Book of American Baking / A Practical Guide Covering Various Branches of the Baking Industry, Including Cakes, Buns, and Pastry, Bread Making, Pie Baking, Etc.

by Various

Color of Flour.

The progressive miller is a close student of the wheat berry. It is necessary that he understand thoroughly the constitution of wheat to obtain the best results in the flour he grinds.

Milling in its simple form is merely the separation of the bran coats and germ from the floury part of the kernel. To make these separations as thorough as possible requires a vast amount of machinery and a large number of operations.

The gluten of the wheat is not evenly distributed throughout the berry. The central portion contains the least, and it increases toward the outside. Starch, on the other hand, is found to be just the reverse—the largest percentage being found in the center and the percentage decreases toward the outside. Some flours are made from the very central portions. This gives a flour deficient in gluten and excessive in starch, and will not stand the treatment given it by the baker. It is starchy in color on account of the excessive amount of starch and the small quantity of gluten.

An excessively white color and strong gluten are never found together in the same flour. In studying the needs of the baker in flour, we find he does not want an intensely starchy, white color, as this flour will not give a corresponding white color in the bread.

What the baker does want is a flour containing the greatest strength and best color combined. It will be slightly creamy in color, but when baked will make as white a loaf as intensely white flour, and has the added advantage of having larger water absorbing powers, and the power to withstand the harsh treatment given it by the baker. The baker in his mixing and fermentation develops the color in a loaf of bread. An intensely white flour will give a very dark loaf of bread if not fermented properly. On the other hand, a flour with good strength and creamy in color will, when handled under proper conditions of fermentation, give as white, if not whiter bread than the whiter flour. It also has the added advantage of withstanding the vigorous treatment of the machines. It gives a better volume, texture and pile in the loaf, and if through accident there is any delay in taking the dough when it is ready, the strong flour will stand it, while the white flour will have to be taken at just the right time to give good bread.

Color in bread is not necessarily obtained by using a white flour. A better color can be obtained by using a strong and slightly creamy flour handled properly in the fermentation. The mixing of the dough at a high speed, and proper fermentation at the correct temperature, are the factors which make white bread.