General purpose flour: what does it mean? Surely, many of you have asked yourself this question without having met the usual “highest” or “first” grade on the bundle.
Without wheat flour, it is difficult to imagine the production of bread, pasta and other products. In Russia, it is made from soft wheat and durum called durum. In hard flour, grain contains a lot of gluten, but this type requires special conditions for growing. Since durum wheat contains a lot of protein and has an advantage over other varieties in processing, such wheat is much more useful than soft. Wheat flour is used for the production of a wide variety of products: rolls, muffins, drying, bread, pasta, pancakes, sauces, pies, pastries and so on. Undoubtedly, any cook and even a housewife should know which grades are divided into flour and what its classification is.
A bit about standards
In Russia, there are two GOSTs for wheat flour: GOST R 52 189 - 2003 (Wheat flour. General technical conditions) and GOST R 52 668 - 2006 (Flour for durum wheat pasta. Technical conditions). So, in accordance with the first GOST, there are six varieties of wheat baking flour: this is the highest grade, second, first, wallpaper and extra. There is also GOST of general purpose wheat flour, which is divided into eight types. Usually it is divided into different types, depending on how finely ground it is and on its composition. The following types of flour are used for general purposes: M 45-23, M 55-23, M 75-23, M 100-25, M 145-23, M 125-20, MK 55-23, MK 75-23. When grinding from durum wheat, particles are obtained larger than during processing of soft wheat - this is very important when producing pasta. For the manufacture of baking flour, different varieties of soft wheat are usually used. To improve its quality, a certain amount of hard flour is sometimes added to it. Such flour contains a lot of good quality gluten, which is needed to produce good quality bread. Soft varieties are also used to produce this type of flour.
What grade of general purpose flour does labeling mean?
The letter M means that this flour is made from a soft variety of wheat, and if K is added to it, it means that it is a coarse grinding product. The first part of the digital designation indicates the maximum content of minerals, that is, the so-called “ash content” (this is the percentage of ash multiplied by one hundred mass zone). And the second figure is the percentage of gluten that is the minimum allowable. By the amount of gluten, general-purpose flour is similar to flour for baking bread of the second grade, that is, there is less gluten in general-purpose flour than in a good top grade.
What is the “ash” of flour
The variety is determined using ash. Ash content is the content of those elements in the flour that are in the germ and grain shells. For all varieties, the technical conditions and the standard set the ash content as a percentage of the dry matter of the product. How is ash determined? It is carried out in special laboratories by burning 20-30 grams of flour in a weighed and pre-calcined crucible. After burning, the mass of the non-combustible residue is measured. Ashing is done until the ash becomes white or slightly grayish. Then it is weighed and again calcined for about twenty minutes. After complete combustion of organic substances, a certain amount of mineral substances remains, which are expressed as a percentage. According to how many of them are left, the product is assigned a certain grade. The better the grains are cleaned from the germ and the shells, the lower the ash content and the higher the grade of flour.
The importance of gluten in general-purpose flour
Its baking properties depend on the quantity and quality of gluten in flour. General-purpose wheat flour grades M 55-23 are usually used to make a very flexible dough. It makes excellent pastries, including excellent puff pastry. In terms of gluten and whiteness, this variety of general purpose flour is practically no different from the highest grade. This flour is perfect for making puff pastry, bagels, crackers, ravioli and pasta. Wheat flour of general purpose M 75-23 contains many useful amino acids, dietary fiber and minerals, and more than other varieties is suitable for baking bakery and confectionery products. These two varieties are most often used in production.
Flour storage
Flour can preserve its qualities with proper storage for two years. A fresh product has a pleasant smell, but a musty or sour one will indicate that it is spoiled or made from stale grain. Flour easily absorbs odors. To smell, you need to warm it a little with your breath in the palm of your hand and then smell it, or you can pour it into a glass, fill it with 60 ° water, let it stand for a while, drain the water and then determine the smell. A good quality product tastes a bit sweet, but almost fresh. If it is a little sour, then this indicates his staleness. And the bitter or strongly sour taste means that the flour deteriorated or impurities of wormwood were present in the grain. A very sweet taste is usually found in a product made from frost grain or sprouted. It is impossible to store flour for a long time. With prolonged storage, its acidity increases and it becomes rancid. There is also a change in color: it becomes whiter over time. The quality of gluten also changes: flour is made stronger and worse stretched.