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baking stone; high gluten flour; hand pulled noodles

Raj B Apte <raj_apte@yahoo.com>
Sun, 25 Jul 2004 08:43:14 -0700 (PDT)
v104.n034.6
Hi All,

Instead of 'baking stones' or quarry tiles I use kiln shelves purchased 
from a local ceramics supplier. These are much cheaper and stronger (and 
heavier). Mine are 2cm thick. Maybe too thick to bake a loaf, but I always 
bake 2-3 at a time. I paid us$20 each for half-sheet sized stones.

Also, maybe this has already been discussed, but I'm curious about high 
gluten flour. My one complaint about Reinhart's Pizza book is that it 
doesn't give a recipe for making high gluten flour (hard to buy) from vital 
wheat gluten (easy to buy). From what I can tell, adding 4% vital wheat 
gluten (50% protein) to bread flour (12% protein) puts one in the ballpark 
of high gluten flour (14% protein). Has anyone else tried this? It has made 
my loaves taller and nicer, although the crumb is chewier and not crumbly 
(I also use wet doughs).

Lastly, has anyone tried hand-pulled noodles? On the web there are various 
recipes that call for pastry flour through high-gluten flour. Thus far, 
pastry flour has done the best for me, but its still a mess. Its not 
baking, but it is part of the mystery of wheat (like pulled strudel dough). 
Also, flour or oil can be used to keep the noodles from sticking. I've 
tried oil, but I imagine that wheat or rice flour might  also work. Anyone 
tried it?

thanks,
raj

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