Bakery and Confectionary

BAKERY AND CONFECTIONARY FDNT 315 3 (1+2)

Lesson 3:Flours And Flour Mixtures

Suitability of flours for bakery products

• Strong flours are suitable for buns and breads to produce good loaf volumes. Gluten forms the framework of a loaf and the gas generated by the yeast is trapped in the network and expansion takes place when heated. Gluten should be resilient enough to give scope for expansion and at the same time to retain the gas. Puff pastry needs a strong flour with a gluten that is resilient, for not only must it stand up to the rolling and folding necessary in the manufacture of puff pastry, but it must also be strong enough to offer resistance to the pressure of water vapour within it, and so cause the pastry to lift in the oven.


• Softer flours which produce extensible glutens are suitable for pastries that are short and friable. If the gluten is too strong the pastries appear drawn and contracted.


• A medium type of flour is best for all kinds of scones, aerated buns, and cakes which is resili­ent enough to withstand the rapid generation of gas during the initial period of baking.


• For rich cakes, such as wedding or Christmas, a mixture of soft and medium flour should be used to get the best results. With stronger types of flour the cakes are toughened and come out with a rounded top instead of a flat top. If the flour is too soft there is a tendency to crumbliness.


• Special cake flours have protein around 8.0 per cent, acidity of pH 5.2, low ash 0.3 per cent or less and uniformly granular.


• High-protein Flours More recently a new milling technique has been evolved, by means of which the protein content of flour can be altered. During the normal milling process the endosperm of the wheat grain breaks up into a number of fractions which can be separated to produce flours of varying com­position, both low and high protein, from the same lot. During milling the flour particles can be separated as follows
  -Large particles of more than 40 ? diameter which consist of 'chunks' of original endosperm containing starch granules embedded in protein. The composition is approximately same as the original endosperm
  -Medium sized particles size ranging between 15-40 ? in diameter which are almost the size of starch granules, with some adhering protein
  -Small particles measuring less than or below 15 ? in dia­meter which contain broken starch granules and protein matrix.


• Patent Flour it is nothing but manufacturing bulk quantities of flour with the added chemicals correctly blended in them.