January 6, 2022 - 9:31am
Combining flours to raise the protein level
I have some bread flour with 12% protein and another quantity with 14% protein. Using simple mathematics I can calculate the right mix of the two flour quantities that would give me protein at a desired percent above the 12% and up to the 14% levels. For example the ratio is 13:7 if the target combined flour would have 12.7% protein or 2:3 if the flour would have 13.2% protein.
However, what other factors should be taken into account when combining similar flour types, but of different protein content?
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You can attempt to balance glutenin and gliadin ratios to get the right balance of elasticity and plasticity. Your flour probably does not report this so you would most likely have to do this empirically. There is lots of related technical discussion you can find on this site searching for those key words. A fairly common blend seems to be adding spelt to stiffer wheat flours to increase extensibility of the dough.
Depends upon the degree of precision you want.
For example, a mills protein percent value usually has some wiggle room of +- X%. Maybe +-2%, or, +-3% which is often not stated publicly.
Also, a stated protein percent of say 12% could be the result of rounding off the actual value of anywhere from 11.5% to 12.4%.
Then there's the question of how is the protein percent determined? If it's the result of using the Nutritional Value Chart on the flour bag of X grams of protein per Y grams of flour you again have the rounding off issue with both of those values which can result in thirty-some possibilities.
Depends upon the degree of precision you want.
For example, a mills protein percent value usually has some wiggle room of +- X%. Maybe +-2%, or, +-3% which is often not stated publicly.
Also, a stated protein percent of say 12% could be the result of rounding off the actual value of anywhere from 11.5% to 12.4%.
Then there's the question of how is the protein percent determined? If it's the result of using the Nutritional Value Chart on the flour bag of X grams of protein per Y grams of flour you again have the rounding off issue with both of those values which can result in thirty-some possibilities.
I never thought that the values presented by the manufacturers have some leeway and may not be as precise as may be assumed.
Your welcome.
Good luck in your quest.
Biggest factor to consider is - the difference between 12 and 14 is little enough to not worry about. Enjoy!
I mustn't lose focus on the main task which after all is doing some baking.