Bread Flour

Strong flour

These flours are also called “Strong” flours, and are generally made from “Hard” wheat . This type of flour has a higher protein content and as the title suggests, plenty of “muscle”. When made into a dough, they absorb more water and with kneading produce long elastic chains of gluten/gliadin proteins forming a superstructure which enables bread with more volume and an open texture.

The benefit of proteins

These proteins form the elastic structures-tiny envelopes/balloons enclosing the gases caused by fermentation, which maintain their integrity and expand as the gases expand when the bread is baked. This is an “open” texture being pleasing to look at and to eat. These flours are prized by bakers because they provide some tolerance, which means the baker knows the dough will not collapse from having insufficient strength.

Strong flours are also more useful in long fermentations as they will “hold on” longer than weaker flours. Strong flours have always been added to weaker or softer flours to provide more structural integrity.

Provenance

A famous early blend was that of the first flours coming to England from the American colonies, with softer English or “home” wheat. Commentators were rich in their praise of these flours particularly as an extra loaf resulted from the batch as the strong flours could absorb more water thus giving more dough.

Good bread flours usually come from hard or harder wheat which tends to be from climates with a hot dry short summer, such as the Canadian/North American prairies, Kazakhstan, the Ukraine and Hungary among others. Even in the UK, the best bread flours have traditionally come from the warmer south or east Anglia which is drier than the rest of the country.

Easier to bake

It has to be said that good bread can also be made from flour which is not really strong, in the hands of an experienced baker. However, using designated bread or strong flours will ensure a more successful bake for the home baker.