Alright, so I know that this may not interest most of my readers (ie my fam and friends) but this is more of an educational post uncovering the truth about italian flour classification. If there is one thing I have learned in my panificazione (bread making) classes, its that Italians are pretty hardcore into their raw ingredients, namely flour. So I shall share with you my new knowledge (this information, by the way, is directly from a miller, not just a baker. he knows the science of the flour he talks about, its his job).
..oh, and sorry celiacs, this is just wheat flour.
As was sung in the Sound of Music, lets start at the very beginning, its a very good place to start.
What is wheat? Well, its of course, a grain. Each “wheat berry” is made up of an outer layer of bran, internally containing endosperm and germ. The endosperm is what we use to make wheat flour. It contains the protein, which we all know is gluten (a composite of gliadin and glutenin… oh, by the way, people that are “allergic to gluten”, are actually only allergic to gliadin, one part of gluten). It also contains starch, which is a polysaccharide carbohydrate, being made up of glucose monosaccharides joined together by glycosidic bonds, which in simple terms makes it a kind of sugar, actually (i’ll go into why i said it like that when the topic of yeast is introduced).
So… PROTEIN+ STARCH = flour
lets move on to what people may know about american classification of flours. The categories are as such:
| Ash |
Protein |
Wheat flour type |
| US |
|
|
| ~0.4% |
~9% |
pastry flour |
|
|
| ~0.55% |
~11% |
all-purpose flour |
|
|
| ~0.8% |
~14% |
high gluten flour |
|
|
| ~1% |
~15% |
first clear flour |
|
|
| >1.5% |
~13% |
white whole wheat |
|
|
As you can see, our categorization is based on quantity of ash and protein. The quantity of ash is calculated by taking samples of flour, burning them to a determined degree, and measuring the amount of ash. In this test, the first thing that turns to ash is the outer layer, or bran, burning off. So basically ash content is actually bran content (y’know, the brown part, like in Raisin Bran… yum… i miss raisin bran. anywho) The quantity of protein is then measured through a pretty simple decomposition testing. (notice the use of the word QUANTITY)
NOW….. ITALIAN CLASSIFICATION
If you ask an Italian that doesnt know much about the milling process or about high-quality break making, they will tell you that there are 5 types of italian flour. 00, 0, tipo 1, tipo 2, and integrale, because thats the label they see when they go to the supermarket. What does that mean? well, if you refer back up to the chart, 00 has an ash content of about .4%, and so on, ending with integrale (which means whole-wheat) having roughly 1.5%.
Let us ask ourselves, why are they labeled this way? Well, during the fascist regime, the law decreed that wheat flour should be labeled in this new way of testing flour (ash content). It was really all the technology they had. Burn crap, sounds like a plan, Mussolini. whatevs. Before that the most “classification” they had was just soft, hard, and whole wheat flours, so hey, i guess it was a step up.
Unfortunately, this made people fall into the trap of thinking that ash content counts for some reason. I mean, sure, it tells you how “bran-y” your flour is, but when you’re looking at your recipe book, and you want to make a yummy, chewy ciabatta or a soft an flaky pie crust, bran-y-ness doesnt play a lick into you getting a good result.
Times have changed. Technology has improved. And so I introduce the REAL WAY that Italians classify flour…. the ‘W’!!
FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT 00 and 0 type flour!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What is the W, you ask? W is the measurement of the QUALITY of the PROTEIN. NOT the quantity, like we measure it.
How is it measured? I actually got to witness the testing of the W first-hand, and its quite impressive. To sum it up, They make a dough of just the flour they are testing, and water, knead it for a specific amount of time, and the machine then makes a disc of the dough, and blows air into it, like a balloon. The balloon grows and grows, obviously, until it pops.
If the dough has weak gluten, it wont be able to expand very much, and vice versa. If the gluten is weak, it cant hold, or absorb, much water, one of important factors of flour. Then the calculations are then made and categorized between about 100W and 400W. (if you want a better explination of all this, ask me… didnt want to bog you down with the nitty gritty of the testing of it)
What are the measurements?
- Up to 170W (weak): for biscotti, wafers, grissini and flaky sweets; also for white sauce and for gravies . Absorbs about 50% of its weight in water.
- From 180W to 260W (medium): French brean, rolls, pizza, pasta: absorbs from 55% al 65% of its weight in water.
- From 280W to 350W (strong): Pizza, egg pasta, doughs that endure long period of leavening : artisan breads, etc. Absorbs 65% to 75% of its weight in water.
- Above 350W (special flours): In general made of harder grains, used to “reinforce” weaker flours, mixing with them, or for particular products. Absorbs up to 90% of its weight in water.
Now, Cici… how the hell can i know what the W of my flour is?? i dont have a special machine, but god help me, I want some chewy bread!
Well there is one way of finding out what it would roughly be, or how one flour would compare to another, and its a really easy, really simple test. Now, you wont be able to get a number out of this, just a kind of feel for what your flour’s gluten strength is.
In a small bowl, mix 1/3 cup of the flour you wish to test with 3.5 teaspoons of water. mix it with one finger until it forms a ball. knead the ball for 2 minutes, then turn the bowl upside down on top of it, and leave it covered for another 2 minutes. Then “wash” the ball under running water until the water runs clear (at this point, you are removing the water-soluble part, the starch, and you are left with just the gluten). You can now pull and stretch your ball of gluten and if it stretches well, the protein is strong; if it breaks easily, the protein is weak. try this with various flours and jot down the difference you see. This will let you know what the proper way to use your flour actually is.
So, when you make your bread, for example, the yeast “eats” the “sugar” and “farts” out gas, right? What traps that gas, making bubbles, is the protein. If your protein is strong, it can withstand a bigger yeast “fart”, therefore giving you a better rise, and chewier, bigger holes.
YUM! Read the rest of this entry »
This is just a pic of a cut of pasta I hadnt seen before…
