All-purpose flours vary throughout North America from region to region. Canadian all-purpose is superior to American as it can be used for bread, whereas American all-purpose cannot. All-purpose flour is intended for general household use. In commercial usage, it’s all very well to stock all different kinds of flour, but this isn’t very feasible at…
Wheat Flour
Baker’s Flour
Baker’s Flour © Denzil Green Baker’s Flour is Canadian-grade all-purpose flour, re-labelled and re-packaged in very large quantities, such as the 20kg (45 pound) brown bags sold at Costco. Though intended for commercial baking because of the quantity, it is the same as all-purpose flour in Canada. It is sold by Robin Hood Flour of…
Bread Flour
Bread flours are mainly milled from hard wheat, which gives them a high protein content which produces a high level of gluten for raising bread. “Bread flour is made from hard wheat and the higher gluten content creates volume and a chewier product desirable for loaves of breads and pizza crusts. Bread flour is not…
Bromated Flour
Bromated flour is wheat flour with potassium bromate (KBrO3 ) added to it. Potassium bromate (aka bromic acid or potassium salt) is a “maturing agent.” It comes in white crystals or powder. It strengthens the gluten, makes the resulting dough easier to knead and better rising. It also causes the dough to be more elastic,…
Cake Flour
Cake flour is wheat flour milled from soft (lower protein) wheat. It has a lower gluten content than pastry flour, and a far lower gluten content than bread flour. Cakes need to be light and fluffy and have a very fine texture, thus you don’t want a lot of gluten developing in the batter. In…
Chapati Flour
Chapati flour is a blend of wheat and malted barley flours used in Indian cooking to make chapatis. It is also used to make Gol Guppa: small balls of dough that are deep fried. They puff up into little hollow shells that can be filled with a stuffing such as potato and chickpea, etc. Substitutes…
Durum Flour
Durum flour is an unbleached flour ground from the hard wheat called “durum wheat.” Though durum wheat is used to also make semolina, semolina isn’t the same as durum flour. Semolina is made by coarsely grinding the endosperm of durum wheat. While grinding it, fine powder is also produced. This fine powder is what is…
Farina
Farina is made from hard wheat that is not durum wheat. It is similar to semolina, but semolina is made from durum wheat. Just the just the endosperm of the wheat kernel is used. The bran and most of the germ are removed. The endosperm is then ground finely and sifted. It is not ground…
Farine de Froment
Farine de froment is a French term for wheat flour, any type, white or whole wheat.
Gluten Flour
Gluten is a natural protein in some grains, particularly wheat. It is this protein which, when combined with water, make dough elastic and able to hold the gas from yeast and steam during baking which causes bread to rise. Gluten flour is made from hard wheat that has had both the bran removed (as in…
Graham Flour
Graham flour is a whole wheat flour that is ground just a little more coarsely than usual. The endosperm of the wheat is separated from the rest of the wheat kernel, finely ground, then the bran and germ are added back in, then mixed. Some commercial varieties actually remove a good deal of the wheat…
Matzo Meal
Matzo meal is matzo bread ground into fine crumbs. You can buy it ground, or grind your own in a food processor. Medium-textured matzo meal is about the same texture as cornmeal. It is used for baking, as a coating for fried foods, to thicken, and to make matzo balls from. Fine-textured matzo meal is…
Pastry Flour
Pastry flour is a low-gluten flour typically made from soft “winter” wheats. You can get white or whole wheat, bleached or unbleached.
Plain Flour
Plain Flour © Denzil Green Plain Flour is a soft, white, wheat flour which has had most of the wheatgerm and bran removed. You can use it for most things that you would use flour for, including baking and thickening, except that you can’t use it for bread or any baked goods where a “harder”…
Self-Rising Cake Flour
Self-rising cake flour is cake flour to which baking powder has been added. It is used mostly in British recipes. Substitutes For self-rising cake flour, per cup substitute 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder plus (1 cup of cake flour or 1 cup Canadian all-purpose flour or ⅞ cup American all-purpose or British plain flour)….
Self-Rising Flour
Self-Rising Flour © Denzil Green Self-Rising Flour is flour to which baking powder and salt have already been added. It is meant as a convenience so that you don’t have to stock baking powder at home, but it does deteriorate quickly in humid conditions, and has the disadvantage that you can’t use it for pastry,…
Semolina
Semolina is made from the endosperm (the core or heart) of durum wheat (Triticum durum, aka Triticum turgidum var. durum), with du, coarsely ground. It is then sifted. The coarser material becomes semolina, the finer stuff becomes durum flour. The durum flour is the texture of other flours, whereas the semolina is closer in texture…
Sooji
Sooji is a term used in India to describe a type of grind applied to grain. There are actually two types of grinds, sooji and medium sooji. For regular Sooji, the grain is ground to be like coarse grains of sand. Medium sooji is more finely ground. A third stage of grinding further creates a…
Sprouted Wheat Flour
Sprouted wheat flour is flour made from grains of wheat that have sprouted first. Sprouting of wheat grains in the fields can cause problems for farmers. It can cause health issues owing to mould and toxins that can potentially subsequently develop. But even if they don’t, it degrades the protein and starch in the grains,…
Stone-Ground Whole Wheat Flour
Stone-ground whole wheat flour is whole wheat flour that has been ground between millstones, as opposed to metal rollers.
Whole Durum Flour
Whole durum flour is durum flour made from the whole grain, not just the endosperm, of wheat. It has brown flecks in it and more of a wheaty taste.
Whole Wheat Flour
Whole Wheat Flour © Denzil Green Whole Wheat Flour is wheat flour that contains all the wheat kernel except the husk. Because it contains the bran and the germ, it has a slightly nutty flavour. Also, owing to the bran and germ, Whole Wheat Flour is harder for producers and retailers to ship and store…