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| COMMON
FLOURS AND FLOUR TYPES |
FOOD
TIPS BY TALLYRAND |
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 Arrowroot
flour
Made
from the fleshy root of the tropical arrowroot plant.
It is very finely ground and easily mistaken for cornflour
and used the same way. Normally used as a thickening
agent, its main advantage over cornflour is that it
does not alter the colour of the sauce etc. If the
sauce is over thickened however, it turns to a slime
texture and cannot be diluted again.
Barley
flour
Made
from very finely ground barley, it is rich in protein,
calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, and B vitamins.
Bean
/ Legume flours
Made
from ground beans of all types. Used to enhance the
flavour and add health benefits to breads, soups,
etc.
Buckwheat
flour
Made
from the seeds of a plant originating in Asia, it
has an earthy, slightly sour flavour that is usually
tempered in commercial products by the addition of
a wheat flour. Used for the production of soba noodles.
Chestnut
flour
Made
from dried, ground chestnuts and usually sold in ethnic
markets.
Cornflour
/ cornstarch
A
finely ground corn/maize product that is gluten free.
Mostly found bleached white, but also available with
a yellowish tinge to it. Mainly used as a thickening
or binding agent, but can be used in a limited way
for baking also.
Mix
two parts water to one part cornflour to make a slurry
or slake, this can be stirred or whisked into liquids
for thickening.
Rice
flour
Rice
flour is primarily made from polished broken rice
and is therefore usually whiter than wheat or rye
flour, it is usually ground more finely also.
There
are essentially two sorts of rice flour: one is made
from the type of rice most often cooked at home and
one from glutinous rice. The glutinous rice flour
has a swelling property that results in a slightly
rubbery texture to doughs and therefore ideal for
the Asian pork dumplings etc. They freeze well because
unlike other starches / flours, it does not separate
and lose moisture when thawing.
It
cannot however be used in baking; although rice flour
contains a high starch content, it does not have the
protein called 'gluten' of wheat flours.
Millet
flour
Made
from a small round grain resembling mustard seed,
(often used for bird seed) it has a slight nutty flavour.
Oat
flour
Oat
flour is a fine flour ground from dried oats, has
a characteristic nutlike flavour. Due to its lack
of gluten it is best used in combination with wheat
flour.
Potato
flour / potato starch
Also
known as 'fecule'. This is a gluten-free flour is
made from cooked, dried and ground potatoes. Mostly
used as a flavourless thickener for sauces, soups
and stews, etc.
Rye
flour
Ground
grains of rye grass, that is a close relative of wheat
but gluten free. It has a slightly sweet-sour flavour
and due to its lack of gluten it is best used in combination
with wheat flour.
Seven-grain
flour
Seven-grain
flour is a commercial blend commonly made up of millet,
rye, corn, wheat, barley, oats and flax or triticale.
Can be purchased in health-food stores.
Soya
flour
Soya
flour is high in protein and is usually mixed in with
whole grain flours in recipes.
Spelt
flour
This
flour is lighter in protein and more easily digested
than regular wheat flours. This flour is sometimes
known as Farro and was the typical flour used by ancient
Romans.
Triticale
flour
Triticale
is a hybrid cross of durum wheat and rye grains. It
is high in protein, and is excellent for making bread.
But it will take longer to rise than regular wheat
breads.
Wheatmeal
flour
Made
by blending in a certain amount of the brown skins
of the bran with white flour.
Wholemeal
flour
Made
from the whole of the wheat berry: the endosperm,
the bran and the embryo.
Plain
white flour
Milled
from the endosperm of the wheat berry only; it has
the bran, embryo and germ removed. It is graded as
to its strength depending on its gluten content: weak,
medium and strong.
- Weak
flour (also known as soft flour or hi-ratio flour)
has a low gluten content of approx. 8% and is therefore
ideal for delicate cake and sponge production
- Medium
flour (also known as all purpose flour) is produced
so that it is suitable for products that have to
be chemically aerated. It is weak enough to stop
toughening but strong enough to stand the pressures
of the gases resulting from the use of baking powders
etc. It is also a good all round flour for bread-crumbing,
batters, scones etc
- Strong
flour has a high gluten content, that makes it ideal
for yeast products, breads and puff pastry
- Durum
wheat flour (also known as Durum flour and semolina
flour) this is specially produced for the production
of pastas.
The
strength of a flour maybe tested by squeezing the
flour in the hand:
- a
weak flour will cling together when the hand is
open
- a
strong flour will crumble to flour again
Self
raising flour
This
is simply a convenience product; a medium strength
flour with the addition of baking powder: 500 gm flour
to 10 gm baking powder. This flour has a short shelf
life due to the addition of the baking powder, it
becomes less effective as the baking powder breaks
down.
Baking
powder
As
an addition note, baking powder should be bought in
as small a quantities as possible, it has a short
shelf life and it becomes less effective as the baking
powder components breaks down. It is simply made up
of two common culinary chemicals: baking soda (bicarbonate
of soda and tartaric acid), stable when apart but
break down and cancel each other out over time once
mixed.
Fresh
baking soda can be made by sifting together one part
baking soda to two parts tartaric acid.
RELATED RECIPE
Food
and Cooking Tips
from professional
Chef Tallyrand
Born
and raised in Plymouth, Tallyrand started his initial
training as a chef at Plymouth College of Further Education.
It was here that he was to learn his love, his passion
for food and the culinary arts. From here he headed
to Germany to complete his apprenticeship as Commis
de Gardemanger.
Germany
gave him his first taste of cooking for the rich and
famous, as half way through his first year, along with
the Sous Chef and a Chef de Partie, he was whisked off
to Cologne to help prepare meals for a political conference,
where amongst other dignitaries they cooked for Mr Brehznev,
the then powerful Russian leader. This was to prove
to be just one of the many celebrities he was to cook
for or get to know over the years . . .
If
you would like to find out more why not visit Tallyrand's
own web site www.tallyrand.info (link in main menu)
Email Hub-UK : info@hub-uk.com
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