188 people doesnt like your chanell cause your breakdown the Secret. people who very old school doesnt want to share the secret. People doesnt want put us in the same level like them... Iam very respect you , Alex.. Salute..
You are so much in love with food, the ingredients and the knowledge behind it. Your passion for what you are doing is so infectious. And I love your humour. C'est un grand plaisir.
I live in America and I love using Bob's red Mill artisan bread flour with a combination of my own home ground hard white wheat flour to make my sourdough. The bread rises beautifully and the texture is uncomparable!
When finding a source for flour, it's also important to find a supplier that produces a consistent product. This is one of the main reasons so many bakers use King Arthur Flour here in the US. Not only do they provide the fairly precise specifications, e.g. protein to the .1%, but their products are very consistent over time. KA is not the only flour to use... I've had good luck with others too.
Yes! King Arthur flour is the best lol.... what are other good flours you have found? I have tried Hogson Mill four and UltraGrain's whole wheat white flour, and although it is edible, the quality simply does not match. Here in Florida it is difficult to find quality flour other than King Arthur....
Even though Bob's Red Mill doesn't have the same fine tolerances, e.g. for protein content, as KA, I'm always shocked by how well, and how consistently, things turn out. Without geeking out too much, it's probably worth noting that precision should not be confused with accuracy. It's entirely possible that even though BRM gives specs to the nearest whole percent, while KA gives it in 1/10%, that in reality both flours have the similar quality control. If you are in the pacific northwest, Shepard's grain is well regarded. If you live elsewhere, I'd suggest that you look into other professional flour producers local to you.
In my experience KA is more reliable overall (not by huge margin) and give a slight bit more loft, but Bob's is a bit tastier/complex overall. I often mix the two of them in my flour tub.
Have you tried Einkorn Ancient Grains from Jovial? You won't be disappointed They have a great array of informative flours that will fit all your needs , when I say informative ,it takes the guess work out of protein content, hard and soft wheat etc. check it out. I wouldn't being wasting my time if I didn't think people would gain from what Einkorn has to offer.
Brilliant video. Many years ago when I was a commis on day release (my day off if I’m honest, nobody released me from anything) I had an instructor who spent a 3 hour period for two weeks explaining all that. It having had that experience that makes me realise how intelligent you are, very well done indeed.
It's would be very quick, boil kettle, add tea to mug or tea po, pour hot water on tea, leave for as long as you want, put milk and sugar in I'd desired. Aaaaaaand that it
Hi sir, due to corona outbreak we -ordinariy people- start to learn more about kitchen art. I am happy to find you because your approach is clear and scientific. How about making a video about oat flour specs and baking a bread from it? Greetings from Turkey.
I have developed a lovely gluten-free sourdough starter over the last couple of months, and am baking GF sourdough baguettes a couple times a week... They’re amazingly good. You should try it!
yeah i totally agree with other comments, you're a good educator and this in depth analysis especially for your average consumer is super helpful when the right flour can be so confusing to buy.
Hi Alex, You've taught me so much I'm glad of the chance to repay this tiny morsel. It's _Triticum durum_ and _T. aestivum._ Capitalise the genus name but not the species name. Why? The Romans didn't really have rules for capitalisation. When Latin became the language of the church and later, the academy, authors used whatever rules applied in their native languages. Carl Linnaeus came up with the binomial system, in which the name of the genus is a noun, the species is an adjective. For example, _aestas_ is latin for summer, and the suffix _-ivum_ makes it an adjective. In the 18th century, when Linnaeus was writing, Swedish, like modern German, capitalised all nouns. Thanks and _continuez votre bon travail!_
Could you try to make a "versus" video, where you try different flour type to make sourdough bread and croissant. So you use high and low protein flour for both type of dough and the see how big the difference it makes.
I'm not sure why I watch all of your videos. I know I'm not going to bake anything and I don't particularly need this much detail about flour but there's something very enjoyable about learning from you. I'm starting to think it's the French accent.
Bonjour, Alex. I live in South Florida, but I import my flour from Montreal because American flour doesn't work with my heirloom baking recipes. My favorite brand is Five Roses. It produces great cakes, wonderful pastries, awesome cookies, decadent béchamel and, thanks to you, unbelievable puff pastry. Prends bien soin de toi et à la prochaine.
my favourite video of yours do far- I bake and have my own sourdough starter but never got into that much details about flour... thanks for doing this video, I learnt a lot!!!
Finest flour explanation I have ever seen in decades as a 'searching' bread baker, pasta maker; pastry maker. Thanks for showing an 'Old Guy' modern information! I use an ever-changing blend of flours, depending on inspiration and what I want to achieve. My German neighbors introduced me to sprouted wheat flour; Italian-Americans often use Durum wheat flour; (Bob's Red Mill) Graham flour is my choice for a sweet (not bitter/oxidized) whole wheat flour. I order French specialty wheat flour because I would love to make a loaf that is chewy, moist, tender...and has pull. Well, who would not want that? Thanks for your explanation of a difficult subject.
I have found that adding a bit of vital gluten to all purpose flour (when that's all that is available) compensates for the difference in protein between it and bread flour.
Thanks for this, in trying to figure out what to plant so I can mill my own flour for fun. Knowing the common name differences and everything was really entertaining and helped a lot!
High protein doesn’t always mean high gluten. For example Durum Wheat has the highest protein but doesn’t become elastic when water is added. It has to be combined with other flours as does Rye flour unless of course you’re happy chewing on a bread brick - the sort of thing you may get with a pumpernickel loaf made with only rye flour (a Russian brea I think). I believe that in Japan any flour sold must have the gluten rating listed.
I use an equal mix of unbleached flour and dark rye for my starter. I think the dark rye has more wild yeast on it, but I need your expertise to verify that. Seems to work really well. I've only just stumbled on your channel. Enjoying it very much.
Amazing video like all your video. In the organic industry in Italy we have the W index and in some supermarket here. I live in Germany now and good news, all the package are with the W index on it. I agree with you that's the best way to know what to expect from the flour in your dough
I'd love it if you could try to bake something with the old type Einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum). It would be fun to see how it differs when baking from the usual wheat we use today. This type was the original wheat that existed 1000's of years ago.
Hey man thanks for the video, I have been baking sourdough bread for the pass 4 months, I have learned a lot , I notice using Rye flour when I make starter it raises better , it is Organic. Thanks
When the "Green Revolution" started in the mid-1900s, the varieties developed and became today's wheats increased in# of heads per acre (more productivity) in exchange for lower protein content, lower root mass (sustains soils) more lodging (being blown over and frequently lost to harvest) less tolerance for both droughts and overly soaked souls. I'd love to hear your take on using Einkorn, Emmers, and Kamut in your sourdoughs.
Hi Alex, First Q: can I use "Bio Buckwheat and Organic Wholemeal Kamut Flour" mix for the starter and the dough? Second Q: am I suppose to use the same flour for the next feeding as I use for the first month or I can switch around for a different source/brand/type of flour? Thanks a million, your videos are great and I like your humor, very funny!
As someone who has loved the original Dave Brubeck recording of Take 5 my entire life (which is two years shy of when Time Out was recorded), this abomination pisses me the hell off.
I think I was lucky with first bread flour I started using then. It's not organic as such, but the protein content is 10.7% (so close to the 11-12% range), and it must be fairly strong, because my dough comes out lovely and stretchy-stringy. It has added gluten if I'm reading the packaging right so maybe that helps. Who knows? The starter was super simple. I boosted the started with honey the first time, and it's been going strong for about 9 weeks now. Sure not the longest ever, but so far so good. By the 2nd bake it smelled a tiny bit grassy, but that was once off all other times it has been a perfectly lovely aroma. And especially since getting a kitchen scale the results have just improved as opposed to when I was going by a volume conversion (cupsimating). I would guess it is more important than the flour as long as your flour is barely capable of making bread. But yeah I also suppose we're not talking about the very basics here.
After talking to gluten intolerant friend about her experience in France in which she and her gluten intolerant husband were able to eat bred, I started doing some research on what is done to flower in the US (including spraying it with glycophosphate as a desiccant) She recommenced a seller who specializes in French Flour. I ordered some T80 Traditional Wheat Flour from L'Epicerie. The flour is milled by Moulin d'Auguste. I am not gluten intolerant, but am interested in a less hybridized wheat which is not sprayed with glycophosphate, does not have all the bran removed and is more traditionally milled.. I am very happy with the sourdough I've baked with it thus far, but am wondering if it's worth the money to purchase French flour.
I really like your explanations & brake down scientifically about different flours, but here in the US we don't have Strong Artisan Bread flours. So, I've been using Bob's Red Meal Artisan Flour. If we had Stong flour I'd definitely give it a try. But, I as well love making sour dough bread. Thanks so much for helping us beginners.
Great video, Alex. Thank you for the durum explanation. I've never been clear on that. By the way, I'm a King Arthur flour fan for life. They're really great about listing the protein content on their flours.
The W index is not a global index to classify a flour. Because every flour is different to another one so there's a flour that has W380 but has 12/13% of protein instead some flour with w380 and 12/13% of protein. So you have to choose the better one you need the most. The W indicate how much water the flour can absorbe. There's so much index that allow you to understand what flour you need and which of these you need.
Most people in my circles use organic whole milled rye flour for their starters. Most places teach 100% hydration starter (equal flour and water) but I've found 50 to 75% produces a much more tasty sourdough bread. Much more sourdoughy.
In Australia I don't see them market strong flour at all. That's why I am wondering should I be bothered to change my baking from plain organic flour which is the equivalent of USA AP flour, to organic bread flour. But my biggest concern is what type or kind (name) of flour is used to market bread flour in Australia. By the way you are amazing at doing what you do. Please don't ever change your style.
Really cool video Alex. The thing is, as you say, that there is no worlwide standar on flour. Im from Argentina and here (total shame) there is not even a small distinction between high and low protein flour, let alone ash content. We have 000 flour (for bread) and 0000 flour (for pastry) and thats it. BTW. Really nice videos. Ive been baking for the past 3 years and you can seldom find content on Internet which is clear and confusion free
Alex French Guy Cooking Sure. I always do. But even the nutrition mention is "elusive" sometimes: organic flouer is not standarized in Argentina. So... not nutritional values :/
I have a similar problem, as i am from Brazil. Here we just get the all-purpose flour or the imported 00 italian flour. and there is no distinction between its strenght. I`ve seen that making a high hidration (+/- 78%) with 100% white flour bread is almost impossible. using true organic whole wheat give me a more controlable dough, which i can knead using the folds method. I think that milling your own flour is not a bad idea too.
I believe that here in south america the cereals have a lower protein content. As i`ve tried to do tofu with brazillian organic soy and it was also a failure.
Alex, I'm diabetic, so I built my own motorized mill to make flour from wheat berries. I have used both red and white wheat berries, and have settled on white wheat berries for the texture. I've also had to add vital wheat gluten to my whole wheat flour at about 10% of the weight of the flour in order to develop enough of a gluten mesh, as the free bran particles cut the gluten mesh. This is why pure whole wheat bread doesn't rise very well or provide such a great texture without adding gluten, I'm told. Do you have any suggestions for improving baking quality when trying to make a predominantly whole wheat loaf? I am open to adding commercial bread flour, but would like to minimize that if at all possible. Thanks for any advice you can give me. Love your channel!
Adam, log onto Traditional Cooking School with Wardee Harmon she does a lot of work with Ancient Grains and makes all her own food and flours through souring,soaking,and sprouting. Milling all her grains as she teaches an online course with fermentation. At the very least her sourdough starter is a life changer, she is all that, good luck
I also bake primarily with whole grain flour. One helpful action is to soak all your flour that is being used in the loaf/loaves, including the salt, but excluding your sourdough starter. I soak mine overnight, mixing the dough ingredients (minus starter) until all evenly moistened. I give my starter what is hopefully its last feeding the night before too, right before bedtime. I say hopefully, because sometimes when I get up, it has already peaked and started to fall. In that case, I just feed it again and watch it carefully to catch it before its peak. In the morning, I add the starter, gently, but consistently mixing it in, then doing hourly or half-hourly stretch and folds until I have a smooth, elastic dough. Then it's time for shaping and retarding the dough to increase flavor. I bake it then either after dinner or even the following morning.
Hey, I really want you to make ancient roman buckwheat bread. I would suggest making a starter, with yeast, sugar, buckwheat flour, water, and olive oil.
My sourdough starter's name is Gargamel. He is very enthusiastic about rising dough if there is enough rye in the dough. Gargamel likes rye very much. Unfortunately my tummy gets upset from rye, so I bake mostly with spelt, which Gargamel make a long face about, being the sourpuss he is. Is there some kind of condiment or other stuff that could make Gargamel happier about my choice of flour?
Grobbekee. My tummy gets a little upset with rye too. Not with wheat, so far. For a long time, I thought it was all gluten but, not so much. Going to try.
Hey, Alex. Thanks for the detailed classification. I am still kinda lost though. So in India we get two types of flours - *Aata Flour* and *Maida Flour*. Aata flour is mostly used in household cooking for making flat breads like chapati / roti / phulka and Maida flour is used in all kinds of baking and making naan bread. Can you please suggest which one of these to use for sour dough bread? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atta_flour en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maida_flour
Amal Ranjan hi! I see you haven’t had any response yet, and it’s been three years, so you may not even be seeing this. We are living in Bangladesh now, and also have atta and moida. I find moida works well for things like pizza crust and pretzels. It seems to be equivalent to a bleached all purpose flour or maybe a pastry flour. It makes really good pizza crust. For regular risen/loaf bread, I usually use half and half whole wheat atta and regular atta. I tried half moida and half whole wheat atta and the texture/structure wasn’t very good. It’s definitely edible, it just tends to fall apart. My Bangla is not good enough to ask and see if these observations are true or not yet. I’m kind of a slow learner. I have a hand grain mill with which I can grind the whole grain wheat (goom) when we can find it. I made my sour dough starter here with the whole wheat atta we can get intermittently at some of the dokans here or with the hand ground. The hand ground definitely has more flavor, but the flour requires a longer stretch and fold and less kneading as the larger bran portions tend to cut the gluten. For the sour dough atarter, I used the method from Peter Reinhardt’s book and the pineapple juice method mentioned on (I think it is) King Arthur website. It did really well until recently when I neglected to put it back in the fridge after the temperatures started to rise as winter gave way to spring. Anyway, I hope this was helpful to you. It’s what I have found after experimenting some with these new to me flours.
I read/hear that bread flour shouldn't be used for sourdough bread baking. Then, there are those who say that yes, use bread flour. Confusing. So, can bread flour be used in baking sourdough bread or not?? Thank you for any clarity on this.
A great video as always. Unfortunately for me, I can't seem to find any of these flours in my country. The only options available in most supermarkets and stores are just plain flour and flour that has baking powder in it. I did find an Italian type 00 flour in one supermarket which I use for pizza and pastas, and it claims to be good for bread too.
Do you live in a country where wheat or rye is cultivated?If so you could try to find a mill and directly buy your flour off of them. If not just use amazon.com and give your local supermarkets feedback that you're missing a higher variety of flours. They'll probably buy some packages if your not the only one asking.
Zarogan King Arthur Flour (unbleached). It's the best supermarket flour you can buy in my opinion. My supermarket keeps several varieties of this brand. King Arthur Flour also has a great RU-vid channel.
Thanks for the replies. I could try going to a mill, but I don't think I could find King Flour in any supermarket around here. BTW I live in Chile and most flours here are local, there's variety in brands, but not many types of flour.
Yeah, I think King Arthur is US-only stuff. But try going to a mill. In my town there's an old mill that is selling flour to neighbouring bakeries and pizza bakers. And they sell all kinds of flour. So if there are pizza bakers in Chile (never been there but it's on my list) you should be able to buy proper flour (at least whole wheat). Maybe you could even ask a local pizza baker where he gets his flour
Hi Alex! I live since a while in France, how do I know here if the flour is strong or not? I can’t see anything on the packages? Guess I’m missing something?!
Flour is so complicated! In the stores in Canada we mostly have the same types as in the USA, but our own unique brands and wheat mixtures. We can commonly buy All Purpose, all purpose unbleached, pastry flour, bread flour, and whole wheat (probably similar to your dark whole wheat as there is a lot of less fine bits in it). Nothing is organic....but we can buy things like spelt or even Italian flour at specialty stores.
Dominique D I found Canadian flour to be wonderful. Don't worry about organic. Use what is available. You guys have stricter rules on farming practices. I believe that your all-purpose flour unbleached has higher gluten/protein than in the states.
Awesome video Alex! Very educational but what about baking sourdough bread with gluten free flour? Any suggestions for what type of flour substitution? I have a daughter who has gluten alergie..Thanks!
What type of flour do you regularly feed your starter? i might have missed that part. BTW I made Cacio e pepe the other night, it was great. I sourced all my products from a local specialty store, Corti Brothers, but i'm really interested in finding more artisan peppers around. Thanks Alex, love the videos....
