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Using
Right Kind of Flour Important to Holiday Baking
Auburn, Dec. 3---The
holiday season is a busy time for home bakers, especially those who
enjoy cooking sweet breads, cookies and cakes.
And, as any experienced
baker knows, the right type of flour must be used in every recipe.
There are differences
between all-purpose flour and cake flour, says Dr. Barbara
Streumpler, a nutritionist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension
System. The first difference is related to the type of wheat used to
produce them.
Cake flour is made from
soft wheat, while all-purpose flour is a blend of soft and hard
wheat.
The second difference
between cake and all-purpose flour is the amount of the starchy
portion of the wheat kernel or endosperm that is used to make the
flour. The third difference is the extent to which the flour
particles are ground.
The term patent refers
to the amount of endosperm used to make flour. Long-patent flour
contains a higher percentage, including those portions that are more
resistant to crushing and contain slightly more protein.
Short-patent flour contains the smallest portion of endosperm and a
lesser amount of protein.
All-purpose flour, which
is commonly used at home for making bread, lies between the long
patent or bread flour and cake flour.
Differences in protein
content, while not nutritionally important, influence the structure
of the finished baked product, says Struempler. In bread flour,
gluten -- protein component of the grain -- is stronger and more
elastic than in all-purpose flour. Cake flour, has a weak gluten,
which is desirable for the delicate texture of cakes.
Should you run out of
cake flour and want to bake a cake, you can substitute all-purpose
flour, using 2 tablespoons less per cup. The reverse is not true.
Desired
results cannot be
achieved by substituting cake flour for all-purpose flour.
Source: Dr. Barbara
Struempler, Nutritionist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System,
(334) 844-2217
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