Questions tagged [flour]
Questions should be about flour (wheat or any other kind) uses, storage, etc.
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What is the difference between various types of flour?
Is there a difference between the various types of flour that you see in the stores (i.e. Cake, Bread, and All-Purpose? Is it really necessary to stock 3 types of flour in my pantry or is this just a ...
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What is the best flour to use for pizza dough?
I've been making pizza dough and the recipe says to use "good quality flour" but I'm not sure what it means? Are there differences in quality between different types of flour and how can I tell?
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Cup measurements: shake or scrape?
When you are measuring out your flour, sugar, etc with the measuring cups, is it better to
scoop and then shake the cup to get a leveled cup, or
scoop and then use a knife to scrape off the excess.
...
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Standard weight conversions for converting cups of flour to grams of flour?
I hate the idea of measuring flour using something as imprecise as measuring scoop.
What numbers do you treat as definitive/authoritative/canonical for doing weight conversions for different types of ...
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Difference between Maida and All purpose flour
I'm baking tonight and I'm out of All purpose flour. I'm lazy to run out to the grocery store. Can I replace All purpose flour with Maida (Maida is better known to Asian Indians - we use it for making ...
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Create my own high-gluten flour by mixing vital wheat gluten and bread/AP flour?
Has anyone had success with giving their bread or all-purpose flour an extra gluten kick by adding vital wheat gluten? I would like to know what ratio to mix the the two ingredients with, or perhaps ...
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Is it okay to keep flour in the freezer?
Years ago I noticed I was getting little bugs in the flour that I kept in the pantry. To prevent this, I started keeping my flour in the freezer. I don't do a lot of baking, but I was wondering what ...
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Minimum amount of fat in Roux
Most (all) recipes I know talk about 50/50 butter/flour for roux. However, at home I'm using something like a 40/60 butter/flour mix. It's thicker, but it works.
Does anybody know what the absolute ...
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Should flour be thrown out past its expiry date?
As the title says, is it safe to consume flour once its past its expiry date or should it be thrown away?
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What is the purpose of sifting dry ingredients?
What is the purpose of sifting dry ingredients (esp. with flour)?
I heard in one place that it was because this is the best way to mix them well. I heard somewhere else that this is a carry-over from ...
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Does white whole wheat flour need to be refrigerated?
I know that regular whole wheat flour needs to be refrigerated, but does white whole wheat flour also need refrigeration? I hate to use up the space in the refrigerator if I don't have to.
I have 5 ...
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How do I make my roux taste less like flour?
When I make a roux for soups and sauces it always ends up tasting like the flour. What is the correct way to make roux? How long does the flour need to cook out of it?
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Can I substitute gluten for eggs in coconut flour pancake recipes?
I'm looking to reduce carbs, yet still have things like pancakes, waffles, and maybe even tortillas.
I've tried several coconut flour pancake recipes, but they all come out tasting like fried eggs to ...
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How risky is it to eat raw flour, as in uncooked dough?
Does eating raw flour or doughs containing raw flour pose a significant food safety risk (i.e., greater than other dry goods or ingredients in your kitchen)? If so, are there particular cooking or ...
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How much difference is there between brands of flour?
How much real difference is there between flours (specifically all-purpose) such as King Arthur, Gold Medal at a considerable savings and a store brand which is even less expensive?
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How can I check if my flour is self-raising or plain?
If I have some unlabelled flour in the cupboard, is there a way I can determine if it is self-raising flour or plain flour, before cooking with it and just checking if the cake rises? :)
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What is 00 flour and when should I use?
I've made pasta before using 00 flour. I was about to use the same thing to make gnocci but I've noticed that none of the gnocci recipes mention the "00". Does it make a difference? Is one better then ...
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Flour alternatives for roux
I have recently been diagnosed with celiac, so no wheat flour whatsoever. Also, I am allergic to corn.... I have read that arrowroot would not work in a roux; it is not just the thickening I want, ...
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What is the correct ratio to make self-rising flour?
I have a recipe that I've used a couple of times that asks for self-rising flour. Unfortunately, I only have regular AP flour where I am right now.
I know self-rising flour is a mixture of AP flour ...
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How much "alternative" flour can I substitute for white wheat flour?
Most of the bread and bagel recipes I use (such as no-knead bread) call for only white wheat flour. I'd like to integrate other flours (such as whole wheat, flaxseed, and buckwheat) into the recipes.
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How can I produce a more soggy Neapolitan pizza crust?
I've been following the Serious Eats recipe for Neapolitan pizza dough(exception I use bread flour), and cooking it on a baking steel. I cook it at 550 degrees(preheated for 1hr) for 2mins exactly, ...
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Improvised self-raising flour
Say I just ran out of self-raising flour. What can I add to plain flour to make the equivalent?
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What is the effect of adding alkaline or acidic substances to wheat flour?
What are the chemical reactions of adding alkaline substances to wheat flour dough and how does it change the properties and behavior? The same for acidic substances.
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Is there a technique for making larger batches of roux?
Following along the approach of freezing roux, I would like to make some in bulk. I am also trying to do more batch cooking for freezing and making 8 quarts of mac and cheese ends up taking a lot of ...
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How should I pick a flour volume to weight conversion for an arbitrary recipe?
There are a variety of weight-to-volume conversions online for flour, with considerable variation even among reputable sources:
King Arthur Flour says 4.25oz/cup but in their measuring tips article ...
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How does ambient humidity of flour storage influence dough?
Cooking lore places a lot of importance on air humidity for doughs. When a dough fails, people quickly point that out as a possible factor, that happens on our site too.
Is it really true? I don't ...
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Is there an alternative to spreading flour when rolling the dough?
Today, when I was rolling the dough for my Podpłomyk, I noticed that I actually need to use quite a lot of flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and the board. Is there a way ...
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How to thoroughly bread meat with eggs and flour for frying without the mess
When making dishes like Chicken Parmesan, fried zucchini, general tso's, etc, and prepare the breaded item, I first scramble a few eggs then dip the the item from there into either flour or ...
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The role of the gluten in an acid environment
When you make sourdough bread, you usually want more sourdough if you are using a flour with a low percentage of gluten ( minor strength ) and less sourdough if your flour has a good strength .
Now ...
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baking bread with all-purpose flour
I'm a bread-baking novice and have acquired a vast quantity of all-purpose flour.
If I follow a typical bread recipe, for example one of these, but use all-purpose flour instead of the recommended ...
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Does flour have yeast?
This feels like it should be an easy question to find an answer to, but all I'm finding are unreliable sources saying both yes and no.
I'm referring specifically to any kind of store-bought flour used ...
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How to make big, fluffy "Mexican-style" flour tortillas (without using any special machinery)?
Flour tortillas are so bloody expensive (and rare!) outside of the U.S. so I'd like to make my own. A friend taught me how to make some ages ago, but I stopped because they were always weird and I ...
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What is the advantage of a roux over a raw flour slurry, in sauce?
My standard Bechamel sauce recipe used to be:
Stir together flour and oil into a paste
Fry for a short while
Add a small amount of milk
Heat and stir until incorporated
Repeat steps 3-4 with ...
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Can I change the flour type of my sourdough starter?
I started my sourdough starter with rye flour.
But after some months I continued feeding it with wheat flour. I feel like there is less life inside than before.
Might it be due to the change in ...
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What are the most effective wheat flour substitutes?
While not something I'm overly dogmatic about I try to keep my carbohydrate intake relatively low, especially during the day so as to not become tired.
I've found that in some recipes, particularly ...
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How to find out flour protein content?
I went out to buy flour for making regular western bread (perhaps sourdough if I can make the starter) and the only flour I could find was a 5kg Chakki Atta (medium) from a generic brand in my local ...
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How to mix a roux with stock?
My roux came out a beautiful dark brown. Then I began to slowly add chicken stock. The flour and water did not completely blend and I don't understand why not? The roux was very hot,but the stock ...
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What type of flour should I feed my starter with?
Different sites recommend different flours for the feeding of my established starter, so I suspect it depends on the purpose, but I can't find a definitive answer. Should I be using the flour I plan ...
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How to store flour
Someone gave us two 25kg bags of flour.
Which is kind, but we're not too sure how to store them in usable quantities. My other half went out a bought a load of plastic tupperware-type containers, ...
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Pasta edges break when being rolled in pasta machine
When I make pasta, and roll it through my pasta machine, the edges always end up cracking up a little. It becomes quite difficult to pass it through the machine without it tearing and dividing my ...
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Using Chakki Atta instead of whole wheat flour?
I bought a bag of chakki atta from an Indian grocery store. The back of the bag says that it's 100% whole wheat flour. It was cheaper than traditional American style whole wheat flour, so I decided to ...
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What Kinds of Recipes Should I Sift/Aerate The Flour?
We've talked about methods for sifting flour (How can I make sifting easier?), and the purposes of sifting (What is the purpose of sifting dry ingredients?).
How can I tell whether a recipe specifies ...
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What does flour smell like when it goes bad?
I've got about 15lbs of saphire unbleached white flour left from my 25lb bulk purchase from 2 weeks ago. While preparing a wonderful zucchini bread recipe I noticed a "sour" smell from my flour.
It'...
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What to do about beetle infestation of wheat products? How do we prevent reinfestation?
Today my wife went to make some bread. She noticed some very small insects in the whole wheat and regular flour. Upon further inspection, many of our wheat based products were infested with these ...
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Can an all wheat flour be high in protein, yet low in gluten?
I know that wheat protein isn't all gliadin and glutenin (the proteins that give dough its stickiness and elasticity and together create gluten), but high protein wheat flours are also generally ...
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If I have much lower than normal humidity, how should I change the amount of flour that dough needs?
I made some rolls that came out dense, rather than light and fluffy, and with much thicker crusts than I would have preferred. After the second of 3 rises, the dough was much less sticky that I ...
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Red and blue Antimo Caputo 00 flour
What's the difference between the flour in the blue bag vs the red? I'm not even sure which one I have since my local Italian shop re-bags it, but I've seen the red bags in the store, so I kind of ...
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When does gluten start to develop in pie crust or biscuits?
To bake tender pie crust, scones, or biscuits, I've always heard that the dough should be handled and mixed as little as possible. The more it's pushed around, the more the gluten develops.
There's ...
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Why flour on bread?
My local bakery tends to put flour on the top of what I thought was already baked bread (but which based on the answers apparently is flour added before the baking process).
It looks something like ...
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Using maida + bread flour to create AP flour substitute
This is a follow-up to my earlier question about using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour in a banana bread recipe. The consensus was that using bread flour would yield a denser, chewier loaf, ...
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