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page 6 Home Bakery
2001 ABM10 rev.0
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INGREDIENTS 3
The most important part of the bread making process is the wise selection of ingredients. You
and your Prima Home Bakery will produce outstanding results with the right ingredients. Just
apply this simple rule: Best ingredients - best results, poor ingredients - poor results. For
example; if good yeast, good flour and cold water were thrown together and mixed in an old
bucket the mixture would still rise! Nothing the bread maker does will prevent the dough from
rising so if your loaf does not rise it is most unlikely that the bread maker is to blame. It is
probably due to the ingredients. In order to save you time we have included information on
each major element used in the making of bread which will enable you to obtain perfect results
first time every time. See the appendix at the end of this book for a list of suppliers of quality
ingredients.
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FLOUR 4
In bread making the most important element in the flour is the protein called gluten, which is
the natural agent that gives the dough the ability to hold its shape and retain the carbon
dioxide produced by the yeast. The term ‘strong flour’ means that it has a high gluten content.
It has probably been milled from hard wheat and is particularly suitable for bread making.
In the UK the taste and gluten content of flour varies with each brand. At Prima we use
Allinsons Strong White, Strong Brown or Wholemeal flour for product testing because it gives
consistently good results. Other good brands are Sainsbury’s own brand, Hovis bread machine
flour or McDougals strong white flour. Safeway’s own brand of bread flour is also quite good.
You may wish to approach your local mill for flour. If you do, be sure to specify that you require
a fine ground flour with a high protein content (milled from hard wheat) if you want light well-
risen loaves. See the appendix at the end of this book for suppliers of good quality flour.
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BROWN FLOUR (or FARMHOUSE FLOUR) 5
Brown flour contains about 85% of the wheat kernel. Much of the bran part of the wheat kernel
has been removed. Loaves made with all brown flour tend to be smaller than white loaves due
to the lower gluten content but there tends to be more flavour and texture to brown loaves.
When buying this type of flour the strong, finely ground type will give better results in the bread
maker.
• WHOLEMEAL OR WHOLE-WHEAT FLOUR 6
This type of flour contains all of the original wheat kernel including the bran; the tough outer
skin of the wheat which is an excellent source of fibre. As with the brown flour, you should
specify a strong fine ground variety when using your bread maker. The bran in the wholemeal
flour inhibits the release of gluten so wholemeal loaves tend to be smaller and more dense
than white loaves. However, the flavour is superb (try the honey wholemeal recipe). Your
Prima Home Bakery has a special process for wholemeal bread, which devotes more time to
the kneading and rising processes.