Wheat flour in Russia, types, varieties, properties. Wheat and wheat flour
Before you start baking the product, you need to purchase baking flour. But it’s not enough to buy the first package you come across - you need to know what kind of result you want to get at the final stage of preparing a culinary work.
The fact is that flour is not just a product obtained by grinding grains of various cereal crops. It has its own characteristics and differences. Most often we use baked goods made from wheat flour, but there are also other types of grinding cereals. Wheat flour is divided into soft and hard varieties. Knowing all this, how can you figure out which flour is best for baking?
Varieties of flour varieties
Any nutritionist will tell you with confidence that the consumption of flour products should be in moderation. The thing is that flour contains fast carbohydrates, which are very quickly absorbed by the body, causing it to feel hungry before the required time. Another feature of such carbohydrates is that they are able to be deposited in layers of subcutaneous fat and accumulate there. This leads to unwanted obesity in a person. Let's look at several varieties of baking flour below, which we don't know everything about:
- Rye flour contains many amino acids that are necessary for metabolic processes in the body. Also, a large amount of dietary fiber are complete proteins, which are so important for humans. It is rich in B vitamins, phosphorus, complex carbohydrates and calcium. People with gastrointestinal problems should consume rye flour products in small quantities.
- Rice flour. The peculiarity of this cereal is that it contains almost no gluten. It is useful for all ages and contains 1% fiber, biotin, zinc, amylopectin.
- Buckwheat flour is used in the diet menu for people suffering from a low amount of hemoglobin, liver disease, hypertension and atherosclerosis. It is popular due to the presence of a large number of trace elements, lysine and leucine.
- Oatmeal has a small amount of starch and is easily digestible. Helps normalize blood sugar and regulate fat metabolism.
- Corn flour. It contains more sugar than wheat flour. As well as B vitamins, magnesium, calcium, iron, phosphorus. Cereals and their grinding are recommended for people with cardiovascular diseases and biliary tract diseases.
Wheat flour varieties
As we already know, wheat flour is made from hard and soft varieties. Let's look at how they differ from each other.
- Soft wheat varieties are ground from cereals, which is called “00 flour” or “type 00”. This is the simplest flour among other varieties. Flour made from soft wheat varieties is suitable for almost all culinary dishes and is widely used in cooking. The "00" marking indicates a very fine grind. Flour products ground this way are very quickly digested in the human gastrointestinal tract.
- Durum wheat is used for making and breading fish, meat or other products. This flour contains more protein and fiber, unlike soft wheat varieties. And it is indispensable when baking bread products.
But only you yourself can answer which flour is better, based on your goals and wishes.
Flour products from soft wheat varieties
For professional bakers, Manitoba wheat flour is of particular importance. It is made from soft wheat varieties that were grown in Canada in the province of Manitoba. But since it is widely used in Italian cuisine, many believe that it is an Italian product. Of course, it is produced in many European countries, including Italy, but its homeland is Canada.
Many professionals call Manitoba flour “strong” because it contains a large amount of protein (up to 18%, when ordinary soft flour has no more than 11.5%) and has strong water absorption (up to 80% of its weight). Thus, from a small amount of flour you can get a significantly larger amount of dough.
Features of baking flour
We already know that Manitoba flour is a strong flour. It is this characteristic that provides baked goods with good quality. For example, Italian bakers use this type of flour to make high-quality muffins. Even a slight addition of this grinding to ordinary soft flour - and baker’s creations become real culinary masterpieces.
When in contact with water, Manitoba produces a lot of gluten, due to the presence of gluten and gliadin in its composition. For this reason, the fermentation process starts: on its surface you can see the formation of small bubbles in large quantities. Thanks to this feature, the dough is ideal for baking bread, pizza or other products that require a fermentation process.
What is cooked with Manitoba flour?
This flour is ideal for baking bread and pizza. Where else has it found its culinary application? First of all, this is a confectionery path. Sweet fluffy buns, sweet pies (for example, panettone - a Milanese Christmas cake, pandoro - with powdered sugar), donuts, croissants, pancakes, muffins, scones and much more.
If you knead the dough with flour with a weak gluten level, the fermentation process will be longer and the dough will take a long time to rise. Some bakers use Manitoba as a complement to weak flours, with the addition of a small amount of yeast. This slows down the rate at which the dough rises (up to 2 days) and makes the baked goods crispier and softer. This technique is used in the process of creating pizza. This is why Italians use Manitoba so often.
Finally
Manitoba flour from soft wheat varieties undergoes strict quality control at every stage of its production. From the moment of sowing wheat to its production. But this is exactly what ensures high-quality baked goods on your table!
It has excellent taste, it has the right color and consistency. It is for this reason that dough made from this type of flour can rise so high and provide fluffiness to the baked product. Whatever you cook with Manitoba flour, your baked goods will be worthy of the highest praise, have amazing taste and quality.
In Italy, durum wheat flour comes in different types, however, I have so far found only two of them on sale:
Semolino di grano duro— Semolina di Grano Duro
And Semolina di grano duro rimacinata— Semolina rimacinata (i.e. ground).
Semolina remachinata, has a finer grind and is lighter in color, without the bright yellowness of semolino.
Here are these two types of durum flour, if you click on the photo, you can see the difference in a larger version. (I'm sorry, but the quality of the photo, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired...)
About durum flour - durum and semolina I quote from the article
About real pasta :
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“The beneficial properties of pasta are not least due to the fact that it is made only from durum wheat. When grinding, its grains turn not into ordinary flour, similar to dust, but into small grains. The properties of starches, organized in durum wheat grain into a kind of crystal lattice, the quantity and quality of gluten, determine the high consumer properties of pasta products made from this raw material.
The raw material for the production of pasta is premium and grade I flour (grains and semi-grains) from specially ground durum wheat. Types of grinding for pasta flour are established by the “Rules for organizing and maintaining the technological process in mills”. According to them, durum wheat grain grinding can be two-grade or three-grade. Flour moisture content should not exceed 15.5%. The gluten content in flour must be at least 28%.
GOST 12307-66 - Durum wheat flour (durum) for pasta. Specifications
The main differences between soft wheat and durum wheat varieties are the difference in the carbohydrate structures of hard and soft wheat. In hard wheat grain, starch is in crystalline form, while in soft wheat it is in amorphous form. With proper grinding, crystalline starch is not destroyed in pasta - again, with the correct pressing and drying conditions, the starch crystals are glued together into lumps of protein, the content of which is higher in durum wheat.
There are also significant differences in the content of vitamins, microelements, in percentage minerals, which are concentrated mainly in the peripheral parts of the endosperm.
Of the substances found in pasta flour, the following are of primary importance:
Starch. Makes up about 4/5 of the dry matter of flour. Wheat starch is a lenticular-shaped grain of different sizes (from 3 to 50 microns). Starch is hygroscopic. When moistened with cold or warm water, starch grains absorb up to 50% of moisture without changing their shape. At temperatures above 60 °C, the process of gelatinization of starch begins, the destruction of starch grains with the absorption of 4-5 times the amount of water.
Squirrels. The most important component of pasta flour is proteins. In a dry state, they are found in flour in the form of particles and lumps measuring 2 - 3 microns. There are two types of protein in wheat: intermediate and so-called attached, which is firmly associated with starch grains. In mealy grains, protein substances are contained in large quantities in the peripheral parts of the endosperm, and in glassy grains they are distributed throughout the entire volume of the endosperm, which allows grinding to produce flour with a coarse structure. The amount of gluten formed when it is washed from flour, as well as its quality, have a great influence on the physical and mechanical properties of pasta dough and therefore play a vital technological role in production.
Fats. The fat content in wheat flour does not exceed 2% and the higher the grade of flour, the lower it is. If flour is stored improperly or for a long time, the fat in the flour goes rancid. In pasta production, fats in flour play an important role, since cartenoid pigments are dissolved in them.
Carotenoids. This group includes substances colored yellow or orange. Carotenoids contained in flour give pasta the desired amber-yellow color. A significant amount of carotenoids (up to 5 mg/kg and above) is found in durum wheat milling products, less in soft vitreous wheat and almost none in soft wheat flour. The composition of carotenoids includes a number of pigments: xanthophyll, xanthophyll esters and carotene, which is biologically active as provitamin A. In their free form, carotenoid pigments are unstable substances that decompose into uncolored products under the influence of light (this explains the discoloration of flour in the light) and the enzyme lipoxygenase in the presence moisture and oxygen in the air. It has been established that, despite the presence of the lipoxygenase enzyme in wheat flour, carotenoid pigments are not destroyed during the production of pasta. This is due to the fact that during kneading, pressing and drying of products, carotenoids combine with wheat proteins and form bound and tightly bound complexes, which are not affected by lipoxygenase.
Minerals (ash) . In wheat grain, the highest ash content is in the shells and aleurone layer, and the lowest in the central parts of the endosperm. Therefore, the ash content of grade I flour is always higher than the ash content of premium grade flour.
Vitamins and enzymes are found in flour in small quantities, but despite this, they play an important role in the processes occurring during flour storage and in the production of pasta. Enzymes are biological catalysts. In flour they are mainly represented by lipoxygenase and tyrosinase (polyphenol oxidase) and belong to the group of oxidative enzymes. As a result of the action of lipoxygenase, unsaturated fatty acids form peroxides and hydroperoxides, which decompose fats and promote their rancidity.
Peroxides and hydroperoxides contribute to the whitening of pasta during storage by oxidizing carotenoids. However, due to the formation of bound complexes of carotenoids with proteins, carotenoids are not destroyed during the pasta production process. On the contrary, the latter acquire a more or less intense dark shade, and when making products from durum wheat flour, brown. This is due to the activity of the enzyme tyrosinase, which oxidizes the amino acid tyrosine, contained in varying amounts in the flour of different varieties of wheat, to form dark-colored products.
Vitamins are concentrated mainly in the shells and germ of the grain, separated during grinding. Flour contains small amounts of water-soluble vitamins and no fat-soluble ones.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the best and most popular durum wheat for pasta production came to Italy from Russia. Since it was exported through the Taganrog port, it was called “Taganrog”. There was even a special variety Pasta Taganrog. And all this stopped in 1917 for obvious reasons. And what happened then - you already know. »
What now?
In Russia, the only analogue of semolina can be grit from durum wheat or semolina group T.
About grit:
Varieties of wheat flour differ from one another in yield (the amount of flour obtained from 100 kg of grain), color, ash content, varying degrees of grinding (particle sizes), content of bran particles, and amount of gluten.
By percentage yield of flour during grinding durum wheat grains, the types of flour obtained are divided into:
gritty grain 10% (it turns out to be only 10% of the total amount of grain with a volume of 100 kg.),
premium grade (25-30%),
first grade (72%),
second grade (85%) and
wallpaper (about 93-96%).
The higher the flour yield, the lower the grade.
Krupchatka- consists of uniform small grains of light cream color. There is almost no bran in it. It is rich in gluten and has high baking properties. Krupchatka is produced from special varieties of wheat and is characterized by a larger size of individual particles.
Gluten Durum wheat flour has completely different characteristics than soft wheat flour. Starch crystals are glued together with lumps of protein, the content of which is higher in durum wheat, but they produce tearable, “short” gluten.
This is due to the difference in carbohydrate and protein structures of durum and soft wheat. In hard wheat grain, starch is in crystalline form, while in soft wheat it is in amorphous form. In the grain of soft varieties, protein substances are contained in large quantities in the peripheral parts of the endosperm, and in the grain of durum wheat varieties, the proteins are distributed throughout the entire volume of the endosperm.
Therefore, be careful when kneading dough from durum flour. With prolonged kneading, the gluten may begin to break down and the dough may begin to release water.
And don't take these stupid recommendations seriously:
It is advisable to use durum flour for yeast dough with a high sugar and fat content for such products like Easter cakes, baked goods, etc. For insipid yeast dough, semolina is of little use, since the dough made from it is poorly suited, and the finished products have poor porosity and quickly become stale.
*(What kind of idiot wrote this article? First he recommends semolina for Easter cakes, and then he writes that it is not suitable for yeast dough! Gloom and horror :) Everything is exactly the opposite! In Italy, semolina is never used for baking , a l the best varieties of bread baked from semolina!)
About semolina:
Semolina is produced in mills by separating the semolina during varietal grinding of wheat into flour. It consists of particles of wheat endosperm measuring 1.0-1.5 mm. They produce three brands:
M - from soft vitreous and semi-vitreous wheat,
T - from solid,
MT - from a mixture of hard and soft wheat.
Cereals of brand M have grains of white color, opaque, covered with flour; boils quickly and gives the greatest increase in volume. The porridge made from it is uniform in consistency and has good taste.
T-grade cereals are translucent yellow grains with glassy sharp edges. The porridge is obtained with a coarse structure, but smaller in volume and with a fuller taste than from brand M cereals.
MT brand cereals are variegated in color and heterogeneous in shape. In terms of chemical composition and nutritional value, semolina is close to premium wheat flour; it contains little fiber and other poorly digestible substances; it is widely used for baby and dietary nutrition.”
Anyone who loves homemade bread and homemade pasta will agree with me that the most important point is the right choice of flour. In order to choose the right flour for the best result, or, more importantly, to correctly mix different types of flour with each other, you need to know their main characteristics.
First of all, you need to consider what grain the flour is made from.
I write only about what I have tried myself, so I will mention here those types and varieties of flour that I have tried and are familiar with.
First of all, this
farina di grano tenere (triticum aestivum) - soft wheat flour,
farina di grano duro (triticum turgidum durum) - flour from durum wheat,
farina di segale (secale cereale) - rye flour
farina di farro (triticum turgidum dicoccum) - spelled flour
Soft wheat flour
In Italy, soft wheat flour is differentiated by ash content. The ash content of flour is the amount of minerals contained in it. The higher the ash content in flour, i.e. the more mineral salts it contains, the lower its quality.
According to this indicator, the following types of flour exist in Italy:
| Type of Italian flour | Ash content | Exit |
| flour type 00 | 0,55% | 50% |
| flour type 0 | 0,65% | 72% |
| flour type 1 | 0,80% | 80% |
| flour type 2 | 0,95% | 85% |
| wholemeal flour (integrale) |
1,70% | 100% |
In the table I show the ash content and the so-called “yield”. Yield in flour milling is the amount of flour obtained by grinding 100 parts by weight of grain. Wholemeal flour, as you can see, has a 100% yield because... For its production, the entire grain is used, all its components: the inner part of the grain (endosperm), the shell, and the germ. To make type 00 flour, only the inner part of the grain (endosperm) is used.
The table does not show some subtypes of Italian flour, because, for example, for homemade pasta I personally chose flour type 00 with the nomination calibrata, which means calibrated, i.e. coarse, specially ground. This flour is yellowish in color and feels like sand. It makes an excellent sfoglia (a layer of rolled out dough), it rolls out well, does not tear, dries quickly, is easy to manipulate, and the finished product is sort of rough to the touch, what is called pasta ruvida, i.e. rough paste. The sauce sticks to this pasta better and does not roll off. In the Emilia-Romagna region, such dough is especially valued, from which tagliatelle and lasagna are made here.
If we compare Italian and Russian flour, we get the following picture:
| Type of Russian flour | Ash content | Exit |
| Premium flour | 0,55% | 30% |
| First grade flour | 0,75% | 72% |
| Second grade flour | 1,25% | 85% |
| Wallpaper flour | 0,07-2,0% | 96% |
But it is not enough to know only the ash content and flour yield to understand how flour will behave during the process of kneading and baking bread. For this, there are various parameters, among which the most important is the strength of the flour, which is designated by the letter W. To measure this parameter, an instrument called Chopin's alveorgaf is used. Flour with a high W absorbs more water and is more suitable for long proofing. The strength of flour affects the volume of baking and the porosity of the crumb - the higher the W value, the more coarsely porous, dense and elastic the finished product is.
This strength parameter is not indicated on packages of flour for home use, however, there is a table that will help you understand the strength of flour based on the amount of proteins in it, which can just be read on a packet of flour.
Russian premium flour has weak strength and a low percentage of proteins - 10.3. Therefore, for example, pizza from it turns out to be fluffy, tall, and finely porous; such indicators are not typical for Italian pizza. But there is still a replacement for such flour - flour with a high protein content. Different manufacturers in Russia designate such flour differently - special, enhanced, extra. The main thing is that when purchasing, make sure that the protein content in the flour is appropriate.
In Italy you can find a very strong type of flour. This is Manitoba flour. It allows for long proofing of dough, up to 15 hours. Manitoba is the name of the Indian tribe and one of the regions of Canada in which this special type of grain with high gluten content is grown. Today, Manitoba also refers to other types of flour with W>350, regardless of the origin of the grain.
In Italy you can find Manitoba flour with a protein content of 21.53%. This is a fairly expensive flour and is suitable for baking panettone and other baked goods that require particularly long proofing times.
Many recipes advise mixing Manitoba with other types of flour.
Like, for example, in these recipes of mine, which I attached to the post:
Maritozzi buns
Italian Easter braid
Sandwich croissants
Lately I have been especially fond of wholemeal flour (integrale). Coarse flour in Russia includes wallpaper flour (96% flour yield from raw materials) and whole grain flour (100% flour yield). Of course, someone will say that you can’t bake sweet pastries from such flour. He would be right if he said that such flour rises poorly, often falls, and the finished product has an unsightly appearance and a gray color. But after eating such bread, a person becomes full faster. This flour is rich in fiber, which is so necessary for us, because it cleanses the body of toxins and feeds the microflora of our intestines, on the condition of which immunity and health depend. In a word, long live bran!
Durum wheat flour
I really like using durum wheat flour. In flour made from durum wheat, the starch grains are smaller and harder, its consistency is fine-grained, and there is relatively much gluten. Such flour is strong, absorbs more water and is used for baking bread and, of course, for making pasta - pasta.
Semolu is obtained by grinding durum wheat. It is yellowish in color and does not look like powder, but like fine sand. In southern Italy, secondary grinding of durum wheat (semola rimacinata) is practiced. Bread baked from durum wheat has a special crumb texture and a yellowish color associated with a high content of carotenoids. This bread keeps well. The most famous bread made from semolina is bread di Altamura. Compared to soft wheat, semola has a higher content of proteins (14-15%), dietary fiber (9-19%) and mineral salts (potassium, iron, phosphorus) and vitamins E, B1, B3.
Let me add that in Russia this is second-grade flour, also called “durum”. This is the flour whose packaging bears GOST 16439-70. It is under this GOST that Russian industry produces flour from durum wheat.
Rye flour
It must be said that rye flour is little used in Italy. Much less than we would like. However, almost all Italians who have tried my black bread at least once were delighted with it. Recently in Italy they began to produce a ready-made mix for baking black bread. Its composition is as follows:
89.3% is flour from the following cereals and grains -
soft wheat flour type 00
Rye flour
sesame seeds
barley flour
corn flour
oatmeal flour
rice flour.
Then cane sugar, sea salt, dextrose, and malt flour are added.
The result is an unusually aromatic, very dark bread that remains soft for several days.
Rye flour is also included in the finished composition called “7 grains” along with soft and hard wheat, spelled, oats, corn and barley. This flour looks similar to whole wheat flour.
Spelled flour
"I will serve you well,
Diligently and very efficiently,
In a year, for three clicks on your forehead,
Give me some boiled spelled."
Yes, yes, it was this spelled that Balda asked the priest. Spelled (in Italian farro, in German dinkel) is the oldest grain, wheat, containing the largest amount of proteins - from 27% to 37%. Gluten proteins, which this cereal is so rich in, contain 18 amino acids essential for the body, which cannot be obtained from animal food. The ancient Romans and Egyptians regularly consumed it. It is mentioned in the poems of Homer, in the works of Herodotus, Theophrastus, and Columella. Spelled was sown over a vast territory from Ethiopia and South Arabia to Transcaucasia. Spelled was distributed almost throughout Europe. For some reason unknown to me, over time it was almost completely abandoned, but in the last 20 years, interest in spelled has returned with renewed vigor. I even found such interesting information that in Wales, for example, a bakery was opened where you can buy the most expensive bread in the country - “Bread of Heaven”. It costs 2 pounds sterling, which is four times more expensive than regular bread, and, according to manufacturers, it is made from real spelled wheat, which was present on the table of Christ and the apostles during their last meal.
They also write that studies conducted in the USA have proven that spelled gluten in half the cases does not cause allergies in people sensitive to this element in wheat grain. Some scientists even claim that it, on the contrary, helps fight celiac disease.
The spelled grain is protected by tightly fitting scales, which protect it from the adverse influences of the external environment, so spelled can grow in almost all climatic zones. Spelled is unpretentious.
In Italy, there are many recipes with this wonderful cereal, which in some sources is referred to as “black caviar of cereals.”
Spelled flour is universal. It comes in whole grain and white.
Spelled flour can successfully replace flour from soft wheat varieties. The dish will only benefit from this in terms of taste and, of course, healthiness.
The properties of gluten make spelled flour an excellent product for baking healthy bread. Products made from this flour are distinguished by their crispy crust, dense crumb and indescribable aroma and taste.
Any paste with or without filling is made from this flour; it is also suitable for sweet pastries, cakes, cookies, not forgetting pancakes and flatbreads. It makes an excellent strudel dough and phyllo dough. Spelled flour is used to thicken sauces. It is great for bechamel, sweet creams and puddings. Spelled flour and the grain itself add a delicate nutty flavor to the dish and many people use it for this reason alone. You just need to remember two important things: spelled flour requires more water when kneading and the dough rises more slowly than soft wheat flour. But when it comes to benefits and health, you can wait a little, right?
And today I found it in my kitchen
flour for frying
flour for piadina
sweet baking flour with baking powder
rice flour
corn flour
almond flour.
But more about this some other time.
Durum is a type of wheat rich in gluten. Therefore, flour from this durum wheat (durum) is perfect for making homemade noodles, pasta, pizza, dumplings and dumplings. Bread, desserts and other baked goods will also turn out delicious with it. This flour speeds up metabolism, strengthens the immune system and improves the condition of skin and hair.
Whole grain flour is rich in fiber, so it is good for digestion; it retains much more vitamins and nutrients compared to premium flour. It is suitable for dietary nutrition.
The flour is ground on stone millstones. With this grinding method, it does not heat up as much as in metal mills, and is less subject to oxidation.
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I love baking bread myself. I like to add seeds and different flours to it. I'm always looking for new taste sensations. Now durum wheat flour (semolina) has appeared in my diet. The bread turns out delicious. I made lasagna according to the recipe from the package, it was eaten so quickly that I didn’t have time to take photos. The small packaging volume is very convenient. You won’t cook every day, and opened flour shouldn’t be stored for long. At the current price I can buy durum wheat flour as needed.
Elena Nikolaevna, map
xxx5543The product “Durum wheat flour (durum) is what we call “semolina” in Russian. So this name “flour” can and does mislead the Russian buyer. I work with Italy, so I will refer to my experience. In Italy this product is called “semola”. Since Italians do not cook porridge and, in principle, do not know what it is, semola is actually used when preparing dough for homemade pasta or pizza, it is added to the main flour. Russian housewives are unlikely to do this, unless after Italian culinary courses. I will use this “flour” as semolina. But for semolina it is a little expensive... the only difference from ordinary semolina is that it is made from durum wheat. I am sending photos separately and in comparison with semolina. This one is a little yellower and that's it.
Tatyana Romanovna, map
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Excellent durum wheat flour! I didn't even have to sift! I prepared a quiche with lightly salted sockeye salmon. Recipe: 250 gr. Mix durum wheat flour from VkusVill with a pinch of salt, add a farm egg from VkusVill, 2 tablespoons of cold water and 125 gr. butter VkusVill. Knead the dough and put it in the refrigerator for an hour. Place in a baking dish and prick with a fork, place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli and cut the lightly salted sockeye salmon into small pieces. Place sockeye salmon and broccoli on the crust, beat 4 eggs with cream and pour over the mixture of broccoli and sockeye salmon. Place in the oven. Grate the Gouda cheese and sprinkle over the quiche 5 minutes before it’s ready. After 5 minutes, the quiche with sockeye salmon and broccoli is ready. Bon appetit
Anna, map
xxx6990Excellent quality flour. Ideal for making pizza, pasta, noodles. I made soup dumplings from it and was very pleased with the result - they didn’t get overcooked and the soup was delicious even the next day.
Anna, map
xxx8226Wheat flour is the powdery product of milling wheat. It is the main component of flour confectionery products.
The baking properties of flour depend on a number of indicators.
The most important of them are the content and quality of gluten - a kind of framework formed in the dough by wheat proteins.
Cereals – gluten – 30%
Premium grade – proteins 10.3%, gluten – 28%
First grade – proteins 10.6% gluten – 30%
Second grade – proteins 11.7% gluten – 25-28%
Flour can be low-gluten or high-gluten, but in retail outlets it is not written on flour packages how much gluten it contains. In most cases, we buy a mixture of different varieties that contain a medium amount of gluten. Special marked types of flour are of much better quality.
In terms of protein content, as well as vitamins Bl, B2, PP and E, second-grade flour and wallpaper are more complete compared to semolina and flour of the highest and first grades, and are darker in color.
Composition of cereal grains:
Wheat grain is covered with a brownish shell, which, when ground, produces bran, which is richer than whole grain in protein, vitamins and especially cellulose. Under the shell there is an aleurone layer of small granules. The germ at the base of the grain is rich in oil, as well as protein and minerals. The rest is thin-layered endosperm cells. Filled with starch grains and particles of gluten, which gives the dough viscosity.
Bran - the outer surface of the grain,
Endosperm is the main part of the grain,
The sprout is the smallest part of the grain.
Flour can be fine or coarse.
Coarse flour is whole grain flour. With coarse grinding, almost all the grain is ground into flour, which consists of large particles and contains cell membranes and bran (2nd grade wheat, wallpaper).
Fine flour is flour made from the endosperm, i.e., the inner part of the grain. With fine grinding, the flour is white, delicate, and consists of small particles of grain, the outer layers of which are removed (1st grade wheat, premium grade). Contains mainly starch and gluten and virtually no fiber.
The finer the grind and the higher the grade of flour, the less proteins and especially minerals and vitamins it contains, but more starch and better digestibility and assimilability of starch and proteins.
As for terminology, coarsely ground grain is called meal, and finer ground grain is called flour.
VARIETIES OF WHEAT FLOUR
The Russian flour milling industry produces the following types of wheat flour:
grit;
higher;
first;
second;
wallpaper
The concept of “grade of flour” does not mean a lower or higher quality of flour compared to a higher or lower grade, but indicates that this flour with certain quality characteristics is intended for a specific use in nutrition.
Varieties of wheat flour differ from one another in yield (the amount of flour obtained from 100 kg of grain), color, ash content, varying degrees of grinding (particle sizes), content of bran particles, and amount of gluten.
According to the percentage yield of flour when grinding grain, flour varieties are divided into:
gritty grain 10% (it turns out to be only 10% of the total amount of grain with a volume of 100 kg.),
premium grade (25-30%),
first grade (72%),
second grade (85%) and
wallpaper (about 93-96%).
The higher the flour yield, the lower the grade.
KRUPCHATKA
KRUPCHATKA- consists of uniform small grains of light cream color. There is almost no bran in it. It is rich in gluten and has high baking properties. Krupchatka is produced from special varieties of wheat and is characterized by a larger size of individual particles.
It is advisable to use this flour for yeast dough with a high content of sugar and fat for products such as Easter cakes, muffins, etc. For insipid yeast dough, semolina is of little use, since the dough made from it is poorly suited, and the finished products have poor porosity and quickly become stale.
HIGH-GRADE FLOUR
HIGH-GRADE FLOUR- differs from grit in that when rubbed between the fingers, no grains are felt. Its color is white with a slightly creamy tint. Premium flour contains a very low percentage of gluten.
This type of flour is most common in the manufacture of higher grades of flour products. High-grade wheat flour has good baking properties; products made from it have good volume and finely developed porosity. This flour is best used for shortbread, puff pastry and yeast dough, in sauces and flour dressings.
FIRST GRADE FLOUR
FIRST GRADE FLOUR- soft to the touch, finely ground, white with a slightly yellowish tint. First grade flour has a fairly high gluten content, which makes the dough elastic, and the finished products have a good shape, large volume, pleasant taste and aroma.
First grade flour is good for savory baked goods (buns, pies, pancakes, pancakes, sautéing, national types of noodles, etc.), and for baking various bread products. Finished products made from it become stale more slowly. High-quality bakery and confectionery products are usually made from high-grade wheat flour.
SECOND GRADE FLOUR
SECOND GRADE FLOUR It is white with a noticeable yellowish or brown tint, contains up to 8% bran, and is much darker than first-grade. It can be light and dark.
The latter is better in terms of baking qualities - the baked goods from it turn out fluffy, with a porous crumb. It is used mainly for baking table varieties of white bread and savory flour products. It is often mixed with rye flour. This flour is used in the manufacture of some confectionery products (gingerbreads and cookies).
WALLPAPER FLOUR
WALLPAPER FLOUR– produced from all types of soft wheat, it contains 2 times more bran than in 2nd grade flour, the color has a brown tint. Wallpaper flour contains the highest content of bran particles. In terms of its baking properties, it is inferior to high-quality wheat flour, but is characterized by a higher nutritional value. The grain shells contain protein substances, vitamins B and E, mineral salts of calcium, phosphorus, iron, and magnesium. The kernel of the grain is rich in starch and contains significantly less protein and other nutrients than its peripheral layers. Therefore, flour made from whole grains or with the addition of finely ground bran is significantly superior in nutritional value to high-grade flour. Wallpaper flour is used mainly for baking table breads, and is rarely used in cooking.
BREAD FLOUR(standard bread flour sold in stores) contains a high percentage of proteins (usually 11.5 - 13.5%), which form high-quality gluten necessary for better rise of the dough and formation of the crust. Bread flour can be bleached or unbleached. Sometimes malt flour is added to it to speed up the fermentation process and improve the quality of the dough.
Flour with a high gluten content is used almost exclusively for making yeast dough, for baking homemade bread, bagels, and bagels.
WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR– Regular wholemeal flour has a high protein content (11-14% or more), but it does not form as much gluten as bread flour with the same protein content. This is due to the fact that the wheat ovary contains components that prevent the formation of gluten. This reason leads to the fact that dough made from wholemeal flour differs from dough made from white flour.
First of all, because it is less sticky and elastic, and also because the product turns out to be denser and rougher. In addition, it is darker in color and rougher in taste.
DUrum WHEAT FLOUR “DURUM”
DURM WHEAT FLOUR “DURUM”. – Made from durum wheat.
Durum wheat is not the same as regular wheat used for white and wholemeal flours. Durum wheat has very hard grains - much harder than so-called durum wheat varieties - and is very rich in protein content (up to 15%). It also contains a lot of carotenoid pigment, which gives the desired golden color to pasta. In addition to the production of pasta, durum flour is used in specific products, such as, for example, Italian semolina bread.
This flour is good to use for preparing dough for noodles, dumplings and other products where there is a possibility of the products being boiled in water or steamed.
TRITICALE
TRITICALE- forms of wheat obtained by crossing it with rye
Currently, the triticale crop, which has high productivity, winter hardiness and resistance to various diseases, is gaining great practical interest. This culture combines the biological usefulness of the protein substances of rye with the unique baking properties of wheat, allowing not only to increase the nutritional value of bread, but also to solve the problem of rye deficiency, as well as expand the raw material base of the baking industry.
The first standards also appeared for bakery products made from triticale. However, research in this direction is clearly weak in our country, which hinders the spread of this crop in production.
The properties of triticale have not yet been sufficiently studied, and at present it is mainly used as a grain feed crop, since the first test baking showed negative results: the bread was low, and the crumb was dense and sticky. Such a low quality of bread is explained by the fact that the triticale culture inherited from rye the increased activity of amylolytic enzymes, in particular amylase.
SPELLED
SPELLED- An ancient variety of wheat. Due to the fact that it brings lower yields, wheat gradually replaced it from the fields.
SPELLED
SPELLED. If spelled is pressed while still green, unripe, and then dried at a temperature of 120*C, then this grain is called spelled. As a result of drying, spelled receives an incomparable spicy and piquant aroma.
SPELLED (SPELL) has similarities with wheat, but is not so weakened by one-sided selection. This cereal requires a special climate, similar to that of Switzerland or Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The peculiarity of spelled is that it completely or almost does not tolerate artificial fertilizers, which means that its productivity cannot be increased in this way. Collected at the stage of milky ripeness and well-dried spelled grain is used to prepare porridge and very tasty soups. Spelled bread is light and tastes like wheat with an aromatic, nutty flavor.
Spelled is richer in protein, unsaturated fatty acids and fiber than regular wheat. The special soluble carbohydrates it contains - mycopolysaccharides - have the ability to strengthen the immune system. The beneficial substances contained in spelled have a high level of solubility, so they are more easily and quickly absorbed by the body. The gluten content in spelled is about the same as in regular wheat, if not more. However, it differs in the structure of its constituent amino acids, and therefore affects the human body differently than wheat. Studies conducted in the USA have proven that spelled gluten in half of the cases does not cause allergies in people sensitive to this element in wheat grain. Some scientists even claim that, on the contrary, it helps fight celiac disease. These same properties of gluten make spelled flour an excellent product for baking healthy bread. Products made from this flour are distinguished by their crispy crust, dense crumb and indescribable aroma and taste. The dough rises almost twice as fast as wheat dough, and this must be taken into account when preparing dough or baking baked goods in electric bread machines.
Spelled contains almost all the nutrients that a person needs, in a harmonious and balanced quantitative combination - and not only in the grain shell, but evenly throughout the grain. This means that it retains the nutritional value in the finished bread even when finely ground.
Considering the variety of quality of harvested wheat, it is classified into separate groups by type, glassiness, flour strength, etc.
The classification of wheat by type is based on the following characteristics: type (soft or hard), shape (spring or winter) and grain color (red-grain or white-grain). According to the standards for wheat harvested and distributed, it is divided into five types:
Type I - spring red grain,
Type II - spring hard (durum),
III tin - spring white grain,
Type IV - winter red grain,
Type V - winter white grain.
The classification of wheat into subtypes is based on color shade and glassiness. Thus, when dividing wheat of types I and IV into subtypes, color shade and glassiness are taken into account, for type II - color shade, and for type III - glassiness. Type V wheat is not divided into subtypes. Type I and IV wheat are of greatest importance for the flour milling industry as they are the most common and have high technological properties. Type II wheat is used to produce pasta flour.
Grade of flour produced in Russia in numbers.
WHEAT FLOUR
In Russia wheat Flour is divided into three classes - bread flour, general purpose flour and durum wheat flour. State Standards define the following types of baking flour:
Type 405. Extra Color: white or white with a cream tint, ash content 0.45, gluten content not less than 28%. This is a new type of flour; it was not included in Soviet standards.
Type 550. Premium grade Color: white or white with a cream tint, ash content 0.55, gluten content not less than 28%.
Krupchatka. Color: white or cream with a yellowish tint, ash content 0.60, gluten content not less than 30%. The size of flour grains is 0.16-0.20 mm. This variety is present in the standard, but, as far as I know, such flour is not actually produced. In Poland, a similar flour, krupczatka or typ 500, is quite common.
Type 812. First grade Color: white or white with a yellowish tint, ash content 0.75, gluten content not less than 30%.
Type 1050. Second grade Color: white or white with a yellowish or grayish tint, ash content 1.25, gluten content not less than 25%.
Type 1600. Wallpaper Color: white with a yellowish or grayish tint with noticeable grain shell particles, ash content not more than 2.0, gluten content not less than 20%.
All Purpose Flour does not have its own names and is designated by an alphanumeric code, for example MK 55-23, which means “coarsely ground soft wheat flour with an ash content of 0.55% and a gluten content of 23%.”
Durum wheat flour is divided into three varieties, two of which, grits and semi-grains, are not actually flour, they are really small grains.
Premium grade (grain). Color: light cream with a yellow tint, ash content 0.90, gluten content not less than 26%. Grain size up to 0.56 mm
First grade (semi-grain). Color: light cream, ash content 1.20, gluten content not less than 28%. Grain size up to 0.39 mm
Second grade. Color: cream with a yellowish tint, ash content 1.90, gluten content not less than 25%. The grain size is 0.18-0.27 mm, i.e. this is very similar to the caliber of semolina.
MIXING FLOUR
“Individual batches of flour of the same grade available in the warehouse of a bakery can vary significantly in their baking properties. If at a bakery the flour was put into production in separate batches, then the bread would be (depending on the quality of a given batch of flour) either good or bad. To avoid this, it is customary, before putting flour into production, to create a mixture of different batches of flour, in which the shortcomings of one batch of flour would be compensated by the good qualities of another.
So, for example, dark flour or flour that darkens strongly during the baking process of bread from it should be mixed with light and non-darkening flour, weak flour with strong flour, flour with low gas-forming ability (“strong in heat”) with flour that has a high gas-forming ability (“weak for fever”), etc.
When composing a flour mixture, the bakery laboratory must determine the indicators of its basic baking properties, primarily indicators of strength and gas-forming ability.
Compiling a mixture based on these indicators is made easier by the fact that, using the rule of proportion, you can calculate in advance in what ratio batches of flour should be mixed so that their mixture meets the given values of these indicators.
Experiments conducted both in laboratories and in production conditions have shown that deviations of the actual values of the gas-forming ability and strength of flour in the mixture from the calculated ones, calculated on the basis of the indicators of the mixed batch of flour, are relatively small and have no practical significance.
An exception may be if one of the batches of flour being mixed comes from very heavily sprouted grain or from grain that has been very badly damaged by a turtle clone. In these cases, the calculated ratio of mixed batches of flour must first be checked by test baking bread from this mixture and, if necessary, adjusted accordingly.”
Separately, in this topic I give a repetition of the text about the quality of flour from the “Guide to Baking in 1913.”
Good quality of flour
Flour must meet several requirements, namely: it must be completely dry, clean, that is, without foreign impurities, such as cockle, ergot, etc. particles; it should not have any special smell other than what is characteristic of it. Particular attention should be paid to this circumstance, because musty flour is very often found on sale.
In addition, it is important that the flour does not have any aftertaste, as sometimes it happens, or that it is not bitter or sour. Then there is flour from lying for a long time that has turned into hard lumps, this should also be avoided
When buying flour, you need to pay attention that it does not have any of the just mentioned shortcomings, which are quite easy to determine. For example, the degree of dryness of flour is determined by the fact that it is tightly squeezed in a handful; If, after unclenching your fingers, it crumbles easily, then the flour is completely dry. If it, squeezed into a handful, does not crumble after unclenching your hand, but remains in the form of a loose lump, then it is damp. When, by squeezing in your hand, it turns into a dense mass that does not crumble, then the flour is completely damp and is not suitable for good bread.
The freshness of flour also has an impact on the quality of bread, so you need to be able to distinguish between fresh and aged flour. This is determined quite simply;
The flour taken for testing is slightly moistened with water - if it hardly darkens or darkens very little, then it is fresh. If, when wet, it takes on a dark or dirty color, then it has been around for a long time.
It is also important for baking that the flour is not ground too coarsely, since the flour ferments unevenly, which reduces baking.
Very finely ground flour should also be avoided and it is best to take a medium grind, because such flour is most convenient for stirring.
In conclusion, it should be said that the worst flour is the one that contains foreign impurities. They most significantly reduce the quality of bread
For example, if you take bread baked from flour with ergot, then in appearance the bread will be darker than usual, with an unpleasant purple tint. As for its composition, it is positively harmful and not suitable for human consumption.
All my breads made from wheat flour can be seen in the section « « , bake homemade bread for your health, IT IS DELICIOUS!
