November 13, 2020 - 9:34pm
Central Milling flour T 70, 80 85 110, why so many types?
I just bought some 5Lb bag of CM flour types to try.
I wonder what the different types of organic flour are all about? 70, 80, 85, malted, wheat flour...?
Here is what I believe I know:
number (70,80 85,110)= ash %
the malt-- for increasing enzymatic activities
My questions are:
-- why so many different types? does 70 taste very different from 80? How about 80 and 85? Why did they formulate so many different types?
-- Why would some bakers NOT want to have malt?
-- Does type 110 ( higher number) resemble more whole wheat flour?
I didn't find their website very helpful. Several of the flours have almost identical description...
Thanks for helping me understand!
Share
http://www.theartisan.net/Flours_One.htm
Hi!
It appears to reflect the ash content, yes. It is very similar to French system. I guess that the higher the No, more nearer to full grain. (In France T150 is 100% full grain/wholemeal.)
About malt I do not know, in Europe usually wheat flours are sold in the “purest” form and not malted. Sometimes ( but rarely) malt has been added by the miller. Doesn’t mean that malt is considered bad, the contrary. The bakers add malt themselves into flour/dough if they wish so.
I’m not an expert in this field, wrote what I’ve read or know.
I have tried 85T, 70T, 70T pastry, ABC+, Beehive, and Whole Wheat Hi-Pro Fine over the course of a handful of years. They were all 50 lb bags since I buy them from the Utah plants and smaller amounts aren't available.
Started with ABC+ and Beehive and loved both. I wanted to try a whole wheat flour so I bought Hi-Pro. Holy Moly is that ground fine! It's all the same color. The pic on their website doesn't do it justice. But I just don't use that much whole wheat flour so I haven't bought again.
Next I tried the 85T trying to add a bit more whole grains to my bread. It wasn't as wheaty (obviously) but more than I wanted for my typical sourdough. It is for sure more whole wheat than white flour. No question.
So next was the 70T. It gIves the bread a nice color with it's light speckles. Just a hint of whole wheat. This I love and now keep as my bread flour.
The 70T pastry I bought since I was getting more into pastry baking and wanted to try it. is also nice but I don't use it all before spoiling so won't be buying again unless I can find someone to split it with.
The descriptions are lacking for me too. Hopefully this helps you a bit.
As for why so many kinds, 110T? 85T? 80T? I don't know :)
WSC_SF: Were you able to glean anything from the ash/bran sections on that web page? Or did you get lost in the alveograph/farinograph section?
--
If you can tell me which bread cookbooks you have (I have over 2 dozen) I'll try to answer the question in your OP using examples from a cookbook we have in common.
Most of those flour types match the French ones, so I imagine they are marketed to bakers who aim to reproduce breads of France with as much authenticity as possible.
As for the malting, I am only guessing here, but probably for some organic bakers malted flour, even if organic malt is used, is simply not "natural" enough.