How do you make bread flour?

Bread flour really is just milled from a variety of hard wheat with a high protein content. There are many varieties of wheat, and they vary in protein content. Soft wheat may have a protein content as low as 7%, where hard varieties may have as much as 14-15% protein. All purpose flours are blends of these two types, to achieve a protein content of 10-11% protein. Cake flour will have a protein content of around 7-8%. Lower protein numbers result in less gluten, so cake flour makes a tender cake. Whole wheat flour, from a hard winter wheat, will produce a highly glutinous dough which means chewier bread.

The higher the protein, the harder it is to make the bread dough and knead it sufficiently to develop the gluten, unless it is made with a machine. Home bakers kneading dough by hand have much better luck with either regular all purpose flour, or a flour of not more than around 12%. Malted barley flour is added sometimes to act as a dough conditioner, relaxing the gluten strands in higher protein flour to make it a bit easier to handle and giving the finished product a better "chew" and flavor. The potassium bromate is used as a bleaching agent- not needed in most cases, unless you really feel you have to have the whitest bread available.

If you are really not satisfied with the loaves you make from your all purpose flour, you will likely get the best results if you can locate a hard red whole wheat kernal to have ground for you. This type typically has the highest protein levels. Sifting out the bran and germ will lower the protein content, but you will end up with a "white" wheat flour.

My suggestion, if you have good quality all-purpose flour, would be to use that, and add a Tablespoon of the malted barley flour per cup of flour. If you can crush a vitamin C tablet, you can add a tiny pinch of that to the 3-4 cups of flour per loaf, which will boost the action of your yeast and give you a better rise. If you can locate a source of vital wheat gluten powder, you can add a tablespoon of that per loaf to gain up the gluten and protein content as well. You might also change the way you are kneading the dough made of all purpose flour to include a brief 15-20 minute rest, and then kneading it a second time. This insures the gluten strands are developed as fully as possible. A final option would be to add potato flour or potatos to your dough. Potatos also contain gluten, and will give that to your bread dough made of a lower protein flour. Potato flour also acts to bind liquid, and helps extend the life of your finished bread, as well as adding a pleasant flavor. Again, a tablespoon of the potato flour, or one small cooked potato per loaf is plenty sufficient.

I'm sorry I can't give you the exact proportions to duplicate commercial bread flours. Those are closely held company secrets, and are slightly adapted by each company to reflect the changing requirements of the wheat they are using to blend. The suggestions I am giving you are the best I can offer. I have baked bread nearly my entire life, and seldom had proper "bread" flour to use. Baking is more art than science, though, and with practice you will turn out loaves with more taste than the bakery with it's special bread flour. Try these things to see what you prefer and what works best. And remember, bread was made for thousands of years before anyone came up with the idea of separate flours to do it.

Ingredients

(6 servings)

4 c All-purpose flour

2 tb Lard (yes, lard. Shortening doesn't work as well)

1/2 c Warm Milk

1 tb Baking powder

1 ts Salt

Instructions

FLOUR TORTILLA

Mix all the dry ingredients and sift.

Mix in lard.

Add warm (not hot) milk gradually, knead til smooth.

Cut into pieces.

Roll out paper thin into round shape.

Cook on hot griddle until lightly browned and "spotted

JIMMY'S CARROT RICE FLOUR BREAD

1 rounded c. rice flour

1/2 c. rice polish

2 tbsp. butter

1/4 c. rice bran

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. sugar or honey

1 c. finely grated carrot

3 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs, separated (beat whites stiff)

Sift flour, rice polish, bran, salt, sugar and baking powder 3 times. Melt butter. Put in small bowl with 1/2 milk and egg yolks. Mix well. Put into flour mix and beat well.

Add finely grated raw carrots and mix well. fold in egg whites and blend. Bake in greased bread pan, medium size, for 55 to 65 minutes at 350 degrees.