Ingredients vary by country. When you use a recipe from another country you need to know the specification of the ingredients, then make the appropriate conversions.
Domestic wheat in the UK is naturally very low in protein. What is referred to as plain flour has a protein content of 9% protein, the equivalent to cake flour in the United States.
However, UK flour is unbleached, so it will not rise as much as the bleached flour cake in US, and will absorb more water, so cake flour is not an appropriate substitute. Pastry flour is also not an appropriate substitution in most applications either.
Adjustment of hydration is a better approach.
UK domestic wheat is not suitable for bread. The wheat cultivated for wheat in the UK is imported, mainly from Canada and Australia.
Canadian wheat is very high in protein. The all-purpose flours are in the 13% range; bread flours in the 14% - 15% range, which is significantly higher than the US all-purpose and bread flours.
So UK strong flours from Canadian varieties will be equivalent to a high gluten flour in the US.
Since protein levels affect absorption rate, the hydration levels will be off when a baker in the US uses American flour with a UK, Canadian recipe, and vice versa.
It’s not just flour specification, but other ingredients as well. Eggs in the US and Canada are graded differently than the UK and European Union.
Large eggs in the US and Canada are equivalent to a medium egg in UK/EU. Since egg is both a source of protein and water, the difference in ratio is an issue.
British Imperial and US volume measurements are also different.
US 1 oz = 29.57mL
UK 1 oz = 28.41mL
US N/A
UK 1 gill = 5 oz = 142.07mL
US 1 cup = 8 oz = 236mL
UK 1 cup = 8.45 oz = 250 mL
US 1 pint = 16 oz = 473.18mL
UK 1 pint = 20 oz = 568.28mL
US 1 quart = 32 oz = 946.36mL
UK 1 quart = 40 oz = 1.137L
US 1 gallon = 128 oz = 3.785L
UK 1 gallon = 160 oz = 4.546L
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The reason you do not add vital gluten to flour is there’s no way to know the gluten level after you added the vital gluten. The mill tests the flour for moisture, protein, and ash. They know the wheat varieties, and treatment they blended to the flour. 're mill created flour with certain characteristics that will perform within certain parameters. When you add vital gluten you throw those parameters off completely. And you have no idea what you created.
A baker should select the correct protein level flour for the application.
Not developing the gluten in dough is probably the second common cause of dense bread, followed by improper fermention and shaping. The forming a skin on the dough has to do with shaping.
The most common cause of dense bread is kneading with flour. but more on that in a minute.
The first thing to understand about bread dough is there is NO gluten in wheat flour.
Wheat flour contains two protein molecules: glutenin and gliadin.
Glutenin and gliadin must bind with a water molecule AND be agitated to form gluten.
- Glutenin is the larger of the two protein molecules; it gives dough strength and elasticity (ability to hold its shape)
- Gliadin is very sticky gives dough extensiblity (ability to stretch)
If there is not enough agitation after the protein molecules bind with the water, gluten will not develop. Agitation does not have to be rigorous, just consist in the method used.
The main of heavy dense bread is adding flour during kneading. Adding flour to the work surface changes the baker’s percentage flour to water (hydration). It also adds dry flour to a mixed hydrated dough. Remember, there is no gluten in flour, the glutenin and gliadin molecules must bind with a water molecule to create gluten.
When flour and water is mixed, the free water molecules immediately begin to form those bonds. Adding dry flour to work surface increased flour to water ratio AND disrupts that water bonding process. All the water was intended to bind with the flour in the recipe; there is very little free water in the dough after the initial mixing. Now additional dry flour that is being forced into the dough from the work surface, competing with what's left of that free water in the dough. Most bakers add
the equivalent to 1/2 to 1 cup extra flour (up to 120g) to the work surface. All that extra flour has significantly less water available in the dough. And it's hyrating at a different rate than the dough. The result is a gummy, dense, heavy bread.
Below are a few resources for bread making that will help you better understanding flour, mixing, kneading, shaping, and baking.
Selecting the appropriate flour, keeping the dough in the ratios you started with, proper mixing, fermentation, shaping, and baking are all required for great bread. While bread is simple simple in its list of ingredients, the making of it is complex. Baking is a chemical reaction of ingredients to time and temperature.
UNDERSTAND There’s no single brand or type of flour for baking.
Look at Central Millings flour specifications. Here's an example. Start thinking of flour in terms of specifications.
Example:
Product Specifications
Protein / 11.5%
Ash / 0.60%
Varieties / Organic Hard Red Winter & Hard Red Spring Wheat
Treatment / Malted with Organic Malted Barley Flour
Understanding the specifications:
Protein: Protein content refers to levels of glutenin and gliadin. Ask yourself how much strength and elasticity do you need for the product you want to make? This is where you start.
Ash: Ash is the mineral content of the flour. The higher the ash content, the higher the protein content. This is number relates back to the milling. Remember the wheat kernel is separated into bran, germ, and endosperm, then
milled separately, then blended together to make the different flours. More bran and germ mean more nutritional value, but it also affects performance (low rise, heavy dense product, coarse crumb). The miller wants to control the amount of non-endosperm parts in flour to ensure a consistent product.
The endosperm is almost pure starch; the flour has exception performance characteristics (high rise, soft and fine crumb). So they want a very clean separation from the germ and bran. The ash content tells the miller the level of contamination of non-endosperm levels in the endosperm flour.
Do you want a lower protein and ash flour? if you’re going to make a rustic, roasted vegetable tart, you don’t necessarily want a low protein, low ash flour. You want the a flour with some body and strength. But for a delicate fresh berry fruit tart, this wouldn’t want to use a flour with these specifications.
Varieties: Hard red winter wheat is a higher protein wheat than spring wheat.
By blending two varieties of wheat the miller is able to create a flour with certain characteristics. Central Mills uses Yecora Rojo in this blend. Rojo is an exceptional wheat for bread, noted for flavor and color. It's also not a bucky flour (does not have too much elasticity)
You may not know the specific varieties of wheat in a brand, but experimenting will show you the characteristics and flavor of its flavor. I know Central Milling and King Arthur make a similar flour in the 11.5% range. Both are unbleached. Both are malted. I use the Central Milling in many applications. But when it comes to my biscotti, I only use the King Arthur. I want certain characteristics in my biscotti. I can’t get them from the Central Milling flour.
Treatment: a flour treatment is any treatment agent, dough conditioner, chemical treatment, and/or ingredient added to the flour to improve baking functionality. The most common treatment is malted barley flour. If you look at the back of your flour bag, it will most likely contain malted barley flour. Malted barley aides browning during baking. In fremenstion, malted barley triggers the enzymatic activity necessary to convert the starch in flour to simple sugar to feed the yeast.
Maturing flour: potassium bromate or ascorbic acid is added to flour used for pizza, bread, bagels for improved crumb, rise, bite.
Bleaching: whiten; create fine crumb; exceptional rise; only way to create cake flour
Enrichment: vitamins, iron, and folic acid are added to flour since the process of milling flour strips it of nutrients.
https://centralmilling.com/store/
Perfect Loaf is a good place to learn how to make bread in America. Maurizio finally wrote a bread book. Its on pre-order. I don't buy many books, but I pre-ordered his book.
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/new-baker-start-here/
Bake with Jack is a UK baker. But his tutorial videos on mixing, kneading, and shaping are excellent for the beginner. Most cookbooks and bakers, even professional bakers use flour, lots of flour to knead. This is wrong.
Jack’s tutorial demostrates the proper way to knead dough without flour.
