Everything You Knead to Know About Flour Strength

A flours strength is determined by the amount of proteins (gluten) the flour has

. These proteins enable the flour to hold on to the gas caused by fermentation, give the dough more elasticity and greater ability to hold on to water. The net result of all this will be a bold loaf (light, airy with holes in the bread).

For different types of dough you need different types of flour, for instance with a Italian type dough you need a very strong flour as the dough needs to take on lots of water in order for it to be very stretchy (think of your pizza doughs etc). Compare this to a sour dough where Rye and/or Spelt flour is commonly used, these flours have a more complex form of proteins (still gluten) which means that take much much longer to absorb water (less stretchy dough, less bold loaf). It's for this reason that Rye in particular can be very tricky, it is far to easy to under or over work the dough and end up with a sticky mess in your hand.

The strongest flours around are American and Canadian, due to the soil types etc. This means the strongest flour Europeans (including UK) can get their hands on is Canadian, so if you want to make good Focaccia and Pizza doughs go get yourselves some Canadian Flour.

As I mentioned before Rye and Spelt have different proteins in them which means they are effectively weaker flours, this is why a lot of sour dough recipes mix the Rye and or the Spelt with stronger flours. I prefer to use a Rye flour in my starter (sometimes called the mother, this is where some flour is left to ferment usually with fruit to cultivate natural yeasts) as it gives the loaves a deeper more complex flavour as the starter ages.

Everything You Knead to Know About Flour Strength

By: Berleigh Pieyer

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