High gluten flour (flour, water, salt and yeast are called the 4 basic ingredients for bread making) is indispensable for bread making. When we make bread, following the same recipe, sometimes the dough is in good condition, sometimes it becomes too hard or too soft, is this a problem of our “technique”?

Is this a problem of our “technique”? If we make sure that the temperature of the dough is correct and there is no weighing error, it is mainly due to the “flour”. Let’s talk about the “water absorption” of flour.

Flour consists of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and water. To high-gluten flour, for example: the main carbohydrate is starch, starch in wheat flour content of about 70%, high-gluten flour protein accounted for 11% -15%, water accounted for 11% -14%, the content of pentosan is about 2-4%, other substances accounted for 2.1%.

Flour composition affects the water absorption rate of flour

1. Starch
Flour 70% are starch, wheat in the milling of wheat flour will be due to pressure friction and other reasons to destroy a small part of the sound starch structure, we call the damage to the starch, of which the sound starch grains accounted for about 62% of the wheat flour, damage to the starch grains accounted for 5% -10% of the wheat flour.

Sound starch can absorb 25%-50% of its own weight in water, while damaged starch can absorb 3-4 times its own weight in water.

Sound starch is broken down into maltose by amylase, which can provide nutrients for yeast to carry out fermentation, and the starch can be attached to the gluten tissue to make the surface of the dough become smoother, and at the same time in the baking, the heat paste can absorb the water in the gluten, which can play a certain water-locking effect and accelerate the bread shaping.

Damage starch can be broken down into maltose by amylase faster and absorbed by yeast.

2.Protein content
Protein can absorb 2 times its own weight of water, the higher the protein content, the more absorbent the flour is.

3. Pentosan
Pentosan is the most absorbent, absorbing 10-15 times its own weight in water, but it is the least abundant in the flour, and its low content does not have a great influence on the actual situation.

4.Flour grinding degree
The finer the flour milling, the larger the contact area between the flour particles and water, the better the water absorption. (At the same time, the finer the flour milling, the greater the loss of starch, the more damage to the starch. The greater the water absorption. (If too much starch is damaged, it will lead to the sticky phenomenon inside the bread organization.)

5. Gluten
Gluten, also known as active gluten, is a natural gluten protein extracted from wheat, its protein up to about 75%, water absorption rate of up to 150% or so, good quality gluten added to the flour stirred into the dough, can be completely with the flour gluten interaction to form a body with obvious gluten effect, and can make the flour absorbency increase.

The effect of air on the water absorption of flour

In addition to the high gluten flour itself affects the water absorption rate of the composition, the environment also has a certain impact.

In the storage of flour, the north and south of the climate is different, the southern region will be humid reasons, the moisture in the air will slowly penetrate the flour, a long time will make the flour damp, if more serious will form a lumpy state, encountered in this case, we must first sieve the flour in the use of the mixing of the dough to leave 2% -3% of the water, according to the actual state of the dough presented by the Add.

In the northern region, because of the dryness, the water in the flour will evaporate into the air, and the flour will become very dry, in this case, you can add about 3% more water when mixing the dough, according to the actual state of the dough to be added.

Influence of water softness and hardness on the water absorption rate of flour

Water can be roughly divided into “soft water” and “hard water”, the difference is mainly determined by the soluble calcium and magnesium mineral content. China’s determination of water hardness is the water calcium, magnesium content is converted to calcium carbonate, calcium carbonate content per liter of water as a unit of measurement, calcium carbonate per liter of water is less than 150 mg for soft water (please refer to the following chart).

As hard water has more minerals, it will harden the gluten, make it more tough and increase the water absorption rate of the dough.

Soft water with less minerals will make the dough less elastic, which will make the flour less absorbent.

Moderately hard water is generally considered best for bread making.

The higher the ppm value the harder the water, but the relative concept of water softness under a national standard.

Is it better for flour to be more absorbent?

The more absorbent the flour is, the more water it can absorb under the same conditions, and the softer the bread will be. However, the quality of flour is judged not only on the basis of water absorption, but also on the stability of the flour, the quality of the protein, and other factors.