Substitute for pastry flour?

H

howaytheladlee

New member
I have a gazillion recipes for Irish soda bread, but I'd like to try a new
one. It calls for 1 1/4 lb all-purpose flour and 1 1/4 lb pastry flour, a
combo I've not tried before, and I don't have pastry flour on hand.

My King Arthur cookbook suggests 2 tablespoons cornstarch for an equal
amount of flour in each cup. I do trust KA, but I'd appreciate hearing from
someone who has made this substitution with success because I am a cook, not
a baker.

I suppose I could just order some pastry flour from KA and try this recipe
later, but ...

Of course I plan to use Kerrygold as the butter du jour on the sliced bread,
and smoked salmon top of that.

Felice
 
On Mar 17, 10:41?am, "Felice" wrote:

That's also what they recommend for substituting cake flour (Not 100%
sure if that's the same thing or not).

I'd say go for it - any soda bread dough I've made is pretty
forgiving.

By the way, now I'm DYING for a smoked salmon Kerrygold canape -
thanks a lot!!

Kris
 
On 2011-03-17, Felice wrote:


I haven't made it, but here is what seems to be the be/end all of
real soda bread:

http://www.sodabread.us/

The stuff I bought at the store was more like a panettone. Very sweet with
raisins and lotsa sugar. Sure was good, though.

nb
 
On Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:41:52 -0400, "Felice"
wrote:


The substitute you mention is standard. If you have cake flour, you
can use half AP & half cake flour, too, as a sub.

Pastry flour is made of softer wheat than AP, hence less protein &
gluten formation. Irish soda breads were traditionally made from
softer wheats and that is one reason whey they wound up as soda
breads...the softer wheats could not form decent gluten strands with
yeasts/sourdoughs...or so I was told by a Bread Faerie.

Anyway, the crumb/texture is a bit tougher with AP than with pastry
flour, but you'd be hard pressed to really tell the diff in soda
bread.
But what the hell do I know...my only claim to the knowledge is that I
married Irishmen (yeah, plural).

Boron
 
"notbob" wrote in message
news:[email protected]

OMIGOD! Thank you SO much for this link! Those people do know what yer basic
soda bread is, or should be, says one who has even had soda farls with an
Ulster Fry for breakfast in Northern Ireland.

The a/p-pastry combo is the one made at Green Hills Bakery here in Boston.
I've bought it there so I'm looking forward to giving their recipe a try.

Your Irish "panettone" sounds tasty, but it was dessert, dammit!

Felice
 
"Kris" wrote in message
news:b2e81a4d-ae61-48e2-a060-b0e44ed3a4a4@a28g2000vbo.googlegroups.com

Stop by Sunday morning. We'll have enough to share!

Felice
 
On 17 Mar 2011 14:56:07 GMT, notbob wrote:

I got this recipe from Chow.com this morning

I have "white" whole wheat on hand, so I'll try it using that flour.
Not sure if I'll have the time to make it though because stupid me has
a 2PM hair appointment for today of all days. I'll probably save it
to have with corned beef hash tomorrow.


Easy Irish Brown Bread

INGREDIENTS

2 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 400?F and arrange a rack in the middle. Lightly
dust a baking sheet with all-purpose flour; set aside.

2. Place both flours, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk
to combine, breaking up any lumps. Add buttermilk and melted butter
and mix with your hands until almost all of the flour is moistened and
the dough holds together, about 1 minute.

3. Lightly flour a clean work surface and turn out the dough. Knead
until it forms a fairly smooth ball with no visible pockets of flour,
about 1 minute. Work the dough into a flat round about 7 inches in
diameter and 2 inches thick. Place on the prepared baking sheet and,
using a sharp knife, slice an "X" across the top, edge to edge and
about 1/2 inch deep.

4. Bake until the internal temperature registers 190?F to 200?F on an
instant-read thermometer and the bread makes a hollow sound when
tapped, about 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool
completely before slicing, about 2 hours. (If you slice the bread
before it has completely cooled, it will be crumbly or fall apart.)


--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
 
"sf" wrote in message


Now that sounds like a classic no-frills soda bread. And it gives an
internal temperature, which my other recipes do not, and I've never been
able to identify a "hollow sound"!

Felice
 
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