Making The Best Basil Pesto.
Learn how to make the best Basil Pesto. Simple tips and tricks to get the best from this classic sauce.
Tag: knowledge
How to Make Blackberry Jelly, and why fruit jellies work.
Want to know how to make Blackberry Jelly? It’s not that difficult, and so satisfying to make the best of the (free) autumn harvest.
A guide to Flour Types and uses.
This guide to Flour Types and uses will explain the difference between flours. How and why we use different types of flour and explain alternative types of flour available.
It’s is one of those ingredients we use all the time. But are we using the correct type of flour for the dish we are creating? Were not just talking white or brown here but what grain was used in its production. What are the characteristics of the flour we are using? Will it help us? Make things difficult, or just cause an absolute disaster.
Read on and we will aim to solve some of the mysteries. use this guide along with our pages on Making Bread at Home, and What is yeast.
For more flour facts look up fabflour.co.uk and flour.com
What is Flour?
Well, what is flour? A type of flour can be made from many grains, beans, nuts, roots, or seeds. As long as they have enough starch content to allow us to grind them into flour.
Most of the time we are talking about wheat flour but there are many other options out there. For example, rye, spelt, cassava, arrowroot, corn, rice, chickpeas, potato, and nuts.
Each of these flours have there uses but as a baker our primary consideration is gluten. The gluten content of the flour provides strength and elasticity to a dough. While a high gluten content may be an advantage in making a perfect loaf. It would spoil our attempts at making perfect shortbread.
So, what is gluten?
Gluten is formed when two proteins in the flour are hydrated and merged together. The higher the ratio of protein in the grains the more gluten can be formed in a dough. By stretching the gluten (kneading). We can strengthen its elasticity, allowing the dough to rise in the oven without breaking.
If you have ever wondered why your pastry shrinks back as you try to roll it out, it’s the gluten. The dough has been overworked. This toughens the gluten which like an elastic band is pulling back against been stretched. That’s why a lighter hand produces the best pastry and shortbread.
What are the grades of flour?
It’s important to use the correct flour for the job in hand. In British kitchens we refer to cake flour, plain flour, and strong flour. This is simply a useful reference to the amount of protein in the flour.
Cake Flour. 8-9% protein. Not that easy to find now, most people use plain flour as a replacement. If you want to try it out add roughly 15% cornflour to plain flour and sift together. Semolina or rice flour can also be used for a coarser texture. This is quite a common technique in making shortbread.
Plain Flour, 10-12% protein. Readily available and possible the most common flour found at home. Self-Raising flour is simply plain flour with chemical raising agents added.
Strong Flour, 12-16% More commonly used for bread or leavened products. We will cover this in more detail with a later post on bread making.
Flour Types and uses.
White wheat flour.
The everyday flour you will use. This is made by crushing the kernel of the wheat to make flour. The flour is then sieved to remove the outer layers. This process removes flavour from the flour. But been so fine allows for better gluten development.
Most flour is produced on a roller mill which is very efficient keeping costs down. Some flour is still produced by stoneground milling where two millstones are used to crush the grains. This is less aggressive than a rolled mill. And more of the nutrients are retained within the flour and have a better flavour.
Wholemeal flour.
This is flour which contains 100% of the kernel, endosperm, germ, and bran. The bran content produces a coarser texture that white flour. As most of the nutrients in the grain are in the bran the flour is more nutritious than white flour.
Brown flour.
Similar to above but brown flour will contain less bran and may not contain any germ. This will produce a smother, and lighter dough than wholemeal flour.
Rye flour.
One of the best flavoured flours for baking bread. Rye is a grass (like wheat) and has a rich fruity flavour. Bread made with rye flour don’t need as much working as with white flour. This means less work, and a shorter production time.
Semolina.
Basically, an intermediate process in the flour production. Semolina is the coarsely ground endosperm of wheat. This can be found both coarse and fine milled grades. Soft wheat versions are used cooked as a dessert. The classic Durum wheat version been used for the production of pasta and breads.
Durum Wheat produces a high gluten content flour that is difficult to turn into fine flour. And is more commonly found in a semolina version.
European flour grades.
The French and Italians use a grading system to describe their flour. The French have a ‘T, number attached to regulate the ash content of the flour. T110 is a brown flour and as the numbers go down so does the flour’s ash content. This makes the flour finer and whiter. T55 been a common grade to use in kitchens. The flour will be named according to its purpose. So in a French bakery you will see sacks of flour marked croissant, baguette, etc
The Italians again tend to name their flours but grade them differently according to milling and bran content.
They are.
000, very fine flour.
00, fine flour.
0, medium fine flour
Tipo 1, a coarse grade
Tipo 2, very coarse flour
Farina almost straight from the mill, a wholemeal flour.
00 flour is the version banded about on the media and is really an all-purpose flour.
Alternative flours.
Almond flour.
Gluten free almond flour is basically very finely ground almonds. It is possible to make at home by blanching and peeling the almonds. Then dry them off and grind in a food processor.
Chickpea Flour.
Chickpea flour is made as you might suspect from chickpeas.
It’s an extremely useful flour with a mild and slightly sweet flavour. It has both a high protein and fibre content and is very useful as a gluten free alternative.
Corn Flour.
Commonly used to thicken sauces this is made from whole corn kernels, and is gluten free
It can also be mixed with wheat flours to reduce the protein content of the flour in pastry, shortbread, and cakes.
Arrowroot Flour.
As the name may suggest, arrowroot flour is made with the starch of the root of the arrow, a type of tuber.
Mainly used to thicken dishes it gives a clearer, glossier finish that cornflour. It is very low in protein and again gluten free.
Nutritionally it is very high in carbohydrates with minimal amounts of fat and protein.
Acorn Flour.
Not In common use, but with a sweet nutty taste can but used to make breads, muffins, flatbreads, and pastries. Naturally gluten free it is commonly mixed with other flour.
Buckwheat Flour.
Buckwheat flour is ground from buckwheat seeds which are actually a herb. The resulting flour with its earthy flavour is both healthy and again gluten free.
Oat Flour.
Oat flour is a whole grain flour made from oats. Once more the flour is gluten free, (see tips below) Great mixed with other flours and easy to make at home.
Cassava Flour.
Yet another gluten free flour, Cassava flour comes from a starchy tuber called cassava, and it has a nutty and savoury taste.
Chestnut Flour.
Great for desserts, cakes, and pastries this is a very starchy flour with a sweet flavour. While not as well-known as other flours it is gaining in popularity and is a feature of some Italian cooking.
Flour tips.
Removing bran.
A good tip when making a wholemeal loaf is to remove the bran with a fine sieve and set it aside while making the dough. This stops the shards of bran cutting into the dough, which makes gluten development harder. Once the dough has had its initial development the bran can be added back in or dusted on top. So, you still get enjoy the extra flavour and texture of wholemeal flour.
Mixing white and wholemeal /rye flours.
Wholemeal and rye flour have a wonderful flavour, but the bread can be heavy textured and difficult to cut. Adding a proportion of white bread flour to the recipe will give structure and lift to the dough.
Use wet hands when handling rye flour dough.
Baking with rye flour? It makes great bread however it is very sticky and can be difficult to handle.
The best solution to this is to wet your hands and tools with cold water, before handling the dough. This will allow the dough to slide off and not stick.
Beware of allergies.
When using nut-based flours remember to check for nut allergies with your guests.
Get a great Pizza crust.
Use semolina or polenta as a dusting agent when rolling out the dough. When baked you will have a crisp, sandy crust.
Flours with a higher protein content need more liquid.
Remember not to make your dough too dry when bread making. A dry dough will be difficult to knead and will inhibit the creation of gluten.
Beware of gluten free flour types!.
As you will have seen there are a number of Gluten free flours available to us. But beware! Just because the product used to make the flour is in itself, gluten free be careful. It may have become cross contaminated in production or packaging. Be careful to check that the product is certified gluten free before serving to anybody on a gluten free diet.
Enjoy Life!.
John.
©John Webber. 2023
Making Bread at Home.
Making bread at home? All your questions answered here. Together with hints and tips to help you.
What is yeast? A Baker’s guide.
This baker’s guide to yeast will explain all you need to know about using yeast.
Learn the different types of yeast available and how to use them to get the best results in your bread and baking
Boiling, Poaching, Simmering, The duffer’s guide to wet heat.
How many times have you put a pan on the hob to cook vegetables let’s say, without thinking of what’s happening to, or what’s best for the food you are cooking? I’m guessing not often. Boiling, poaching, simmering – but what’s the difference? Not a lot you may think. But understanding but the application of wet heat is one of the most misunderstood methods of cookery.
Taking a closer look.
Water boils at 100°c and boiling is unmistakable. The water bubbles vigorously and steam rises from the pan. Now try turning up the heat, the water will bubble faster, and more steam is produced causing the water to evaporate and the level of the water in the pan to drop. However, the water does not get any hotter all you are doing is bashing and stressing anything you are trying to cook in the pan.
Simple – well not that simple, the temperature of the water can be raised by increasing the pressure of the atmosphere around the water. This is exactly how a pressure cooker manages to cook more efficiently and reduce cooking time. Likewise, the boiling temperature will be reduced if the pressure is lower. If you have every wondered why the tea is never good in a plane, now you know.
Think about what you are cooking and how the heat in the liquid will affect the food. So much food especially fish is ruined by poaching at too high a temperature. I always use a Probe Thermometer to simplify the process and confirm you have the correct temperature for your purpose.
Boiling, 100˚c – Rapid movement with large bubbles, and lots of steam.
Main uses.
Sterilising utensils and storage jars – see The Golden Rules of Home Preserving
Green vegetables need to go into rapidly boiling water. By adding salt to the water, we increase the temperature slightly helping to retain colour and nutrients. This can be followed by plunging the vegetables into iced water to stop the cooking and set the colour (known as blanching). The vegetable can then be gently heated when required simplifying serving the meal. Place a lid on the pan after adding the vegetables but remove it as soon as the water returns to the boil. Green vegetables give off an acidy gas when heated. Which if recycled back into the water can spoil the colour of the vegetables.
Cooking pasta. The rapid movement of the water helps separate the pasta and helps prevent it sticking to each other. The high heat also forms a skin on the paste to prevent it disintegrating in the pan.
Simmering. 80-95˚c – smaller bubbles forming some movement in the pan, steam rising.
Main uses.
Often following boiling, to continue the cooking without breaking up the product. When cooking main crop potatoes as soon as they boil reduce the heat and simmer gently. If your spuds always break up in the pan, you’re a slave to the boil. Also used to allow a larger item of food to cook through without drying out.
Poaching. 60-80˚c – Some circulation in the pan and a little light steam present.
Main uses.
Possibly the most misunderstood and badly executed methods of cooking. Critical for the successful cooking of fish and producing the best poached egg. Plenty of energy to cook the foods without drying out and toughening the protein.
Recognisable by small bubbles forming in the liquid then rising and falling. A small amount of steam may also be visible.
Steaming – water 100˚c – steam 80-95˚c. Constant steam seen to be escaping from the steamer basket.
Main uses.
Here the food is suspended above boiling liquid to apply a more gentle heat. The heat of the steam itself depends on how well the cooking container is sealed. Under pressure the steam can reach well over 100˚c often used to cook more delicate foods like fish or broccoli.
The cooking medium.
In the case of boiling the cooking liquid is most commonly water. In the case of Simmering, Poaching, and steaming a flavoured liquid can be used. When cooking fish, it may be poached in a white wine stock. A medium known as a Court Bouillon (aromatic vegetables, herbs, water salt and a dash of vinegar). Is used to cook oily fish like salmon.
Adding a few herbs and spices to the water used to steam food will enhance the flavour of the food been cooked.
So next time you are cooking something in a liquid, give some thought to the food you are cooking, and how you want it to cook. Your, food will all the better for it!
Enjoy Life!
John.
Make Your own Ghee at home.
Make your own ghee at home. It’s easy to do and very versatile. You will get better quality for less money.
All you need to know about – Eggs
All you need to know about _Eggs. Learn about the egg itself. what each part of an egg can do, and how we can use it in our cooking.
Demystifying Perfect Pastry.
Demystifying perfect pastry is not as daunting as you may think. We will begin by looking at the ingredients and what they do in a dough. We can then move on to understanding how the method of making a dough and how it affects the final result. For this article we are focused on basic sweet and short pastry. Future posts and Food Files will cover more advanced doughs such as Choux, Puff, and Hot Water pastries as well as yeast doughs and breads.
The Basics.
In a nutshell pastry is a dough containing flour, fat, and liquid (water and or egg). Sugar is also used when making pastry for sweets and desserts. While this may seem limiting the variations in combining these ingredients provides us with a range of products with both sweet and savoury uses. Before we begin to dive deeper into the pastry itself, let’s get a understand the ingredients used. If you haven’t already, Look up our posts on Getting to Grips with Pastry and Blind Baking to get a deeper insight into great pastry.
Flour.
Most commonly (but not always) in terms of pastry we are discussing milled white wheat flour. The main characteristic of the wheat/flour we are interested in is its protein content and it’s important to use the correct flour for the job in hand. In kitchens we refer to cake flour, plain flour, and strong flour. This is simply a useful reference to the amount of protein in the flour.
Cake Flour. 8-9% protein. Not that easy to find now, most people use plain flour as a replacement. If you want to try it out add roughly 15-20% cornflour to plain flour and sift together, semolina or rice flour can also be used. This is quite a common technique in making shortbread.
Plain Flour, 10-12% protein. Readily available and possible the most common flour found at home. Self-raising flour is simply plain flour with chemical raising agents added.
Strong Flour, 12-16% More commonly used for bread or leavened products. We will cover this in more detail with a later post on bread making.
There are of course many other types of flour available to us including wholemeal versions of the above but rather than get into too much detail here I want to focus on the pastry itself.
For more flour facts look up https://fabflour.co.uk/
Fats.
For pastry butter, margarine, or lard can be used. They all do a similar job but in diverse ways.
Butter is best for flavour and should always be unsalted. This can seem odd when most recipes will add salt to the mix be it sweet or savoury but by using unsalted butter, we have total control over the salt content of the dough. Butter also melts at a reasonably low temperature in the region of 30˚c to 35˚c. Now this can be a pain in making the dough if rubbing in the fat, but it means that the fat will melt in the mouth during eating. Other pastry fats like lard melt at a higher temperature 36˚c + which means the fat can solidify in the mouth as if cools.
Not all butters are equal, have a look at the butters on offer where you shop. The use by dates of the salted versions will be much longer than the unsalted versions. Salt is added for flavour but also as a preservative to lengthen the life of the butter. We want our butter to be as fresh as possible with a rich cream natural flavour.
Also have a look at the fat content of the butters, but surely butter is fat? Well not all of it, the fat content will differ according to manufacture and origin. Why is this of interest, well most of the weight of the butter that’s not fat will be moisture. If you have ever melted butter, then poured it into a dish you will have discovered a layer of milky water sitting below the fat.
Now would you just add more liquid into your pastry just for the hell of it? Well, that’s what you are doing by using butter with a flow fat content. Aim to buy a butter with at least 80% fat. Preferably 83% or more if you can.
Lard
If we decide to use lard as our fat source, we don’t need to worry about the moisture content, but the flavour suffers. Also been a firmer fat then butter it’s easier to get a light crumbier pastry. Some chefs like to use half butter, half lard in savoury pastry. I do this for my Christmas mince pies. It gives just the right texture and the last thing I need it a sweet pastry shell combined with a very sweet filling.
Margarine
If using margarine, it must be a hard margarine produced for pastry making, not one of the many blended or soft margarines available. For cake making the margarine can be softer but in pastry we need the firmness of the fat to produce a light finish. This also has the advantage of a very low moisture content which is important as we will see later.
Eggs or Water?
The choice of using egg or water to bind a dough really depends on the method of making the dough and the characteristics you want the dough to have.
A large egg is made up of about 9% fat, 12% protein, and the balance been water and minerals making up the remainder.
Water is of course 100% water and has no ability to hold back gluten or bind a dough together.
The protein in egg will add structure but overdoing it will make the pastry tougher. look up our Food Files page on All you need to know about – Eggs to get a deeper insight on the egg itself.
The fat in the yolk assists the fat in the recipe to hold back the gluten and the yolk also acts as an emulsifier to help hold the water and fat in the recipe together. This in the case of beaten mixes (see my sable recipe) binds the dough together and gives volume
So, in a nutshell using egg will give a dough more structure and reduce the amount of pure water needed to bind the dough. However, the egg will also take away some of the crumbly nature of the cooked pastry. Using water will provide a crumbly texture as long as the dough is not overworked, and the gluten toughened making the pastry chewy.
For more information on eggs look up https://www.egginfo.co.uk
Sugar
Adding sugar to a rubbed in pastry will of course sweeten the dough but will also make the pastry colour more in baking. Using an unrefined sugar will also enhance the flavour of the pastry.
When making a dough by the creaming method it does both of the above and also cuts though the fat allowing it to distribute though the flour more efficiently and hold back the gluten.
Now if your still with me Well Done!
That’s a lot of info which I hope will allow you to make informed decisions when choosing or amending the pastry recipes you decide to use. Grab a cup of coffee, take a breath and we can more on. Let’s now have a look at the physical process of making the dough.
Going back to the flour information of this post I mentioned the protein content of the flour and how this defined which flour we would use for a particular job. The reason for this is that when hydrated these proteins begin to form a product known as Gluten. Think of it as an elastic bungee holding the dough together.
Gluten can be an advantage to us or a bit of a pain, it forms naturally in a dough, so all a bread dough needs to begin forming gluten is time and water. Working the gluten strengthens it and makes it more elastic. This is an advantage in doughs where we need to the dough to stretch as the gasses in the dough expand in the heat of the oven as in making bread.
With basic pastries this strength is the last thing we need. If you have ever found your pastry has shrunk back down the tin in baking, it’s a sure sign that the dough has been overworked in ether the mixing or rolling out or often in both! When rolling out your pastry, don’t just roll in one direction. Turn the dough as you are rolling to even out the stressing of the dough. If the dough springs back as you try to roll it out, its already too elastic. The best you can do is to pop it into the fridge on the rolling mat to rest for 20 minutes then have another go. Always rest a rolled dough before baking to minimise shrinkage.
So, a key thing is to handle our pastry as little and as lightly as possible. If making the dough on a machine I prefer to let the machine do any rubbing in or creaming but then bring the dough together by hand, so I am in control of the mixing.
Demystifying perfect pastry, the Creaming method.
If you haven’t already check out my Best Sweet Pastry post for a recipe to produce a versatile tart dough. The process is like making shortbread but uses icing sugar which fully incorporates into the dough and has egg for a binding. Any additional moisture needed to bring the dough together is provided by double cream. The net result of this is to use the least water possible to bring the dough together. This gives us a pastry robust enough to be cut and support a filling while not been tough.
The principle of a creamed dough is that the fat having been mixed right through the dough forms a barrier to the gluten forming long strands and toughing the pastry.
Demystifying perfect pastry, the Rubbing in method.
This is the normal procedure for producing shortcrust pastry, the ‘short’ part of the term referring to how well the pastry breaks up in the mouth. Again, controlling the gluten is important to avoid toughness but the primary factor is how we combine the fat into the dough. Temperature is important. Whereas in our creamed dough room temperature is ideal when rubbing in, we need the fat and our tools be Again, as cool as possible.
The idea is to rub the fat into the flour to form fine particles without the fat melting into the flour. Now as I said before butter melts below blood heat so unless you have nimble quick fingers there’s a chance the butter will begin melt before it totally worked in. Dicing the butter then returning it into the fridge helps and a cold mixing bowl is essential.
The easy option is to use a high melting point fat, and this is the most popular option for manufactured pastries. It may say butter on the packet, but its not butter as you know it.
Think of short pastry as a brick wall, if everything is firmly combined it has strength and toughness and is difficult to break though. Now imagine we have gaps in the mortar and the bricks are sandy. The wall is weak and will collapse easily without using a lot of effort.
This is what the fat in the pastry does, having small particles of fat in the dough prevents the gluten forming together while the dough is raw. Then when cooking the fat melts to leave weakness in the pastry which gives the finished pastry its light crumbly nature.
Dealing with pastry, best practice.
In making creamed doughs keep everything at room temperature.
In making rubbed in doughs keep everything cool and use a pastry knife to cut in the fat.
Rest the dough after making and before rolling to give the dough time to bind and relax
When rolling a dough cool the work surface and rolling pin if it’s a warm day. A polypropylene rolling pin is the best option.
Don’t overdo the amount of four used when rolling out, just a dusting should be enough. Too much flour will embed itself into the dough and spoil the pastry when baked.
Work quickly but carefully, turn the dough during rolling to even out the stress of stretching the dough out.
Always rest the rolled dough before baking.
Have the oven preheated to a slightly higher temperature that needed to cook the pastry. Place the goods into the oven then turn down the heat to the cooking temperature. This will help counteract the loss of heat when opening the oven door.
I hope all that information hasn’t overwhelmed you, take a little time to work through it all. Practice makes perfect so give it a go and remember to enjoy your cooking.
Enjoy life!
John.
The Cutting Edge, The knives to choose, and use.
How to choose the best knives for the kitchen and improve your cooking.