HOW TO CHOOSE FLOUR FOR CHRISTMAS BAKING
With Christmas fast approaching, many of us are starting to think about what we’ll bake throughout the festive period. We’re dusting off our trusted recipes and we’re starting to fill up our cupboards with all the necessary ingredients. One of these being the flour! There is an ever-expanding range of flour on the market today and Christmas is a good opportunity to try something new, something different. No doubt, the plain white flour is still the number one choice for most of us, but a good quality wholemeal flour, especially if milled very finely, can become a healthier and a delicious alternative. You can choose from wheat wholemeal flour to wholemeal buckwheat or rye flour etc., the list just goes on. Here, we’ll try to help you to pair the right flour with your favourite recipes.
SPELT FLOUR
The popularity of spelt flour has been growing in recent years. For some, this flour seems to be something new, but the fact is that the spelt flour was widely used by our ancestors. Spelt flour is a suitable alternative to wheat flour and gives your bakes a delicate nutty taste and aroma, so you can safely reach for it instead of wheat flour. If you haven’t used it yet and want to try it first, you can mix it with wheat flour to start with. Don’t worry, we’ve tried it and loved it, so you can go ahead and give it a go! You can choose either white spelt flour or wholemeal spelt flour. So where would you use the spelt flour in your Christmas baking?
WHAT CAN YOU BAKE WITH SPELT FLOUR?
The answer is simple. Whether you choose white spelt or wholemeal spelt flour, you can use it in everything! Pernerka Fine Wholemeal Spelt flour is high in fibre. There is as much as 13g of fibre per 100g of edible portion. You can bake a sweet braided Christmas bread with it, either with or without an addition of some plain white flour. Why not try our recipe? Spelt flour is also great in Christmas stollen, Linzer cookies or vanilla crescent cookies. If you’re up for trying something completely new, you can bake the Hungarian Beigli – a Christmas strudel with either a walnut or poppy seed filling.
Still undecided whether to give spelt flour a try? In addition to the delicate pleasant taste and aroma, spelt (the whole name spelt wheat) is characterised by a higher proportion of minerals and proteins. It is easily digestible, but please bear in mind that it’s not gluten free. We’re definitely planning to try it in mince pies, Yorkshire puddings etc. So, stay tuned for the results!
PERNERKA RYE FLOUR, BUCKWHEAT FLOUR AND RICE FLOUR
In addition to wheat and spelt flour, you can also bake with other types of flour. It is definitely worth a try and the result may pleasantly surprise you. Many of you already know that Pernerka Fine Wholemeal Rye flour is great for baking bread, bread rolls and for preparing sourdough starter. But do you know that it’s also suitable for baking cakes and pastries? In addition to the excellent honey cake, which you can bake all year round, Christmas is just the right time to try gingerbread cookies made with wholemeal rye flour. It tastes great, and thanks to the flour itself, it has a high fibre content.
Wholemeal buckwheat flour is also an excellent option! You can bake buckwheat vanilla crescent cookies with it. They’ll be very delicate and will melt in your mouth. Buckwheat flour can be also used for baking pancakes and crumpets; and you can use it in kolaches and biscuits. Buckwheat is an important source of fibre, vitamins and minerals, especially rutin, which is beneficial to the vascular system.
You can also use buckwheat flour to bake your favourite gingerbread cookies. We would recommend our own recipe, where you mix buckwheat flour with rice flour. The combination of these two types of flour makes the cookies soft straight away, so there is no waiting for them to be eaten and you can bake them the last minute!
Rice flour is a very popular flour at the moment! People mix it into various recipes as it helps with the desired texture of the final product. Pernerka Fine Rice flour is suitable for baked desserts, biscuits, bread, pancakes, noodles, dumplings and many other savoury or sweet dishes.
WHEAT FLOUR
And finally, the “staple” – wheat flour. What recipes would we recommend for this year? Get some French inspiration and make a Christmas log. This treat is made not only in France, but also in Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and many other countries around the globe. The Christmas log came to us from Germany and this sweet delicacy would definitely delight all your family and friends.
Hope we’ve helped with some ideas for this year’s festive baking. Happy baking, everyone!
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