Ingredient investigation: Flour

When I first decided to do some baking I found there was a whole range of flour in the French supermarket baking aisle. French flour labelling is regulated by a law established in 1963, which divides flour into six categories numbered from T45 to T150. The number is calculated on the basis of the amount of ash left after burning ten kilos of flour. The higher the number the stronger the flour, so T150 is equivalent to wholewheat flour. In addition to the numbering system many of the flours also have names like Farine de menage or Farine de Ble (household flour – usually T55), Farine de gateaux (T45 with added raising agents – equivalent to self-raising flour) and various bread flours. Bread-making flour is widely available and usually contains the added raising agents or leuvre, so there’s no need to add extra yeast. Most bags are marked as suitable for ‘machine à pain’ if they can be used in a bread machine.

T45	Finest white flour, for cakes and baking, like Italian 00
T55	White, everyday plain flour – used for baguettes
T65	White, strong bread flour
T80	Light brown
T110	Brown
T150	Wholemeal

 French flour vocab

Farine fluide	T45 – fine, pastry flour (may be self-raising – check label)
Farine de gateaux	T45 – cake or pastry flour, with added raising agent
Farine de ble	T55 – plain flour
Farine de menage	T55 – household flour (usually low cost)
Farine de ble T65	T65 – bread flour
Farine complet	T110+ - wholewheat (brown) flour

 Raising agents

Once my UK supplies of baking powder and bicarbonate of soda ran out – or rather became so out of date that they were inedible – I had no alternative than to seek some French versions. Both are available here, although it may be necessary to buy bicarbonate of soda at the pharmacy or in large quantities suitable for old-fashioned cleaning. I’ve found that using baking powder alone works just as well in any recipe I’ve tried so far, which according to my research (below) is OK!

The French supermarkets sell both raising agents for cake baking and bread-making. There’s often fresh yeast available too, in the dairy chilled cabinet.

Levure chimique – baking powder

Levure boulangerie – bread-making yeast, usually 7g packets, just like the UK

 

Other types of flour

Gluten-free and speciality flours are available, but it’s often necessary to hunt them out, visit the Bio shop or buy online. Most supermarkets sell Blé de sarrasin (buckwheat flour) which is gluten free, as this is the four used to make the popular French crepes, cornflour is also widely available too, the most popular brand being Maizena.

Blé de sarrasin (also called blé noir)	Buckwheat flour
Farine de mais (common brand: Maizena)	Cornflour
Farine de pois chiche	Gram flour or chickpea flour
Farine de l’épautre	Spelt flour
Farine de siegle	Rye flour
Farine de riz	Rice flour
Farine de chataigne	Chestnut flour

 

 

The difference between baking powder and bicarbonate of soda

A little chemistry lesson was necessary to get to grips with the difference between these two ingredients, which are often called for together, as raising agents in cakes and biscuits. Bicarbonate of soda is the pure chemical sodium bicarbonate. It’s also called baking soda. Used as a raising agent it still needs an acidic ingredient to create the chemical reaction necessary for the leavening process.

Baking powder is a mix of bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and a starch ingredient (usually wheat, corn or potato starch). Baking powder works alone, without any need for extra acidity and so it’s OK to substitute baking powder for baking soda, but not the other way round.

Cream of tartar is the chemical potassium hydrogen tartrate. It’s produced in the crystallisation that is part of the fermentation of grapes.

NOTE: some baking powder is not suitable for gluten-free baking as the starch may be wheat-based. Gluten-free baking powder uses corn or potato starch, or it can be mixed: Two tbsp cream of tartar, one tbsp sodium bicarbonate, one tbsp corn starch (corn flour).