten) for HCB.

Well, I'll try anything once (twice if I like it ...;) )

Maybe I'll set two batches tomorrow. What kind of rising time do you go for, and how much kneading do you do, with the softer flour?

I have arthritis in my wrists and so use my mixmaster's bread-hook to do the kneading; hence two batches instead of one isn't a great deal more effort.

[higgs2]

Can I substitute chocolate chips for the currants? :)

[Naomi4Christ]

Well, I'll try anything once (twice if I like it ...;) )

Maybe I'll set two batches tomorrow. What kind of rising time do you go for, and how much kneading do you do, with the softer flour?

I have arthritis in my wrists and so use my mixmaster's bread-hook to do the kneading; hence two batches instead of one isn't a great deal more effort.
About five minutes kneading? I use a dough-hook too.

It takes about an hour to rise in a warm kitchen, but this can be slowed by putting it in a colder place (shed? fridge?)

It would be cool to do a side-by-side test! My recipe is a lot less sweet that yours and has only one egg, so I wonder if this makes a difference to the texture.

The real question, though, is how do you make the cross? Here we cut the dough into a cross shape before the individual buns finish rising, and then pipe a flour/sugar paste into the cracks. However, when I lived in the US, a few bakeries did HCB, and they made the cross out of icing!

[Naomi4Christ]

Well, I'll try anything once (twice if I like it ...;) )

Maybe I'll set two batches tomorrow. What kind of rising time do you go for, and how much kneading do you do, with the softer flour?

I have arthritis in my wrists and so use my mixmaster's bread-hook to do the kneading; hence two batches instead of one isn't a great deal more effort.
About five minutes kneading? I use a dough-hook too.

It takes about an hour to rise in a warm kitchen, but this can be slowed by putting it in a colder place (shed? fridge?)

It would be cool to do a side-by-side test! My recipe is a lot less sweet that yours and has only one egg, so I wonder if this makes a difference to the texture.

The real question, though, is how do you make the cross? Here we cut the dough into a cross shape before the individual buns finish rising, and then pipe a flour/sugar paste into the cracks. However, when I lived in the US, a few bakeries did HCB, and they made the cross out of icing!

[Naomi4Christ]

Can I substitute chocolate chips for the currants? :)
Philistine! (j/k) :)

[pmcleanj]

Philistine! (j/k) :)
Yes, she's a Philistine. And worse, a heretic -- in that she's leading the beautiful daughters astray! They agree with her!!!

Okay folks, here are the right proportions, with instructions:

1+1/3 cup or 320ml milk:warm this to blood temperature in the microwave, or in a saucepan. Do not boil.

1 tsp or 5ml sugar
1/4 tsp or 1ml ground ginger
4 tsp or 20ml dried yeast: dissolve these three in the warm milk and let it stand until bubbly.

a scant 1/4 cup or 50ml sugar
3 cups of 13% gluten flour or equivalent flour/gluten mixture as discussed
1 tsp or 5 ml salt
1 tsp or 5 ml nutmeg
1 tsp or 5 ml cinnamon Mix dry ingredients in mixer bowl.

2 eggs -- beat well in a separate bowl.

Add the eggs and the milk/yeast mixture to the flour and knead at low speed with a bread hook for three minutes, resulting in a very soft dough.

3/4 cup or 180ml candied or dried mixed fruit-- I recommend half candied citrus peel and half currents. Add this to the dough and knead for another minute.

1 cup additional flour as needed: Add gradually to the dough while beating for one more minute: only until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and is barely stiff enough to handle.

Set to rise at a cool room temperature (like 68F or 20C) for three hours.

Form into flat rounds about 1+1/2 cm high and 8 cm in diameter (a half inch by 3 inches), brush with beaten egg, and let rise until very light.

Optionally, while the rounds are rising, make a dense sweetened pastry and cut it into narrow strips. Lay these in crosses on the risen buns: they will get glued on by the beaten egg.

Bake at 400F (200C) for 20 minutes

If you didn't make pastry crosses, just pipe the crosses on after baking with icing. Or you can try slashing a cross in the bun-tops with a sharp knife when they're half-baked: I've seen that done but haven't tried it.

[SirTimothy]

I must confess with a three-hour service tonight, plus two others today, we just bought them...

[Wigglesworth]

. . . warm this to blood temperature in the microwave, or in a saucepan. Do not boil.

Whose blood do you use, and how is the actual comparison effected?

:scratch: