How to Judge Good Flour -- advice from Encarnación Pinedo

Today I am taking a different approach to my blog post.  It is the 15th of the month, so I am posting something from Pinedo's book, but instead of a recipe, I wanted to test her advice on how to know if the flour you are using is of good quality.

In case you aren't already aware, in 2021 I translated Encarnación Pinedo's 1898 book El Cocinero Español in its entirety, and I am trying out her recipes and advice on this blog.  

In her introduction, on page x, she wrote: 

Which I translated as:

            Flour, when it is good, is known by taking a handful of it in the hand and squeezing it tightly; if it compacts and unites in a mass, it is of the best quality and the mixture that is made of it will be soft, ductile, and elastic; while adulterated flour is much heavier than fine and laborious to knead. If it is tested as said above, it will not give the same result.

            Second--A small amount is taken and [with] the fingers are kneaded; if it is soft and flexible it is good, and if it is sticky and rough it is bad.

            Third--Put a little bit on the table and blow gently with your breath; if there are little piles on the table that have resisted the action of the breath, it is good, and if it is completely scattered, it is bad.

            Fourth--A thimbleful is taken in the palm of the hand and rubbed gently with the finger: if the flour flattens and is slippery, it is of inferior quality, and, on the contrary, if rubbing it feels rough in the hand as if it was fine sand, it is good.

I tried these tests and took pictures to show the results.  

Keep in mind that I expect my flour to be good.  We have the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 - and subsequent legislation - that requires food additives and adulterations to be reported, pushing businesses and manufacturers to sell us food we can rely on to be what the label says it is.  

This is so very different from what Pinedo, and the rest of the United States, experienced in 1898.  No one was held accountable for what they did to food, and adulteration with alternate ingredients and even poisonous additives was widespread.  Milk was "kept fresh" with embalming fluid; what was labeled as olive oil often contained no or little oil from olives; "strawberry" jam was made from apple pulp, sugar, red food coloring, grass seed, and strawberry flavoring; and more.  Manufacturers wanted to make money, so they cut costs wherever they could and didn't worry about the consequences.  

If your stomach can take it, take a look at Leon Landone's 1906 book Foods that are drugged.  (Click here for the link to it.)  Be astonished at all the food products, including baby food, that it lists.  Now when I see labels that use the word "pure," I have a better understanding of why that has been important.

So was my flour of good quality?  Keep in mind that proper labeling doesn't mean good quality, just that my flour wasn't mixed with chalk or Plaster of Paris.  It was worth the test.

Test #1

I took a handful of flour and squeezed it tightly.  

Before squeezing

After squeezing.

Uh oh.  My flour did not compact and unite into a mass.  It failed the first test.  

Test #2

I kneaded a little flour with my fingers.

She did not say to get it damp at all; I just used the flour from the bag.  It did not feel sticky and rough, but I was not sure it was "soft and flexible."

Test #3

I spread a little on the counter and gently blew on it.  

Before blowing

After blowing

If you look very carefully, you can see that some of the flour moved when I blew on it.  But very little.  I actually started blowing harder to get it to move, and I couldn't without making a big mess.  This was encouraging.

Test #4

I estimated a thimbleful into the palm of my hand, and I rubbed it with my finger.

Before rubbing

After rubbing

I think the rubbing flattened it, but it did not feel slippery at all.  It did feel like very fine sand.

The Verdict

While not every test gave me a clear result, I feel my flour was at least good quality and not adulterated.  I appreciated that she gave several tests so I could have options, otherwise the first test and maybe the second would have convinced me my flour was bad. 

What I used was a house brand flour, which may not have been as high quality as, say, a name brand.  Often house brands are made by the name brands but not labeled as such in order to reduce the price.  It would be informative to try these tests on other brands, especially the ones that advertise their high quality, and compare them.  

Success!  

Now I have to go clean all the flour off of my camera.  : )