Bakers flour??

[jworth]

What is bakers flour and where do I buy it?? 

[judydawn]

Hi Jworth.  I bought my Defiance brand bakers flour from Foodland in a 5kg pack and it says it is ideal for breads, pizza doughs and focaccia. The term strong flour, bakers flour and breadmaking flour are interchangeable and refer to flour with a high protein content compared to ordinary plain flour which is crucial in breadmaking.

[wombleydoo]

I buy Wallaby brand at Coles, Woolies or Bilo (except not at my favourite Bilo because it closed down for good... waaaaaaahhhh)

[I Love Bimby!]

Hi jworth,
I also buy the Wallaby Unbleached Bakers Flour.  Both Coles and Safeway stock it in the 5kg bags. 

[jworth]

 Thankyou for all of your help. now I know what to buy and where from.

Cheers
jworth

[UnConundrum]

JWorth, what are you baking?  Sometimes higher gluten flours aren't needed, even though the recipe may call for it.  It's appropriate for really dense doughs like bagels and soft pretzels, but isn't necessary for a simple white bread.  If you're making a mixed flour bread, it may be necessary to make up for the reduced gluten in some other flours, such as rye.  When you're comfortable with the recipe, try it once with regular ap flour and observe the differences.

[Roses]

I have just been researching this myself and I found this information on Google:

bakers flour is your standard all use wheat flour when producing bread products not to be confused with plain flour, bakers flour is a high protein flour and is also refered to as strong flour or bread flour you can buy it from your local supermaket or mixing a bit of cornflour with your plain flour will give you the same result as the cornflour is a wheat starch (gluten). I am a baker and when i make my bread at home i just add cornflour if i dont have any bakers flour,i use about a 10th of the amount of flour worth.
if you want to know more about bakers flour go to
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread#Flour

Also, another chef said the measurement of 1 tea spoon of cornflour to each cup of plain flour will make Bakers Flour which is probably a 10th but much easier to work out... for me anyway! lol

Hope this helps.

[gertbysea]

Well Roses I never knew that. Thanks for the tip.

Gert

[Zan]

Thanks Roses, that's very interesting and useful to know.

[Very Happy Jan]

Great tip. Thanks Roses. Now I've just got to remember it 

[faffa_70]

what a great tip. Will have to remember that one to pass on. No good for me at home as I have changed over to using pure cornstarch now as that is what we need to use for demo's

[Zan]

Just read this in a pizza book I borrowed from the library.

Flour:

There are two main types of wheat grown today, hard and soft, each with a characteristic kernel composition and each with its on particular culinary use. The wheat kernel will vary in "hardness", which is the measure of protein content and consequently determines the flour's gluten content. Hard flour forms a strong gluten when mixed with water and is commonly used in bread making. In comparison soft flours contain a higher starch content and consequently develop a weaker gluten. Soft flours are more commonly used for pasta and cakes where the texture is meant to be more tender and crumbly. Gluten works rather like chewing gum. It is both plastic and elastic, that is it will both change its shape under pressure and tend to reassume its original shape when pressure is removed. Gluten stretches when worked and allows air to be incorporated and trapped, resulting in air bubbles. Bread making requires a hard flour in order for the carbon dioxide, released by the yeasts, to be incorporated by the gluten, enabling the dough to rise. Pizza dough does not require the same level of rising action as a loaf of bread and many people claim that a softer flour is actually better. The following is a guide to the different flours available and their uses.

Semolina - a coarse grain produced from the hardest kind of wheat grown today. This is predominately used for very stiff doughs, particularly dried pastas. It is too hard for bread or pasta making but can be added to pizza doughs for texture and crunch.

Hard flour - grade 1 contains the highest gluten level and is generally used for bread making or pizzas.

Soft flour - grade 00 (doppio zero) is the finest grade and contains less gluten. Useful for pasta making and baking. Soft flour can be used for pizza making but make sure the packet states that it is "panifable".

[KerrynN]

Thanks for that info Roses and Zan. I am about to receive a pasta maker for my birthday and I am really looking forward to experimenting with lots of different pasta, as I have been with bread.

What flour do people suggest for sweeter breads, like a raisin loaf?

Kerryn

[stacelee]

Have a look in ethnic shops for Bakers flour in bulk.  I buy mine from a shop at Underwood in either a 10 or 12kg bag depending on the brand....I can't remember offhand how much I normally pay but it works out a LOT cheaper than buying the 5kg bags from Woolies.  I normally bag about 1/2 of it up into "bread mixes" and the other half goes into a large decor container in the fridge.  I have the bags ready to make bread quickly when I can't be bothered mucking around with measuring stuff out....I even have the yeast pre measured....it literally takes 3 minutes (plus the second knead for 2 minutes if I can be bothered) to make a loaf of bread.

For pasta you really can't go past the OOO flour from woolies/coles....every batch I have made has worked out perfectly.

[Debbiebillg]

Stacelee, You must live very close to  me. Are you talking about Global Convenience Store at Underwood ? I go there all the time and I look at their bulk bags of flour but am never quite sure which is bakers flour. They have so many different types of flours though, and I have asked them there before but they didn't understand me when I was asking if any are the same as baker's flour. I'd love to know which one you get. I'm at Eight Mile Plains.
Debbie