Take a close look at flour, and you’ll find a lot of valuable information there. Understanding the makeup of flour gives insight into baking factors such as protein, starch, and moisture. Another key aspect of flour science is analyzing it because types and even batches of flour can differ in composition.

In this episode of BAKED in Science, Dr. Lin Carson is joined by grain and flour expert Dr. Jayne Bock, Technical Director for the Wheat Marketing Center. Dr. Carson has her PhD in grain science and is the CEO and founder of BAKERpedia. Dr. Bock, Technical Director at the Wheat Marketing Center, has publications covering topics including wheat and flour quality, dough rheology, and gluten structure-function.

The two discuss components of flour, functionality and different flour analysis methods.

This covers topics such as:

• Just what flour is made of
• The function of the components of flour
• Flour moisture
• Other grain flours like sorghum, corn, barley and rice
• Testing flour quality

As a baker, it’s absolutely critical to have some basic understanding of flour quality testing – it’s a way to clearly communicate with your miller or supplier what the optimal flour is for your process and product. And this podcast is the perfect place to start.