used for. I tried making a batch of eclairs but they turned out flat and weird. What flour should I use?
davidt4,
Oct 19, 11:01pm
High grade flour is correct for eclairs (choux pastry). I have just contributed a detailed recipe for this - have a look at it and you might be able to work out what went wrong.
245sam,
Oct 19, 11:07pm
chrisran, there's a good number of regulars on this MB who use only high grade flour for their baking (i. e. they do not have or use the plain/standard/'all purpose' flour) and those regulars as far as I'm aware do not have a problem with using that high grade flour for all manner of baked items - IMO you were correct in using high grade flour for your eclairs so maybe the flour wasn't the reason for your batch of eclairs that " turned out flat and weird"- one thought... . . did you beat the eggs in well?
Here's some info' that I kept some time ago re the different flours:
"Standard Plain flour:Suitable for most home baking. Ideal for biscuits, cookies, light mufffins, cakes, sponge puddings, shortcrustpastry and gravies. High Grade White flour:Suitable for most home baking. Ideal for flaky pastries, heavily fruited cakes and puddings, carrot cake, banana cake, pizzas, quiche and yeast-raised products such as buns and bread. " Hope that helps. :-))
sissybel,
Oct 20, 3:23pm
Hi there how long did you mix the eggs into the flour for. Normally it take s about 3-4 mins or until the mixture leaves the side of the pot and has a shiny look about it. How old were the eggs?
mobler,
Oct 24, 7:48pm
high grade flour doesnt have gluten in it, and i use this flour for a range of cooking
uli,
Oct 24, 8:17pm
mobler high-grade flour has the most gluten in it of all flours that you can buy here. This is why it is called "high", as in high in gluten. The only thing higher in gluten is the gluten itself which you can sometimes buy as "gluten flour".
A lot of ppl use it for sponges also and have no trouble, I do my self.
uli,
Oct 25, 12:43am
I use freshly milled whole wheat for sponges and people do not even realise what they are eating LOL :)
antoe,
Apr 1, 3:22am
ok so what type of flour is healthier for you?
barloo,
Apr 1, 3:51am
wholemeal flour is healthier as it has fiber in it:)
buzzy110,
Apr 1, 6:11am
Barloo is quite right. It does have fibre in it which definitely makes it better but there is quite a lot that people don't really know about flour.
Wheat flour (which is what is being discussed here) has gluten. Gluten grinds away and flattens the enzyme producing vili in the small intestine, leading to coeliac disease and other auto immune diseases.
Wheat flour contains phytic acid, otherwise called anti-nutrients. These wonderful little acids bind with calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron and are then excreted. This can lead to mineral deficiency.
Wheat flour is the seed of a grass. It takes multiple stomachs (like those of ruminants) to be able to successfully digest and assimilate grass and its seeds so lots of people suffer bloating in various shades of severity after consuming it.
Wheat flour is also a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are turned rather rapidly into sugar once they enter the digestive system. High consumption of carbohydrates leads to raised levels of small, high density LDL cholesterol, obesity, vascular inflammation and diabetes. It has also been linked to heart disease.
So you see, fibre is good but unfermented grains, per se, need to be consumed with considerable caution and rather sparingly.
barloo,
Apr 1, 8:41am
buzzy110
So which flour is the best for us all round?
Your above post is interesting.
antoe,
Apr 1, 9:05pm
I reckon, which flour would be the best to buy?
runeaholics,
Apr 4, 4:37am
Did you open the oven door too soon? If you open the door before they have taken some colour you'll make them deflate. Maybe you mixed in too much eggs?
I use standard flour for 'lighter' products like chiffons and sponges. However, high-grade flour gives you better results when making breads and buns (or anything that requires more handling on the batter/dough) IMO.
buzzy110,
Jan 1, 6:06am
Oh you are asking the wrong person that question. Personally I believe that all flour is toxic and there are just degrees of less toxicity. So I can only answer your question in a way that fits in with that belief and the information from my earlier post.
The best, and most healthy flour is flour that has been freshly milled and used within a day of milling so what uli does is the most healthful of all. Flour like that will have all the germ, bran and fibre intact and will also still have all the enzymes and other nutrients and bacterias that will rapidly die once the grain is milled and will be non-existent after about a day.
Once again I give a word of warning here. Wheat flour (in particular) needs to be fermented. The way to do this is to make sour dough breads, which have fermented for at least 8 hours using wild yeast, rather than the specialised strains extracted from wild yeast, that passes for yeast now. These strains work on only small parts of the flour and their main property is that they make bread doughs rise within minutes. This is so not healthy. Fermented grains have had most of their gluten neutralised along with their very indigestible peptide and anti-nutrients.
Of course bread isn't the only food that flour is used for and in most cases, those products won't turn out well with whole grain, freshly milled flours. So you just take your chances. They are all equally toxic. Just ask anyone who has become gluten intolerant or coeliac from generations of eating unfermented grains. Ask anyone who now has young children who are coeliac or gluten intolerant exactly how gluten containing grains affects their children.
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