Flour Power

By Katie Barreira

All-purpose flour is the workhorse of baking, but what about those other kinds, like pastry and cake flour? Ever wonder about the difference? It’s primarily about the protein. When protein and water combine they produce gluten, the glue of baking. Different flours have more or less protein, depending on their end use. Choosing flour with the right protein content will help your baked goods achieve the best possible texture.

When baking, always follow the recipe as written. Rather than substituting one flour type for another, look for a recipe that calls for the appropriate flour.

Bread Flour: At around 12 percent protein, this high-gluten flour gives a structured, chewy texture to breads.

All-Purpose Flour: About 10 percent protein.

Pastry Flour: About 8 percent protein – soft enough to keep your piecrust light and delicate, but strong enough to hold those flakey layers together.

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Bread Machine Makes Quick Work of Hot Cross Buns

By Sandy Hu

Do you have a bread machine gathering dust in your garage? I do. It was given to me when I first joined the Fleischmann’s Yeast brand in the heyday of the electric bread maker.

Shortly after, I wrote and co-produced a bread machine cookbook, working with the company’s skilled home economists, who created a wide variety of recipes that they tested in all makes and models of bread machines in the company’s test kitchens.

I’ve baked bread from scratch for many years so I didn’t really need a bread machine. But I’ve kept that old machine, and every Easter, I dust it off and return it to the kitchen to make hot cross buns.

Why the bread machine? These days, I really don’t have time to mix up dough, knead it, let it rise, shape it, let it rise again and bake. With the bread machine, I dump the ingredients in at once, set it to the dough cycle, then take out the dough, already kneaded and risen. I just shape, let rise for 10 minutes, and bake! How easy is that?

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