American bread recipes with European flour

[albiston]

Dear Mr MacGuire,

As a home baker living in Germany I very often turn to US bread books for tips, recipes and inspiration. I still haven't found a European text that compares to books such as "The Bread Baker's apprentice" or "Breads of La Brea Bakery", just to name the first that come to mind. Making the recipes published in books like these has one big problem: how to substitute strong bread flour. Here in Germany (or even in Italy, where I come from), flour sold as bread flour doesn't have more than 12-12.5% protein. Though these flours manage to give decent breads they clearly behave differently than those with higher protein content. Do you have any tips to adapt these recipes? I read somewhere that European bakers usually knead the dough longer and at lower speed: wold that be a solution? Also: would adding pure gluten to weak flour give acceptable results?

Thanks

[naguere]

I have seen an American bread recipe where one of the ingredients was gluten, so, it seems yes.

[James MacGuire]

Although I have of course heard of the books you mention, I don't own them. Most North American bakers who want to bake European style hearth breads look for flours with similar characteristics to the flours found there, feeling that those breads evolved in great part due to local wheats and local flours. Could I turn my reply around somewhat, so that North Americans, too, may benefit from the answer?

The mild and humid European climate produces relatively soft wheats with moderate gluten contents ( in these discussions the usual phrase is " protein content", but most of the protein becomes gluten during kneading), and the whole hearth bread tradition revolves around turning weak ( by North American standards, at least...) flours into bread.

The basic milling process is the same on both sides of the Atlantic: the wheat is cleaned, tempered ( steeped in water to soften it somewhat), and turned into flour in a series of 25 or more grindings ans siftings. Just as brewers try get " get the best out of the grain" French millers try to extract as much as they can of the white endosperm as they can while avoiding bran particles which would darken the color and change the flavor. It is thought that the best flavor comes from the portion of the endosperm closest to the bran layer. In the very old days, extra strength flours were produced by setting aside the "strains" during the process which are highest in protein , but this somewhat wasteful "skimming-off" of the

strongest stuff was outlawed ( during the second world war, I believe), and all flours are what is called " straight grade". For free standing loaves which bake on the floor of the oven, the quality of the gluten matters more than the quantity ( certain very high protein wheats are unsuitable for bread) and some wheats have more flavor than others. Millers, therefore, have to know quite a bit about baking ( Raymond Calvel taught baking for over 50 years at the French school for millers).

The dry North American climate produces wheat with huge protein contents ( especially in the spring wheats of Canada and the Northern U.S.), and and the protein content is calculated with 14% humidity factored in, making the proteins even higher than they would seem compared to the French where protein is calculated on dry matter. The French find the North American milling process somewhat heavy-handed, especially in that the wheat is steeped for only 6 to 8 hours rather than 16 to 18 ( and the harder North American wheats would require much more than this in their view, but no one does this), and almost all flours here are not "straight grade", but instead the lower protein "streams" are used for all purpose flours, and the higher protein "streams" for varying strengths of "bakers' flours". The protein numbers game has left little room for considerations of protein quality and flavor, although the huge growth in artisan baking has at last begun to cause growers and millers to take notice.

What to do in North America, then? Remember that wheat is grown for its protein content, and that millers aren't thinking about european style baked goods when they produce flours. It is too easy for many bakers to say, in the same way that someone might say " If I want to be a cowboy I'll need a cowboy hat and cowboy boots", " I'm a baker and bakers use bakers' flours", but for hearthbreads, this isn't the case. For most breads ( and croissants and even puff pastry) a relatively strong all purpose flour ( unbleached and untreated, of course) works well. Not all of these flours are created equal in flavor and performance, and there's nothing like a test bake or two to get to the bottom of things...( I shouldn't play favorites for there are other good flours, but King Arthur all purpose is readily available and a good example). A good illustration of the difference between French and North American wheats and flours is to remember that the French used to take the very strongest portion of the milling process to make farine de gruau, while completely inverdely,here only the relatively low proportion of the weakest stuff works for French bread.

Finally, to turn the question back around and consider U.S. recipes in Europe, my first inclination would be to visit a local bakery which makes good hearthbreads and buy some flour. If you choose the higher protein option and the bakery doesn't have it, small amounts of gluten are worth a try ( Canada sells much gluten to French millers).