Yummy goodness
My first solo baking experience occurred when I was 10. After making a mess of my mum’s cookbooks I found a tempting recipe for orange syrup donuts. That night I eagerly used my family as test subjects. The donuts looked gorgeous – gleaming and golden with lashings of syrup. But on first bite something was terribly wrong.
No matter how we chewed none of us could reduce the donuts to a palatable size. They had both the appearance and texture of rubber tyres. In the course of baking I had mistaken pure gluten flour for plain flour. Since gluten is what gives batter or dough its malleability and strength it was no surprise my donuts put Michelin to shame. Thus I learnt my first lesson in the art of baking – know your flours!
Which flour to pick?
Ever get puzzled over which flour to use for friands, pastry, scones, tortes or pane di casa? Since it is the composition of the flour that influences the character of the baked product it is important to use the right flour.
Bleached flour
Bleaching agents are used to whiten flour. This adds to the flour’s fluffy potential and removes the yellow hue that colours flour, typically when it has been freshly milled. Benzoyl peroxide is the most common agent used. A healthier alternative is to purchase flour that has aged naturally free from chemical interference. With time flour whitens of its own accord.
All-purpose or plain flour
This is a generic flour that suffices for most baking pursuits. It does not have any rising agents added so you need to get out the baking powder or soda if you wish to make anything with a puffy or fluffy texture.
White – during milling the wheat germ from the grain is removed. This renders the flour soft and white.
Brown/ wholegrain/ whole wheat – as the name indicates the whole grain is milled: bran, endosperm, germ and all. This is a great base for making rustic flatbread or anything that requires a tough bite to it.
Self-raising flour
This includes chemical raising agents, usually baking powder. It comes in white or brown. To make your own, sift one cup of plain flour several times with one-and-a-half teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt.
Cake, biscuit and pastry flour
The key to making moist devil’s food cake is to use a soft, precision-milled flour. Buying a flour specifically for cake, pastry or biscuit-making will add to your success rate in the kitchen. These flours are composed of wheat blends that contain a lower level of protein, which allows for easier moisture absorption and blending of sweetening and flavouring agents.
Pasta flour/ doppio zero flour/ durum semolina
Pasta requires a robust and sturdy flour to preserve its shape during its rigorous boiling. Pasta flour is ground to a coarse consistency from durum wheat, the toughest of all wheat varieties.
Bread and pizza flour
A good bread dough needs to have two components – elasticity and a light texture. A careful blend of hard flour with its higher protein and gluten ratio will create the right dough consistency to ensure a good yield during proving time.
Tarte aux Fraises
Fresh strawberries and crème patisserie infused with a delicate hint of rum, encased in a light shortcrust pastry… mmm! There is nothing quite like a good strawberry tart. For any strawberry tart connoisseur the measure of a patisserie is its Tarte aux Fraises.
Each morning, in patisseries all over the world, a pastry chef somewhere is skillfully assembling the perfect tart. Before sunrise the gleaming treasures adorn cake cabinets everywhere. From Paris to Perth, these morsels are the bijoux of the baker.
David Jackson, knave of tarts, is gaining quite a following, with regulars arriving at his Kalamunda workplace as early as 7:30am to stake a claim on his strawberry beauties. At 4am each day, kilos of flour, sugar, fine ganache, rum, cream and fresh eggs, not to mention an abundance of ruby red strawberries, await David at Le Paris Brest, one of Perth’s leading French patisseries and boulangeries. David commenced his apprenticeship a year and a half ago and cites the simple pleasure of sweet treats as his motivation: “Everyone likes cakes and sweets.” So what is the key to a good strawberry tart? According to David, “good strawberries”. Other than that, his lips are sealed.
Go Back
