Skip to main content

All Purpose Flour between Bread Flour

So far, the inclusion of the vital wheat gluten in my bread making solved the problem of having to deal with not having my usual brand of bread flour. I know for a fact that there are quite a huge selection of bread flour or hard wheat flour here in the Northeast but buying them is a problem. I was told Costco and BJ's have them, but the brands i am seeing is ???? Turning to the www for your flour purchase isn't that too inviting either, imagine  coughing up $9-$13.00 for shipping and handling per package? The ones i bought are quite satisfactory, i give them a 95% passing grade.
Going back to the all purpose versus bread flour, there is a big difference in  water absorption, the volume, the make-up and texture. My biggest concern back home was that all purpose was more expensive so i did not use it when i bake breads. At P50.00 something per kilogram, (this is the "tingi" or retail packs you buy from your corner bakery supplier, not the Gold Medal or Pillsbury in the groceries),  you tend to set this flour aside and use it for specialty cakes. Not just the price though, all purpose will not produce the height and volume that you want in breads so you barely use this flour at all. In a country where the size of the bread matters a lot ( the pandesal has to qualify 3 dunks in the hot coffee to satisfy Manang or Lola Angge or else...), bread flour is your choice. I have made a pictured comparison of these two flours in my ebook, among other things so do check it out. To those who have bought it, you may not pay attention to this fact but it is very important, i suggest that you read the topic again, just in case you slip while enjoying that Pandesal you just made.
Below is a comparison of what a soft bun looks like when baked using both all purpose and bread flour. You may not see it up close on screen, but i do. The texture while i make the dough up, the feel when i shape them, when i start to proof them, the way the dough behaves during proofing, during baking and yes, after it has baked. Even the texture of the bread when you take a bite and while you chew!!! When you are baking for this long, you will know.

ALL PURPOSE SOFT BUNS, START OF PROOFING










THE BAKED SOFT BUN, FLATTER NOW AFTER BAKING, LOOKING LIKE A MCDONALD'S BUN. (see more images on the sweet yeast dough page)
NOW LOOK BELOW TO SEE THE BUNS MADE WITH BREAD FLOUR. I used Purefood's Emperor (too bad, i am not being paid to write this here).
THE SOFT BUN MADE WITH BREAD FLOUR, FIRMER AND TAUT COMPARED WITH THE ONE ON TOP.
ONCE BAKED, THE BUNS DID NOT LOSE SHAPE, VOLUME IS MUCH BIGGER (BOTH ARE WEIGHED AT 60 GRAMS EACH.) view more of the images in the sweet yeast dough page.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3rd Class Flour, What's It All About

For starters i cannot make this Hard Monay if i did not bring any 3rd class flour or soft weak flour to New York. Once i ran out of 3rd class and tried Cake Flour, it turned bad, do not even think of using All Purpose, it will be soft but not chewy as this one made with yes, 3rd class indeed. So third class is hard to find here in the US if you will use that term. You have to say or look for soft wheat flour, that's it, not hard wheat flour, not cake or All purpose but something in between these two. It is easy to find in the Phil., just ask your local bakery suppliers and they know it is Tercera. Tercera is not for bread, bakers use it basically for cookies, cakes and other pastries, but we bakers know how to create bread recipes using part of this flour with the bread flour or hard wheat flour. It makes a softer version of any of your fave breads, with a cheaper price tag. Plus if i own a bakery, i get to use the third class for my cakes and cookies, lowering my food cos
19 comments
Read more

Cutting Pandesal, Baston Style

So how do we really do the Baston style "singkit" cut? First start with a slightly stiff dough, if your dough does not have eggs or eggyolks, a hydration of around 55% is ideal. I have seen bakers use less water, but that will make your Pandesal too dry and dense after 1 day or so so try to keep it slightly on the soft side, but not too sticky. Why? If you use a sticky dough for the Baston style cut, the dough will spread and will have a flat look rather than a rounded shape we are all familiar with. In Tagalog, "lalapad" ang dough so medyo flat ung Pandesal. So after you mix the dough, divide it into 2 to 4 portions if you are mixing  kilogram. Experienced bakers divide their dough into 500 gram portions, i do mine the same way. Flatten the dough, focusing more on the length and not on the height. The height of the dough should be around 2 to 3 inches only. Next, fold the dough while pinching the edges making sure the dough surface
3 comments
Read more

Kape at Pandesal

When someone emailed me about Kape at Pandesal, i suddenly felt home sick. Just these two words. Dipping Pandesal in coffee. Who got this phenomenon or practice started? We all know the colonial Spanish era and Gregorio Zaide mentioned our fondness for idling around in the history books (Juan Tamad and siesta), but for breakfast? Who wants to jump up and down when you wake up? This is the answer. Dunking the warm, crispy Pandesal into hot, steaming coffee. How did this thing start? Who invented it? What made the Pinoys dunk their Pandesal? Maybe the Pandesal in those days are rock hard, or maybe it is one way to sweeten the bread. Baka may alamat dito. Is it because the Pandesal is salty in those days? After all, sal means salt right? The Italians love to dunk their Biscotti in coffee, but the Biscotti deserves it. Seriously, Biscottis if not dunked in coffee can give you a free tooth extraction. But the Pandesal? Okay to some, it cools down the coffee. Don't tell me they
Post a Comment
Read more