> From: mvinqvist@mta.ca
> Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1996 10:33:55 -0400
> Subject: Canadian all-purpose vs bread flour
>
> Hi everybody,
>
> I just read in my Canadian Living (and they surely wouldn't lie :-) ) that
> Canadian grown/milled flour has a high enough protein content that you don't
> need to use bread flour in your baking. I (yep, a Canadian) have always
> used all-purpose flour rather than bread flour for hand and machine-made
> breads and results have always been fine. So I thought I would pass that
> info on...therefore, if you are Canadian and are buying bread flour, just
> for fun why don't you try the all-purpose and see if you like it.
It's my understanding that North American wheats (grown in the US and
Canada both) are hard wheats (ie, high gluten) and that the all-purpose
flour available in both countries, which is made from the hard wheats, is
therefore perfectly acceptable for bread-making. In places where the
local wheats are "soft" (low-gluten), special "bread flour" must be
used. I don't know the trade secrets, but I suspect "bread flour" is
either ground from hard wheats or has additional gluten added. I'm an
American, and I always baked with all-purpose flour at home, and made
very fine bread, too. Here in Britain, the local wheats are soft, so I
have to use bread flour to get a high rising loaf. I think Elizabeth
David treats the issue of hard and soft wheats in some detail in her
_English Bread and Yeast Cookery_, which is well worth a look if you can
get your hands on it.
- --Stephanie
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Stephanie M. Thorson * SCA: Lady Alianora Munro
University of St Andrews *
St Andrews, Scotland * Clan White Wing
email smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk * Tarkhan, Khanate Red Lion
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