Other Wheat Flours

All-purpose flour, seen in retail markets, is not often found in bakeshops, although it is often used as a general-purpose flour in restaurants, where it is purchased under the name restaurant and hotel flour. This flour is formulated to be slightly weaker than bread flour so it can be used for pastries as well. A professional baker, however, prefers to use flours formulated for specific purposes, because these give the best results. All-purpose flour has a protein content of about 11 to 11.5%.

Durum flour is made from durum wheat, a high-gluten wheat of a different species than those used for most flour. It is used primarily to make spaghetti and other dried pasta. In the bakeshop, it is occasionally used in specialty products, such as Italian semolina bread (semolina is another name for durum flour or durum meal). Durum flour has a protein content of 12 to 15%.

Self-rising flour is a white flour to which baking powder and, sometimes, salt has been added. Its advantage is that the baking powder is blended in uniformly. However, its use is limited by two factors. First, different formulas call for different proportions of baking powder. No single blend is right for all purposes. Second, baking powder loses its aerating or leavening power with time, so the quality of baked goods made from this flour can fluctuate.

Whole wheat flour is made by grinding the entire wheat kernel, including the bran and germ. The germ, as you have learned, is high in fat, which can become rancid, so whole wheat flour does not keep as well as white flour.

Because it is made from wheat, whole wheat flour contains gluten-forming proteins, so it can be used alone in bread making. (Protein content is typically 12 to 13%.) However, bread made with 100% whole wheat flour is heavier than white bread because the gluten strands are cut by the sharp edges of the bran flakes. Also, the fat from the wheat germ may contribute to the shortening action. This is one reason why most whole wheat breads are strengthened with white flour. Another reason is that the flavor of 100% whole wheat is stronger than many people care for, and the lighter flavor imparted by a blend of flours is often preferred by customers.

Bran flour is flour to which bran flakes have been added. The bran may be coarse or fine, depending on specifications.

Cracked wheat is not a flour but a type of meal, in which the grains are broken into coarse pieces. It is used in small quantities to give texture and flavor to some specialty breads.