Flour for European Bread

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Re: Flour for European Bread

Postby Currywurst » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:06 pm

georgebaker wrote:Hi
I know
* we use Strong Flour from North America to make bread loaves
* there were oat cakes, barley and rye breads

But what
* did we do before the Americas were invented


Remember that the light, fluffy white loaf is a relatively new invention. According to Elizabeth David's book English Bread and Yeast Cookery we started importing North American wheat towards the end of the eighteenth century. At that time bakers started using it because it yielded more bread per pound of flour.

But what David also mentions is that it was also only in the eighteenth century that techniques for refining flour were developed to the degree that they could produce very white flour free of bran particles. Before that all flour was slightly grey, even after sifting. The bran would have kept the bread from ever becoming a light, fluffy loaf, even if it had had the extra gluten of strong flour. So in a sense, using strong flour would have been pointless.
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Postby jenny_haddow » Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:36 pm

I bought some interesting flour in Loche market last week when I was in France. Its a mixture of various grains that so far seems to yield what appears to be a very large crumpet when I make bread with it. Tasty but unusual, makes great toast.
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Postby captain wassname » Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:36 pm

George Spelt is an acient (bronze age) wheat said to have been used by the Romans. I use it as a preference in my bread making sometimes with 50% white sometimes with 25% rye and sometimes on its own. It seems to prefer honey or maple syrup as sweetener although I have used muscavado and molasas I suppose for a roman loaf you would probably use olive oil and honey.

Jim
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Postby georgebaker » Thu Oct 09, 2008 5:16 pm

Hi
thanks, my wife recently did 25% and it was very good

George
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Postby Snags » Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:40 pm

Pharaoh Flour is an Australian Flour made from the grains from an Egyptian Tomb.
The farmer was lucky enough to be given a few grains and took years to get enough seeds to plant out his farm and now he grows just the ancient seed and mills the flour.

http://www.fourleafmilling.com.au/products.php?id=38
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Postby saucisson » Thu Feb 04, 2010 1:24 pm

Thats amazing!!

Dave
Curing is not an exact science... So it's not a sin to bin.

Great hams, from little acorns grow...
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