PART 4

FLOUR

FLOUR is the foundation of the cookie, but the flavor should never be apparent when you taste the baked cookie.  Cookies with too much flour have a pasty taste and a tough dry texture

Most recipes call for all-purpose flour, which is a mixture of soft, low-gluten wheat and hard, high-gluten wheat.  The combination gives the flour just enough gluten to produce light, tender cookies without making them elastic, like bread. 

Some recipes specify using other types of flour, such as whole wheat or cake flour.  Whole wheat is more nutritious and nutty-tasting than all purpose flour because it includes bran and germ.  But too much bran and germ can make the cookies heavy and dry; even whole wheat cookies should contain at least ¼ cup of all purpose flour.  If the recipe doesn’t call for ¼ cup of all purpose flour plus the wheat flour, then subtract ¼ cup wheat flour and add ¼ cup of all purpose in its place.

CAKE FLOUR is made from very finely milled, low gluten wheat.  It produces the lightest, most tender results.  Cake flour is appropriate to use in cookies that undergo a lot of handling, such as those formed by pressing or rolling the dough.

Regardless of type of flour used, it should be added last and mixed as little as possible.  Overmixing the flour forces air out of the dough and created tough, hard cookies.

Few cookie recipes call for sifting the flour, but it should be carefully measured.  For accuracy, spoon flour lightly into the appropriate-sized measuring cup and scrape away the excess with the back of a knife.

Gluten- water soluble sticky protein- gives strength, structure, and cohesiveness to dough

Part four of six