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Flours
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All ingredients used in Aki's Kitchen can be found in any grocery store. In most recipes, ingredients can be substituted, though in others, substitutions are out of the question. When selecting ingredients, always keep in mind freshness, availability and value to ensure good results.
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Cake Flour
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- Low gluten
- More suitable for making light and fine textured food products: genoise, sponge cakes, as well as delicate cookies
- This flour will allow a baked product to fairly maintain its shape during the baking process
- Finished product's texture will be very fine, soft and delicate
- You can use a specific ingredient when baking goods, although, most recipes can be made with just using all-purpose flour, though results will vary slightly
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Pastry Flour
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- Medium gluten
- More suitable for making high fat content food products: pies, pastry shells
- This flour will allow a baked product to fairly maintain its shape during the baking process
- Finished product's texture will be very fine, soft and delicate
- If you do not have pastry flour, you can always combine all-purpose flour with cake flour to meet your requirements
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All-Purpose Flour
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- High gluten
- More suitable for making dessert and yeast related food products: cookies, dense textured cakes; buns, rolls, breads; products keep their shape during the baking process
- Finished product's texture will be coarse
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Bread Flour
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- Has the highest amount of gluten and protein (low in carbohydrate)
- The high percentage of gluten allows the bread to hold it shape firmly during rising and baking
- A variety of bread flours exist, though, most are not available to the average consumer; available mainly to bakeries and commercial bakeries
- Some types of flours are specially made for: bagels, doughnuts, cookies, plain white bread, puff pastry, pie shells, frying, and so on ...
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| Flour: Gluten Amounts and Usage |
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Cake |
Pastry |
All-Purpose |
Bread |
| Gluten Amount |
low |
medium |
high |
very high |
| Breads |
- |
- |
* |
yes |
| Cakes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
- |
| Cookies |
** |
- |
yes |
** |
| Frying |
- |
- |
yes |
- |
| Deep Frying |
yes |
- |
yes |
yes |
| Gravies, Sauces, Fillings |
- |
- |
yes |
- |
| Pastry - Pie Dough |
*** |
yes |
*** |
- |
| Pastry - Choux (Eclairs) |
- |
- |
yes |
- |
| Pastry - Puff (Croissant, Millefeuille) |
*** |
yes *** |
yes*** |
*** |
| * Breads: All-Purpose or Enriched flour can be substituted, though, results won't be as good; lower volume. |
| ** Cookies can also be made by combining flours: e.g. 60 - 80% bread flour with 40 - 20 % cake flour, all depending on the reicpe. |
| *** Pie dough: can be made by combining flours: e.g. 60 - 80 % cake flour with 40 - 20 % all-purpose. |
*** Puff Pastry: can be made by combining flours: e.g. 60 - 80 % cake flour with 40 - 20 % all-purpose or bread
Or, can be made using pastry flour alone. |
| The trick, to making anything, is to weigh the flour, as well as all other ingredients, and then determine how to achieve specific results by playing around with the amounts of flours. Take for example, Millefeuille (Puff Pastry), if made with cake flour alone, the finished result will be very flat and brittle. If, onther other hand, it's made using a combination of cake and all-purpose/enriched, or cake and bread flour, results will be much better; a high, yet crisp crust. You have to play around with your recipe. |
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