Flour for Artisan Bakes

“There are several ways to categorize wheat, including its growing season (winter or spring) and its color (white or red),” reads an informative blog post on King Arthur Baking’s website. “But one of the variables that has the most impact on your baking is “hardness” — based on this factor, wheat is categorized as either hard or soft.“

Hard vs. Soft Wheat

The post continues to say that “in the United States, there are two primary types of wheat grown: hard and soft. The hard wheat category includes hard red winter wheat, hard red spring wheat, hard white wheat, and durum.

Hard wheats are high-protein wheats (typically between 10 and 14 percent protein). The higher the amount of protein, the more gluten the flour can form; the more gluten, the stronger the flour. So a flour milled from hard wheat, with its higher protein content, is better for strong doughs like yeasted bread, in which you want to develop a robust gluten network.

By contrast, soft wheats, a category that includes soft red winter and soft white wheats, have a larger percentage of carbohydrates and less proteins than hard wheats, and thus flour milled from soft wheat berries has less gluten-forming abilities. Though these flours lack the protein necessary for producing a strong dough, they are ideal for baked goods where tenderness and a more delicate crumb are desired such as quick breads, pretzels, and pastries.

Bread flour, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and white whole wheat flour (now called golden whole wheat flour) are all milled from hard wheats. Among them, whole wheat flour has the highest protein (13.2%), with bread flour coming in at 12.7%, golden whole wheat following at 12.2%, and all-purpose bringing up the rear with 11.7% protein. Any of these varieties of flour are well suited to bread making, though the lower protein level of all-purpose flour makes it as versatile as its name suggests.

Flours milled from soft wheat include our pastry flour (8%) and Italian-style flour (8.5%). The lower protein levels of these soft wheat flours mean they have less gluten-forming potential. That would be a negative if you tried to use them to make a loaf of bread, but it’s great for biscuits, scones, and cakes.

Some flours take advantage of the properties of both hard and soft wheats by blending the two. Our ’00’ pizza flour (11.5%), which includes hard wheat (for strength in the dough) and soft wheat (which makes the pizza dough easier to shape), gives you the best of both worlds.”

To summarize, King Arthur Baking offers these flours:

I bake my famous whole wheat sourdough bread with 50% high-protein bread flour and 50% hard white or red whole wheat flour and a bit of diastatic malt powder. I bake my authentic German soft pretzels with 50% finely-milled pastry flour, Italian-style flour, or AP flour, and 50% finely-milled whole wheat flour and a bit of diastatic malt powder.

I have not been able to find a similarly informative post from Bob’s Red Mill, a large competitor of King Arthur Baking’s quality flour. Neither does Bob’s Red Mill identify the protein content of its flours. However, Bob’s Red Mill flours have baked wonderful breads for me in the past and will always be in the mix of flours for me.

No Sprouted Flour

The quality of the wheat itself matters as well. If a wheat berry is allowed to germinate (or sprout), it produces an enzyme that makes dough sticky and less prone to rising. So, lots of sprouted flour is not what I am looking for, as I wish for my bread to rise high.

Stone-Ground vs. Roller-Milled Flour

Stone-ground is the old-fashioned way to grind grains. It was done manually before water and wind took care to power the grinding operations. Large millers use modern steel rollers to grind the kernels, producing a more finely milled flour. However, stone-grinding berries does not incur the higher heat of roller-grinding, potentially leaving nutrients in better conditions.

Fine Milled vs. Coarsely Ground Flour

The finer the flour is milled, the more it will rise. Stone-ground flour is usually more coarse than roller-milled flour. This is good to know, especially when looking at whole wheat varieties because finely ground whole wheat will give a lighter loaf than a coarsely ground one.

Softening The Bran

I am not sure yet what type of flour works best for me. Many say that high-protein flour rises best, while others say that the sharp bran in whole wheat flour cuts the gluten network adversely. I have seen an online video in which the baker first sifted out the bran from the whole wheat flour and soaked just the bran for some 24 hours in hot water before incorporating the now softer bran back into the flour.

In any case, I have done well with a mix of 50% whole wheat and 50% bread flour. My early attempts were relatively flat − the boules looked more like frisbees. Since then, I have practiced shaping the dough and bought the NutriMill Artiste, a stand mixer, to incorporate the ingredients and develop the gluten structure early on. Whole wheat flour benefits from a long autolyse to soften the bran.

Malted Flour

“Malted” means that a very small amount of malted barley flour, or a natural enzyme, has been added to the flour to stabilize fermentation. The ‘malt’ also helps with coloring in yeast-risen products.

What Is Ash

It is a way of determining the quality / purity of the flour. A higher ash content indicates that the flour contains more of the germ, bran, and outer endosperm. Those are bits of the bran and the germ that are intentionally left in the flour to increase the flavor, nutrition, and look of the flour. The higher the number, the closer to whole grain the flour is. Lower ash content indicates that the flour is more refined.

The number in the name of a flour is an indication of the ash content of that flour. For example, Type 70 is a 70 ash and Type 85 is an 85 ash. This naming convention is the way some common types of flour are named in France.

To establish the ash content of flour a fixed amount of the flour is burned and what is left after this process is the ‘ash’. The amount that is left is expressed as a percentage of the original fixed amount.

What’s Best

Depends on what’s baking. Stone-milled grains, high in protein and expertly ground fine, seem to make the best flour for artisan sourdough bread. Pretzels come out best from lower protein but expertly fine ground flour.

The Flour I Am Working With Here In Sacramento

Giusto’s is a prominent provider of quality flour on the US West Coast. They take online orders and ship. Lucky for me, though, Sacramento Natural Food’s Co-op sells Giusto’s organic Vita-Grain flour in bulk.

The following flours can be found in most food stores anywhere.

Bob’s Red Mill
Whole Wheat Flour

Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour is 100% whole grain hard red wheat stone ground on their cool, slow-turning quartz millstones. The high protein content of this whole wheat flour makes it especially great for whole grain loaves, rolls, pretzels, buns, and flatbreads.

Organic: no
Wheat: hard red wheat
Milling: cool stone-milled
Protein:
Ash:
Treatment:
Store: most any supermarket, $

Bob’s Red Mill
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour is 100% whole grain soft white wheat stone ground on their cool, slow-turning quartz millstones. The lower protein content of this whole wheat flour makes it suitable for cockies, flaky pies, muffins, and pretzels.

Organic: no
Wheat: soft white whole wheat
Milling: cool stone-milled
Protein:
Ash:
Treatment:
Store: Nuggets, $

Bob’s Red Mill
Artisan Bread Flour

Artisan Bread Flour is a premium high-protein flour milled from America’s highest quality wheat. It’s good for sourdough bread, baguettes, pizza dough, dinner rolls, sandwich loaves, no-knead bread, salt-rising bread, pretzels, bagels, and more. Enriched, unbleached, and unbromated.

Organic: no
Wheat: hard red wheat
Milling: stone-milled
Protein: high
Ash:
Treatment: unbleached, unbromated, enriched
Store: most any supermarket, $

Bob’s Red Mill
White Fine Pastry Flour

Bob’s Red Mill Fine Pastry Flour is 100% fine soft white wheat stone ground on their cool, slow-turning quartz millstones. The lower protein content of this whole wheat flour makes it especially great for cockies, flaky pies, muffins, and pretzels.

Organic: no
Wheat: soft white wheat
Milling: cool stone-milled
Protein: low
Ash:
Treatment:
Store: Nuggets, $

King Arthur Baking
Whole White Wheat Flour

Whole white wheat flour is milled from hard white spring wheat — a lighter-colored grain than traditional red wheat, which yields lighter, milder-tasting baked goods. Substituting this flour for up to a third of the white flour in your favorite recipes gives you all the nutrition and fiber of whole grains without compromising flavor.

Organic: no
Wheat: hard white whole wheat
Milling:
Protein: medium to high at 12.2%
Ash:
Treatment: unbleached
Store: Target, $6.59 per 5 lbs

King Arthur Baking
Whole Wheat Flour

Whole red wheat flour adds fiber, vitamins, and nutrients to recipes and tastes good. Milled from 100% hard red wheat, King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour has a classic robust whole wheat flavor that elevates bread. This flour is an all-star pantry: dark in color, rich in flavor, and healthy to eat.

Organic: no
Wheat: hard red whole wheat
Milling:
Protein: high at 13.2%
Ash:
Treatment:
Store: Target, $6.59 per 5 lbs

King Arthur Baking
Bread Flour

King Arthur Bread Flour has 12.7% protein. It strengthens the rise, so your breads are lofty and perfectly textured every time. Use it for artisan bread to rolls to pizza. Combine it with whole wheat flour to add extra height to dense whole grain baked goods that need a little lift.

Organic: no
Wheat: hard red wheat
Milling:
Protein: high at 12.7%
Ash:
Treatment:
Store: Target, $6.19 per 5 lbs

Central Milling
Organic Old World Bread Flour (aka Organic Artisan Bread Flour)

This blend of hard red wheat flour is not entirely white flour and not quite whole wheat flour. It is a Type 80 flour milled 100% whole and sifted to an 80 ash, retaining some bran and germ. This increases the flavor and nutritional value of the loaves over plain white flour without compromising baking performance. High extraction.

Organic: yes
Wheat: hard red spring wheat
Milling: stone-milled
Protein: medium to high at 12.5%
Type: 80
Ash: whole wheat sifted to .80%
Treatment: none
Central Milling: online 25 lbs @ $30.26, ships to Petaluma
Amazon: 25 lbs @$80 (grossly overpriced)

Central Milling
Organic Bread Flour

This unbleached malted organic bread flour – a blend of organic hard red winter wheat – has been designed specifically for artisan bread baking. The addition of malt increases enzymatic activity during fermentation. This yields bread with greater volume without diminishing the integrity of the open crumb. It also increases the depth of color in your crust. This is the best malted organic bread flour for baguettes and sourdough breads of any shape and size. This organic flour also works very well in laminated doughs and quick doughs.

Organic: yes
Wheat: hard red winter wheat
Milling:
Protein: medium at 11.5%
Ash: 0.60%
Treatment: unbleached, malted
Store: Nuggets, $

Central Milling
Organic Whole Wheat Flour

Central Milling’s Organic Whole Wheat Hi-Pro Fine is finely milled on a short-flow roller mill where the bran and germ are not separated during the milling process. Short-flow roller mills are gentler on the wheat kernel, and the milling process generates much less heat. The fine granulation of this flour makes for a super smooth dough, while the high-protein content will yield bread with tons of volume.

Organic: yes
Wheat: hard red whole wheat
Milling: finely roller-milled
Protein: high at 13.5%
Ash: 1.60%
Treatment:
Store: Nuggets, $

Farmer Direct
Whole White Wheat Flour

Farmer Direct Foods’ Whole White Wheat Flour is 100% whole grain and stone-ground to provide the natural nutrition of traditional whole wheat with the taste and texture of flour from hard white whole wheat. It has a sweeter and milder flavor than red whole wheat flour.

Organic: no
Wheat: hard white whole wheat
Milling: stone-ground
Protein: medium at >10%
Ash: 1.4-1.8%
Moisture: 14% max
Treatment:
Store: Smart & Final, $

Farmer Direct
Whole Red Wheat Flour

This flour is 100% red whole grain and 100% stone-ground to retain the natural nutrition of the grain, making it a great choice for bakers looking for a healthy and flavorful flour option.

Organic: no
Wheat: hard red whole wheat
Milling: stone-ground
Protein: high at 12.5-13.5%
Ash: 1.4 to 1.8%
Moisture: 14% max
Treatment:
Store: Smart & Final, $

Bob’s Red Mill
Dark Rye Flour

Organic Dark Rye Flour is a flavorful, 100% whole grain flour complete with all the nutritious bran and germ. At Bob’s Red Mill, rye is freshly ground on quartz-stone mills from organic dark, plump rye berries. Mixing rye flour with other flours adds its delicious and unmistakable flavor. However, rye flour’s proteins do not aid in forming a gluten network.

Some Miller
Some Flour

Protein:
Ash:
Treatment:
Store:

A little more on overseas flour types

This flour overview teaches you more about flour types and how they are referred to in different countries. It can help you buy the right type of flour, no matter what country you bake in.

French flour type numbers indicate the ash content (in milligrams) per 10g of flour. The numbers are about a factor of 10 lower than the German types.

Type 55 is a standard hard-wheat white flour, while Type 80 is a high-extraction flour with a higher ash content. Type 45 is a pastry flour, softer than Type 55 and often used for croissants. Types 65, 80, and 110 are strong bread flours of increasing darkness, while Type 150 is whole wheat flour.

Type 80 and Type 85 flour are popular in Germany and often used for bread making, having a higher protein content and a coarser texture than the French-favored Type 55. Type 80 flour is sifted whole wheat flour, reducing most of the large bran particles that may impede gluten development. These flours are in vogue with bakers and consumers alike for their ‘white flour’ baking qualities, tastes, and some retained whole wheat nutrition.

However, Type 85 flour can be approximated by mixing 50% whole wheat and 50% bread flour. Perhaps Type 80 flour would be 45% whole wheat and 55% bread flour? That is what I bake my Sacramento Whole Wheat Sourdough Batards with.

I have not found Central Milling’s Organic Old World Bread Flour, a Type 80 flour, here in Sacramento, either. However, I have blended, all at 50/50 percent respectively, Central Milling’s Organic Whole Wheat Flour and Organic Bread Flour, King Arthur’s Whole Wheat Flour and Bread Flour to make for some lovely loaves.

Type 550 is a flour that is so labeled in the European Union. This flour is made from soft white wheat and finely milled. The Germans use this soft and finely milled flour for their famous pretzels as it has a relatively low protein content which yields a dough extensible enough for pretzels. American AP flour might be a fair substitute for Type 550 flour. There is also pastry flour and Italian-style flour to be had here in US stores. They might also work for pretzels.

In the United States and the United Kingdom, no numbered standardized flour types are defined, and the ash mass is only rarely given on the label by flour manufacturers.