I have gotten some questions privately over the last couple of weeks about
flours. This appeared in today's paper and so I felt that it would be a
good thing to post.
To Every Season There Is a Flour
New York Times
Wednesday, June 23, 1999
©1999 San Francisco Chronicle
URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/06/23
/FD10570.DTL
Spring wheat and winter wheat make different types of flours.
Spring wheat is sowed in the Northern United States and Canada in
spring and harvested in late summer, said Joe Caron, a spokesman
for King Arthur Flour. It is generally the faster-growing
``hard'' variety.
When ground, hard spring wheat yields a high-protein, high-gluten
flour well suited for baking bread, bagels and some pastas.
Winter wheat is a slow-growing type that is sowed in the fall,
goes dormant over the winter and is harvested in mid- to late
spring.
In the United States, winter wheat is grown from Texas to Kansas
and may be either ``hard'' or ``soft.''
In general, winter wheat flour has less protein than spring wheat
flour. It is best for pastries, cakes and cookies. Many bakers
say that it is more flavorful than spring wheat because of its
longer growing season.
Although most brands of flour do not indicate the type of wheat,
bread flours are almost always made from hard spring wheat and
pastry flours from soft winter wheat.
All-purpose flour is usually a mix of several types.
©1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page 4/ZZ6