550 Flour - equivalent flours here in the States ?

Hi Anna,

Type 550 is a measure of the ash content in the flour, and means a residue of 0.55% will remain when a sample of the flour is burnt.   It doesn't give an indication of protein content or potential gluten quality I'm afraid.   It is really telling you it is a white flour, at least as refined as any standard US or UK white flour.

I suspect you would be looking for bread flour in the US.   High gluten will be too strong.

Best wishes

Andy

Anna, for Weizenmehl Typ 550 you can use either all-purpose or bread flour. I posted a "flour translation" in my blog, here is the link. AP has a protein content of 10 - 12%, bread flour 12% and more.

I would make my choice dependant on what kind of bread you are baking. If you have lean rolls with no whole grain flours added, you should better take AP, otherwise you get a French bread type crumb, German wheat rolls are fluffier. If you have a flour mixture with rye and spelt, or an enriched dough, you can also use bread flour.

Süpke's recipe gives alternatives: whey OR lard and sugar OR malt. These ingredients enrich and soften the dough, as I mentioned, German wheat rolls are supposed to have a soft, fluffy crumb.

Though you are right about the scarcer availability of many good quality foods in the former GDR, this does not pertain to bread and several other things. Bread and rolls had often a very good quality, and the reason that many readers of Bäcker Süpke's blog are looking for "DDR-Brötchen" is just that. After the reunion, many rolls were mass produced from frozen dough pieces, and not made from scratch in bakeries anymore.

When I visited my cousin in Rostock before the reunion, I was always pleased with their bread, and also their butter, because it tasted better than the bland EU-butter I got in Hamburg. Beer, of course, was always available in very good quality, too.

For everybody who is interested in (award winning) Bäcker Süpke's East German rolls, here is the (slightly adapted translation):

DDR-BRÖTCHEN (adapted from Bäckermeister Wolfgang Süpke)

• 1000 g all-purpose flour (if using the optional enriching ingredients, you can take bread flour, too)
• 650 g water
• 20 g salt
• 25 g fresh yeast (or 8 g instant yeast)

optional ingredients:

• 10 g malt OR 5 g sugar (optional)
• 10-20 g lard OR exchange part of the water with whey (optional)

Dough should not be too warm. Knead to a smooth dough. Let rest for 30 - 60 minutes. Stretch and fold once. Let rest for another 30 - 60 minutes. Dough should rise slowly, if it is too warm, it rises too fast. (I would do an overnight cold fermentation)

Divide into 60 g pieces. Shape into the desired kind of rolls. Cover, and let rise for about 30 minutes until desired size is reached (about double, I assume). Score after 50% rise, so that rolls don't deflate afterwards.

Preheat oven to 428 F/220 C, including steaming device.

Brush rolls with water, and bake with a lot of steam. After 20 minutes they should have the desired color. If they are baked longer they will dry out.

Happy Baking,

Karin

if you leave a link, Anna.