Wheat flour in baking explained

Introduction

What we call flour in baking often refers to different blends of wheat flour. Wheat flour is produced as a powder by grinding cereal grains and is by far the most commonly and vastly produced flour for human consumption and this particular flour is the topic of this blog post. However, there will be future posts discussing the properties of other types of flours, including rye, corn, rice, potato, almond etc. But for now, let’s focus on wheat flour properties and its role in baking! The type or types of flour used in baking are mostly determined by 1: the quantity and quality of gluten content, 2: other ingredients that have been incorporated and 3: the fineness of the flour. So to understand flour, we need to understand gluten, what it is and what it does.

Gluten

Flours contain two main components, starch and protein. One protein in particular is highly abundant; this is gluten, which can form 7-14% of total protein content in wheat flour. Gluten is a viscoeleastic protein, and it literally means it has both elastic and viscosity properties. These properties are results of its composition from two different polypeptides or proteins, gliadin and glutenin. In broad terms, gliadin contributes towards the viscosity whilst glutenin provides elasticity. The physical properties of dough are partially dependent on the ratio between gliadin and glutenin level. However, it has been observed by others that the rheological properties (liquid, solid state) of dough are also dependent on the amount of water used, methods of mixing, mixing time and resting time, suggesting a set of highly complex chemical reactions in dough. It is speculated before the addition of water to the flour, gliadin and glutenin exist as separate proteins and in the presence of water they combine to form gluten. The general rule is, the higher the gluten content, the more strength it will provide to dough. How gliadin contributes to coeliac disease is also a heavily researched area, but we will not discuss this in this post.

What we have no control over

There are things we have absolutely no control over and this is the quality of wheat and the milling process. The conditions in which the wheat was grown in such as soil, light availability and nutrients all play a role in the growth of wheat and subsequently affect the quantity and quality of gluten present. The milling process, i.e. how the wheat was ground, can affect the degree of bran and endosperm (Fig 1) separation and the properties of the final product. However, these are all things we, as consumers have no control over and have to rely the manufacturers to do their job properly, but it is worth bearing these in mind when a new batch of flour you got does not perform as well as your previous one.

Common types of wheat flour

Strong (bread) flour

This is probably the flour that you can purchase that contains the highest percentage of gluten, at around 13% or even slightly higher in some cases. These are almost always made from hard wheat, i.e. wheat with a hard kernel or seed of the plant. The higher level of protein present also allows the protein strands to entrap more CO₂ produced during the proofing

process by yeast.

Plain (all purpose) flour

This type of flour contains about 10-12% gluten and it’s the most versatile flour you will encounter (hence the name). It can be used for cakes, pastry and bread.

Self-raising flour

This flour is odd, it’s actually the same as plain flour but with about 2-2.5% (w/w) raising agents added to it to help with the rise of the batter.

Cake flour

This flour very often confuses people, many people believe it is the same as self-raising flour, but it’s not. It contains an even less gluten content compared to self-raising flour, which contains the same level of gluten as plain flour. Cake flour contains 7-9% gluten and in theory, should be finer than plain flour and the bran should be completely separated from the endosperm. Cake flours are normally bleached, which allows the cake to be lighter and a higher amount of sugar to be used. However, the use of many bleaching chemicals on flour is prohibited by the European Union.

That’s it for now, next time, I will be going through the raising agents in cakes, chemical structures and reactions, general proper science!

Bûche de Noël (Yule Log)

This is a simple recipe, it should work every time (famous last words I know, but let's hope not, it's christmas!). You only need very simple equipments for this, I actually went to my mum's and she barely has any baking equipment around, but it still turned out ok. This is a very nice alternative to traditional christmas pudding, which can be heavy and boozy, but if you are not a fan of those like me, then, please try this!

Ingredients 

• 100g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 60g plain flour
• 40g coco powder
• 400 ml double cream
• 200g plain chocolate in small pieces (about 50% coco)

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C (fan assisted) 
2. Line 23 x 33 cm baking tray with baking parchment and push it down into the corners
3. Sift and measure flour and coco powder and set aside
4. Put sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk over a saucepan of simmering water, make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the hot water
5. Whisk until the eggs become a very light pale yellow and thick enough to leave a trail behind when you lift the whisks out of the egg
6. Very gently fold in the flour and coco powder with a metal spoon until they have evenly incorporated into the egg
7. Spread mixture onto the baking tray 
8. Bake in pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until risen and sponge springs back when touched lightly with a finger in the middle 
9. Let sponge cool down slightly in tray for 5 minutes and lift it out of the tray
10. Tip the sponge upside down onto another sheet of baking parchment paper and carefully lift off the parchment paper on the other side
11. Trim off 1cm of sponge from all 4 sides of the sponge
12. Cut with a sharp knife about 1cm in on the length of the sponge from one end, do not cut all the one through, half way would do
13. Use parchment paper to roll in the slightly cut end to start the rolling process and tightly roll the rest
14. Let it rest in that position for 10 minutes
15. Meanwhile prepare chocolate ganache by heating 200ml double cream until boiling and then take it off the heat and let it cool down for 3-5 minutes
16. Pour hot cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted and let it cool down until room temperature
17. Carefully unroll the log and let it cool down in that orientation
18. One roll has cooled down completely, whip the rest of the double cream until still peaks and spread across the inside of log and roll up the log again and trim off a bit from either end of the log
19. Cut about 8-10cm from one of the log diagonally and place it on the side of the other roll 
20. When the ganache has thickened, spread a generous amount evenly over all sides of the roll including the 2 ends
21. Use the end of clean stick/fork/spoon or anything to make longitudinal longs across the length of the logs and swirls at the ends to create the bark effect 
22. Dust with either icing sugar or chopped white chocolate for snowy effect 

This recipe is entered to classic french challenge a thttp://bluekitchenbakes.blogspot.co.uk

Chocolate chestnut chiffon cake (CCCC)

Again, another chiffon cake, but this time, I used the chiffon for a reason, not just because I love it! The main character of this cake is the chestnut, first it's in season and second it's also festive as we are approaching christmas! However, one thing to be aware of is that chestnut flavour can be quite subtle and you can't really combine it with heavy flavours as they WILL mask the chestnut completely and this is the reason I have chosen a plain vanilla chiffon. When done right, not only can you taste it, but you can also smell the sweet aroma of the chestnut too! 

Ingredients

• 115g self raising flour
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 3 tsps pure vanilla essence 
• 170g caster sugar (put 90g, 30g and 50g into 3 separate bowls)
• 3 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• 80 ml cold water
• 90 ml vegetable oil
• 250g chestnut (sainsbury's whole chestnuts cooked and peeled works great)
• 400ml double cream
• 1 tbsp dark rum
• 50g milk chocolate
• 20g white chocolate
• 50g dark chocolate

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C and grease an 8 inch tin with unsalted butter
2. Sift and weigh flour, baking powder and 90g caster sugar and mix together
3. Add 2 tsps vanilla essence, egg yolks, water and vegetable oil to the flour and mix with metal spoon until a runny creamy mixture
4. Whisk with electric whisk egg whites  until soft peaks and gradually add sugar from 50g one tbsp at a time to egg white until it forms firm peaks and glossy
5. Gently fold in a third of meringue into the cake batter at a time until all the meringue has been folded in
6. Pour cake mix into baking tin and bake for 60-70 minutes. The surface should start to brown, but don't worry, it's supposed to. Turn the cake upside down immediately when it's out of the oven to prevent collapsing It is better that it is slightly brown as it will prevent the sponge to fall out of the cake tin when it's turned upside down
7. When the cake is completely cool (I usually just leave it upside down for 2 hours, start preparing chestnut cream at this stage), use a sharp knife and cut the edges of the cake to get it out of the cake tin
8. Cut the sponge horizontally with a sharp knife to divide the sponge in half for when the fillings are ready

Chestnut cream (creme aux marrons) 

1. Put chestnut and 200ml double cream and 20g caster sugar into a saucepan and heat over medium heat with occasional stir with wooden spoon
2. The cream should start to boil and thicken, add the rum and 1 tsp vanilla essence and let it simmer for a 2-3 minutes on low heat
3. Crush the chestnuts and mash them up slightly (it's almost like making potato mash)
4. Puree the chestnut cream with a electric blender, you can make it very smooth or leave some small lumps in (I actually prefer them with small lumps, but some people will prefer a smoother finish)
5. Whisk 100ml double cream until it thickens and spread a thin layer of cream across the inside of the sponges and put a very generous amount of chestnut cream on top of the double cream (I had about 5 mm high chestnut cream as the filling) and then put another layer of whisked double cream on top of chestnut cream
6. Put the other sponge on top 
7. Use remaining chestnut cream to cover the top and sides of the cake, smoothen it with a palate knife

Decorations

1. Make chocolate decorations by melting dark chocolate over a pan of simmering water and pipe it into any shape you want on a piece of parchment paper and let it cool in the fridge for at least 1 hour, you may even want to make tempered chocolate, but I haven't tried that yet myself
2. Make milk chocolate ganache by melting the milk chocolate (cut into small chunks) in 50ml of hot double cream and let it cool slightly, do NOT add any sugar
3. Pour over the top of cake to get a smooth finish 
4. Melt white chocolate over simmering water and pipe a swirl on the surface of the milk chocolate ganache
5. Use the tip of a blunt knife to run in and out of the white chocolate swirl to create a lovely flowery pattern
6. Lift the dark chocolate patterns off parchment paper and stick them onto the sides 

Garlic mushroom and walnut quiche

This quiche is rather simple to make but it's packed with flavour, texture and a lovely fragrance. To give it a bit more texture and substance due to the fact that it lacks meat, I have used oyster mushrooms and small pieces of walnut to give the fillings some crunch. The quiche can be served warm or cold, in fact, the fragrance of the shiitake mushroom develops somewhat in the cold quiche. But I like it warm. 

Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 150g unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp milk 
• 8 large closed cup mushrooms
• 15 medium size shiitake mushrooms 
• 12 oyster mushrooms 
• 40g walnut
• salt and pepper for seasoning 
• 284ml double cream
• 2 tsp ground garlic / 2 fresh garlic cloves
• 2 tsps parsley
• 110g guryere cheese, finely grated

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C
2. Rub flour and butter together to form bread crumb structures
3. Add 1 egg and milk to flour and combine to form a dough 
4. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 2-3mm thick
5. Place pastry into a flan tin and prick numerous holes at the bottom with a fork
6. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, this should reduce the amount of shrinkage when baked
7. Cover pastry with a sheet of parchment paper and baking beans
8. Blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes, take it out and trim off the edges to make a nicer finish
9. Return to oven and bake for another 10 minutes to see if the bottom of pastry is dry, if not bake for another 10 minutes and check again
10. When the base of pastry is completely dry, remove baking beans and parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes
11. Take the pastry out and let it cool slightly whilst preparing fillings
12. Rinse clean the mushrooms and slice the closed cup and shiitake mushrooms up into rather thick slices and just leave the oyster mushrooms as they are
13. Heat mushrooms up over medium heat, sprinkle salt, pepper and 1 tsp of ground garlic/ finely grated garlic from 1 clove over the top and mix thoroughly, do not use any oil
14. When you can start to smell the shiitake mushrooms and the closed cup mushrooms are starting to reduce in size, take them off the heat and let it cool down, drain excess fluid from mushrooms with a clean piece of kitchen paper 
15. Beat 2 eggs and the cream together and then fold in the cheese
16. Put in 2 pinches of salt, sprinkle of pepper, remaining garlic and parsley into the egg mix to season
17. Wash and break walnut up into small chunks and fold them in to the egg/cream mixture
18. Place the mushrooms into the bottom of the baked pastry case 
19. Place egg mix over mushrooms evenly
20. Bake at 200 degrees C for 25-30 minutes 
21. Serve warm or cold (preferably warm)