As I work my way through my bread baking books I notice that the authors often call for "bread " flour. As everybody knows there is a wide variation in the protein content of various brands. Gold Medal bread flour averages 12.3 % protein; King Arthur bread flour comes in at 12.7 % protein. Other brands are all over the park, I even saw one local brand, which called itself bread flour had a low of 10 % protein . Obviously that local brand is not bread flour but rather cake flour.
So, I have 2 questions: 1st, in your opinion what is the best percentage of protein for making a FRENCH BREAD ?
And 2nd, I have read that hard SPRING wheat yields a tougher, more leathery crust and a chewier crumb. Do you agree with that ? I want to buy King Arthur bread flour , which is 12.7 % protein but it is all pure hard Spring wheat and I don´t want a tough crust. In fact I want a paper thin crust that is shatteringly crisp.
Daniel T DiMuzio states that the best flour for FRENCH BREAD is a hard WINTER wheat. So, What to do ?
Any light you can shed of this would be much appreciated. Thank you
I tend to trust the mill I use to provide me with a consistent product regardless of the wheat source (although I know it's organic and grown in the UK when possible)
12% to 14% is the oft-quoted range for bread flour.
To make authentic French bread, buy French flour - e.g. T55.
http://www.shipton-mill.com/flour-direct/french-white-flour-type-55-102.htm
-Gordon
...a while back and found it to be virtually flavourless. A shame, as every other flour I've bought from them has been excellent.
Shipton mill says they use French wheat.... I've only ever tried their T45 pastry flour once - it makes good pastry/cakes - due to very low gluten no-doubt, but I couldn't tell the difference between that and their organic fine pastry flour - which I use for the fancy stuff I do.
-Gordon
(wishing that one day I'll have enough fancy patisserie work to justify a 25Kg sack of their fine white pastry flour!)
Definitely not 'just French flour'. I know what good French flour is like, having lived, and made bread, in France, and the stuff I bought from Shipton Mill had none of the taste that I'd expected. In fact, it had virtually no taste at all.
To avoid any misunderstanding, I use Shipton's spelt, white and wholemeal, and its emmer all the time and have used a half-dozen of its other flours from time to time and they're all superb flours. It's not the mill, its just that one product.
I'm told they are very good and can certainly tell you which of their flours are best for your needs. Otherwise, maybe use the search engine on this site and you will probably find threads going back many years that provide answers.
To make what American grocery stores call "French bread" you should, without a doubt, go with King Arthur. To make a bread as they make in it France - unbleached all-purpose flour.
Ok, thank you very much
is a hard winter-wheat flour with 11.7% protein. It's what Hamelman means when he says 'bread flour'; it's sold as 'Sir Galahad' on the professional side. If you own Bread, read the index entries for 'Winter wheat'.
I've also had excellent results with Gold Medal 'Harvest King' (Better for Bread), another hard winter-wheat flour around 12% protein.
I have just ordered K.A. "Bread" flour it is 12.7% protein but made from hard SPRING wheat. K.A. told me that it should give me the thin/crisp crust I´m looking for in my French bread. Reinhart says that he has gotten the best results --- thin, crisp crust, with a soft interior --- with plenty of structure, by using 50 % bread flour and 50 % A.P. flour.
P.S. Suave, I´m NOT looking to get a "grocery store French bread". I find that bread to be almost tasteless. I want a "full bodied flavor that I get in my baguettes. Should not be much of a problem once I get the right protein mix.
Flavor has little to do with protein level, it depends mostly on how the dough is made.
That's why it's full of holes. The locally produced flour with 10% protein sounds ideal.
I don't know if protein is everything when it comes to labeling bread vs AP flour. The flour produced in Canada is regulated by the wheat board. King Arthur is not available unless I cross-border shop, and good milled flour is only available if you search for it. I went to check the protein content of major brands in the grocery store, and both bread and AP flours by Five Roses, Robin Hood, and store brand clocked in at 13.3% of protein per 100g. I bought bread flour from a professional bakery supply the other day and it is 14% protein per 100g.
Cake and pastry flour comes in at a little less, 11% per 100g.
Five Roses is sold locally, and in my limited testing it felt significantly weaker than Gold Medal AP flour which probably sits at around 10.5%.
...as there would be way too much gluten development and the results would not be good. Typical US cake flours are in the 7-9% range.