ash content??

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simonineaston
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ash content??

Post by simonineaston »

I just dug through my store cupboard, wishing like a lot of folk these days I think, to use everything up. I found a bag of flour labelled T55 and I learn that it's a French style bread flour and the T55 refers to its ash content. I recall reading that flours could in the past be adultorated by unscrupulous sellers with all sorts of strang stuff - but ash - how so?
S
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Nearholmer
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Re: ash content??

Post by Nearholmer »

It doesn’t mean there’s ash in it, it tells you how much ash results if it is burned, which is a secondary measure of how much bran there is in it.

I would guess that French Bread flour is very low in bran, so low in ash, and lacking in minerals, so not the healthiest to eat.
Last edited by Nearholmer on 29 Nov 2022, 2:24pm, edited 2 times in total.
Jdsk
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Re: ash content??

Post by Jdsk »

It isn’t about adulteration. Ash content tells you about mineral content. Mineral is mostly in bran. So measuring the ash content is used to determine the bran content, and then to classify the flour.

Edited: As above.

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Audax67
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Re: ash content??

Post by Audax67 »

simonineaston wrote: 29 Nov 2022, 2:09pm I just dug through my store cupboard, wishing like a lot of folk these days I think, to use everything up. I found a bag of flour labelled T55 and I learn that it's a French style bread flour and the T55 refers to its ash content. I recall reading that flours could in the past be adultorated by unscrupulous sellers with all sorts of strang stuff - but ash - how so?
You're partly right: T55 does refer to ash, but to residual ash after the flour has been burnt to assay its mineral-matter content. In general

T55-T65: white-bread flours, T65 being the whitest.
T80 & T110: used for brown and crusty bread
T150: wholegrain flours, meaning not that they contain entire grains but that the entirety of the grain is used.
...

See https://www.archibald.bio/edito/12-clas ... es-farines
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simonineaston
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Re: ash content??

Post by simonineaston »

Ah-ha - makes sense now. There's me thinking thems pesky French boulangeres was popping some industrial furnace products into their exports maybe to say Yah Boo & Sucks to us for leaving... :wink:
S
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simonineaston
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Re: ash content??

Post by simonineaston »

...and as a Thank You, I link to a recipe for bannocks which say you can use any flour - sounds tasty !!
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/n ... ity-cloake
S
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peetee
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Re: ash content??

Post by peetee »

An interesting fact I learned on a tour of a windmill at Ashford in Kent. More windmills in the UK were destroyed by explosions and fire from igniting flour dust than by any other single cause.
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Tangled Metal
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Re: ash content??

Post by Tangled Metal »

We made bannock last week. Not bad and something to make on a camp out I reckon.
Tangled Metal
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Re: ash content??

Post by Tangled Metal »

I'm guessing it's measured as part of a calorimetry test?
rjb
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Re: ash content??

Post by rjb »

One of my first experiences as a student apprentice at the power station was taking coal samples from deliveries and burning it in an oven to measure it's calorific value.

Didn't they bulk up flour with plaster of Paris. :shock:.
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Nearholmer
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Re: ash content??

Post by Nearholmer »

More windmills in the UK were destroyed by explosions and fire from igniting flour dust than by any other single cause.
I seem to recall that Ashford was the location of a huge flour mill explosion, in a steam mill in the town.

When the “factory inspectorate” had a “horror museum” in London decades ago, they had a big wooden (c1:24) model of the mill on display and it was rigged-up to “explode”. I’m not sure how it was achieved, I suspect that it was trickery using stage-prop style gubbins, but it was very impressive, involving a big bang and the roof being blown off.

Anyway, it made me remember the risk of dust explosions, which was surely the point!

The museum also included people being scalped and strangled by getting entangled in pillar drills and lathes - equally realistic and memorable.
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Audax67
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Re: ash content??

Post by Audax67 »

rjb wrote: 29 Nov 2022, 5:46pm Didn't they bulk up flour with plaster of Paris. :shock:.
Dunno. Do they still sell Mother's Pride in the UK?
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ANTONISH
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Re: ash content??

Post by ANTONISH »

Nearholmer wrote: 29 Nov 2022, 5:54pm
More windmills in the UK were destroyed by explosions and fire from igniting flour dust than by any other single cause.
I seem to recall that Ashford was the location of a huge flour mill explosion, in a steam mill in the town.

When the “factory inspectorate” had a “horror museum” in London decades ago, they had a big wooden (c1:24) model of the mill on display and it was rigged-up to “explode”. I’m not sure how it was achieved, I suspect that it was trickery using stage-prop style gubbins, but it was very impressive, involving a big bang and the roof being blown off.

Anyway, it made me remember the risk of dust explosions, which was surely the point!

The museum also included people being scalped and strangled by getting entangled in pillar drills and lathes - equally realistic and memorable.
I went on a visit to that "horror museum" - we all became very safety conscious.
briansnail
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Re: ash content??

Post by briansnail »

Bread flour can contain lots of hair. Think i prefer ash.
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