Talking about flour
BAKING 101
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Junjun De Guzman & Adoree Uy
We got this question from a reader from Bangkal, Makati her inquiry is:
Why are there so many different types of flour? Can one be substituted with the other?
Jun Jun: There are probably two to three types of flour you can get in the grocery and that's all-purpose, cake, and bread flour. The last one being harder to find and is now more commonly seen in specialty gourmet stores. Bread flour has the highest protein content of the three flours and as stated is used in making breads since it can take in much of the gases that yeast produces. It also gives texture to your baked product. All-purpose flour is the flour of choice for most baked goods such as cakes, cookies, brownies and pastries because it has enough protein to create the structure of the baked product as well as take in the other ingredients to give that baked product its distinct characteristic, it may be moist, crumbly, wet and more. Cake flour is generally for delicate cakes such as genoise, sponge, chiffon and some butter cakes. It has a higher starch content than protein so it creates the soft and smooth characteristics of these cakes. If you look at the three flours, the darker one is the bread flour and the lightest and most white is cake flour. Also interesting is the feel of the flour when you play it with your hands. Try it, you will see the difference.
Adoree: Each type of flour has its corresponding main use, bread flour for making breads, cake flour for cakes and all-purpose flour for almost all baked products including breads and cakes. Then there's also the self-rising flour which is just a combination of cake flour, all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Each type of flour has different amounts of protein content which gives the desired baked product the structure and texture it needs. There are some recipes, however, that call for a combination of two types of flour. This is done to increase or decrease the protein content thus attaining a certain texture.
Jun Jun: I don't recommend substituting flours even when other chefs would say so. I only do this when I really can't find a store that sells it or when I suddenly realize I didn't buy enough and it's too late. The texture and the final baked product won't come out the same as when using the flour stated in the recipe.
Adoree: If you really have no choice and you need to substitute, then go ahead. However, consistency and result would alter. The amount of the substituted flour to be used would have to be altered as well.
What do you think of ready mixes?
Jun Jun: Ready mixes for pancakes, brownies, bars, cakes are fine. It is great to use them when you need a cake immediately or you want to compose a dessert which needs a cake base. However, certain mixes have a slight aftertaste which is immediately detected by anyone who eats it. Some say it tastes like medicine, some say there is an overuse of vanilla extract, but as long as the people you feed don't complain go ahead and use them. The wonders of science went through the making of these mixes, so even if you add too much or forget to add an ingredient, the ready-mix when baked still comes out as what it is supposed to be. Galing noh! I usually add a little more flavoring when I use ready mixes just to mask the funny taste. I don't really know what Adoree thinks of ready-mixes.
Adoree: Ready mixes for pancakes, brownies, cookies and bars, I can take. However, I'm not a big fan of ready cake mixes. Although they produce picture-perfect crumbs and really soft texture, the taste of most cake mixes are very “artificial”. They give off a funny aftertaste. Although I must admit, using ready mixes more often than not turn out cheaper and take only 1/3 the time to prepare as compared to baking from scratch. If you're not very particular about the taste, then go ahead and enjoy the magic of cake mixes and all the other ready mixes.
Question: I made brownies last week with a recipe given to me by a friend, it was too soft and gooey, what went wrong?
Jun Jun: There could be tons of answers to your question but I have a big feeling that she didn't give you the correct recipe. It must have had too much sugar and not enough flour to form the structure of your cake. Or the chocolate quantity was too big and that's why it came out gooey.
Another thing is you must remember the pointers we wrote when we first appeared in this newspaper and these were preheat oven, prepare containers and ingredients. Your oven must have been a bit cooler than the temperature it was suppose to be in. Get yourself an oven thermometer. Procedure as well as mixing method could also be the cause. I always mix my brownies by hand, they always come out moist and dense, and not as cakey as others…..Sarap.
Adoree: Underbaking brownies a little bit is a practice to produce chewy, fudgy brownies. However, overdoing it will result in a disaster, like the one you encountered. Aside from this possibility, lack of flour and too much liquid (like eggs, fat, water) will also give the same result. Please read the recipe again and check if you followed everything correctly.
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