Experiences in HFC3M: Flours, Baking and Dirty Life Hacks in the Kitchen

Ever try baking? Ever try baking without checking to ensure you have all the necessary ingredients? Ugh, ya me neither, this is more of a prevention or warning to any other folks who are "cautious" as well.

So as a Foods teacher with NO experience baking in the past before getting to MLIS in China (Dalian), I was excited, scared and embarrassed. I was seen as an individual who could rip through a kitchen and whip something of nothing, which is true. This is because I know and love spices, you give me tomatoes, potatoes, a spice rack and 20 mins, I'll make it happen. #truestory

I knew little to nothing about baking, in fact I could spell the word, eat the food made and tell you I needed flour and an oven. Other than that I had no internal ambition to bake...until I did, then it was like wildfire. I baked till I wanted to blow my brains out cause of how much cleaning I had to do at the end of the day. To this day (literally) I still find myself in baking situations that are well bordering insane sometimes. Too much to do at once for one person on a work night? Meh, bring it, I have tackled worse.

After two and a bit years spent here in China working as a Foods teacher (among other things), I have learned that although you make changes, there are more changes to make each year, or things you tend to let slip from your mind. This is the first of many "Culinary Arts" Teacher blogs to come.

This first one is on flour, the base to every baked good.Flour is not exactly healthy but its not exactly bad, its like everything else in life, too much will kill you (like if you fall into a vat of flour?) and not enough...won't kill you? There is however insensitivity to Wheat, also known as "I can't eat gluten, do have gluten free.." "SHUT UP!" Sorry, I don't have anything against people who "can't" eat gluten, I just get sick of folks posing as such because they think its bad...eat less bread and more fruits if you don't like it, freak! Although I shouldn't say that, maybe the person is diabetic as well right?


I came across this in my studies of flour, gluten and health,
"Wheat allergy is an overreaction of the immune system to wheat protein. In someone who is sensitive to wheat protein, exposure to it can trigger an allergic reaction that may result in a skin rash, itching, swelling, trouble breathing, wheezing and other symptoms. ... Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye." American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology © 2014

There it is stated on a very open, very public and very credible website, but for every point you make there are three rebuttals, so, let's hear it, leave a comment :)

Aside from this I also came across the following,
"Two words these days that make any allergist sigh: gluten allergy. “Gluten has been blamed for all that ails humanity,” Stukus says. But there are only three disorders you can attribute to gluten on a scientific basis, he says: celiac disease, wheat allergies and non-celiac gluten sensitivity." (Melissa Dahl, 2013, Today Morning Show)
--> I pinned the video to my pintrest board if you would like to use it or view it

Cool? Alright, so we talked about risks and issues with gluten/flour, but now the practical use and application of it in a kitchen. In my research I came across a great resource,

http://www.cheatsheet.com/life/9-types-of-flour-what-they-are-and-how-to-use-them.html/?a=viewall

-->Check it out!


1. All-Purpose Flour

 
All-purpose flour, or white flour, is the most commonly used type of flour, reports the Wheat Foods Council. This variety of flour is made from a blend of soft and hard wheat, and can be used in any number of baked food products. This type of flour is a source of several B vitamins (thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and folic acid) as well as iron. Around 95 percent of white flour sold in the U.S. is enriched, meaning that these nutrients were re-added to the substance after being removed during processing.

 
2. Bread Flour

 
Bread flour is quite similar to all-purpose flour, the chief difference being that it has a greater content than the all-purpose variety. The Wheat Foods Council reasons that a high gluten content is optimal for the production of yeast breads. For this reason, bread flour is widely milled for use in commercial baking (it can, however, be found in most grocery stores) as well. The Huffington Post adds that bread flour has a greater amount of protein than the all-purpose variety.

 
3. Cake Flour

 
Cake flour is very finely milled from soft wheat, writes the Huffington Post, giving it an almost silky feel. It has a low protein content and is used for a wide variety of baked goods, cakes, cookies, and quick breads in particular. Cake flour is higher in starch and lower in protein than bread flour, meaning that food products made with cake flour are generally tender and more delicate. The Wheat Foods Council notes that you can make a cup of cake flour by measuring out 1 cup of all-purpose flour, removing 2 tablespoons of flour, and replacing with 2 tablespoons of corn starch.

 
4. Pastry Flour

 
Pastry flour is made from soft wheat, and is generally finer than all-purpose flour. Its traits fall somewhere between those of cake and all-purpose flours, and — as you may have assumed — it is most often used in pastry baking. Pastry flour can also be used for foods such as crackers, cakes, and cookies, writes the Wheat Foods Council. It has a greater amount of protein, and less starch, than cake flour.

 
5. Whole-Wheat Flour

 
As the name suggests, whole-wheat flour is made by grinding entire kernels of red wheat. This process results in a darker brown flour, which is relatively high in nutrients and dietary fiber, writes the Wheat Foods Council. The presence of bran in whole-wheat flour means inhibits gluten development, thus, items baked with whole wheat flour are generally denser than those produced with white flour. To counteract this effect, some bakers will add more gluten (about 1 tablespoon per cup of whole wheat flour used). Alternately, some bakers prefer to subdue the strong wheat flavor of whole-wheat flour by blending it with all-purpose flour.
6. White Whole-Wheat Flour
White whole-wheat flour offers the same nutritional qualities that are offered by whole-wheat flour. However, white whole-wheat flour is ground from hard white wheat, yielding a paler tint and a subtler wheat flavor than the alternative, writes the Huffington Post. Some bakers blend it with all-purpose flour, resulting in heartier and healthier results than a strictly all-purpose flour food product would.
7. Oat Flour
Oat flour is gluten-free, making it a popular choice for all dieters who prefer to avoid gluten. Livestrong notesthat while it can be purchased at some grocery stores, it is quite simple to make at home — simply grind dried oats in your food processor or blender until they have become a fine powder. Each 1¼ cups of oats will yield 1 cup of oat flour. Oat flour is a bit sweeter than whole wheat flour, so bakers may wish to adjust their recipes in kind. Because it is gluten-free, oat flour can sometimes yield crumbly baked goods. Seasoned bakers combat this issue by adding more liquid ingredients to their recipes to make up for the lack of gluten.
8. Self-Rising Flour
Self-rising flour is a type of all-purpose flour that contains both salt and a leavening agent. The Wheat Foods Council reports that one cup of self-rising flour contains 1½ teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt, meaning that it can be used as a substitute for all-purpose flour — so long as you reduce added salt and baking powder amounts proportionately. Self-rising flour is frequently used in biscuits and quick breads, but is not recommended for use in yeast breads.
9. Semolina
Semolina is made from the coarsely ground endosperm of durum wheat, which is the hardest variety of the 6 classes of wheat. The Wheat Foods Council reports that semolina has the highest protein content of all types of wheat, which makes it an ideal base ingredient for high-quality pasta and couscous. This type of flour is very rarely used to make bread.
When you find yourself running short of Cake Flour, SUPER COMMON, TELL ME ABOUT IT, RIGHT!? Who knows, maybe it went bad, you got worms, things happen...What do you do though, Birthday cake is needed, you had a bottle of wine and can't drive to the store...in China we just call...a guy, cake guy, suit guy, baby guy...you know...a guy. But in North America or other places, maybe we can't, so we need to make do with what we have and because All Purpose flour can last a REALLY LONG TIME and is so much more common than cake flour, we can use that to our advantage and make our own cake flour,

 
1 cup AP flour - 2 Tablespoons AP flour + 2 Tablespoons cornstarch = 1 cup cake flour
for Math majors it looks something like this (240x-30x)+30=240y ...this is why I don't teach math...

SO, WHY!? Why would someone be more likely to have AP Flour (as we call it in the biz) instead of most others? Rancidity for one, worms for another...

AP Flour last longer than most, and like most guidelines, expiry dates are...guidelines...Rumours have it that if you have worms, you can freeze or refrigerate your flour to kill them...interesting...
Some flours can be refrigerated or frozen as well to preserve them.
I don't mean to cut this short but, its been great. I am calling it a night, if you have any questions for your friendly neighborhood MLIS Foods...I mean Culinary Arts teacher, let me know :)
Mr. Bono