1. What is the difference between soft and hard wheat?
For the purposes of food use, wheat is divided into two species: soft and hard. The former, which have a floury appearance when cut and are easily flaked, are mainly used for the production of flour for bread-making or, in general, for bakery products. The latter, which when fractured are amber-coloured and have a vitreous fracture, are used to obtain semolina and semolina destined for the production of alimentary pasta.
2.What is gluten?
Gluten is a plastic protein complex that is organised in the dough in a dense network capable of supporting the other components and giving volume to baked goods. The importance of wheat arises from the presence in the endosperm of two proteins, gliadin and glutenin, which in contact with the water in the dough give rise to gluten.
3.What is meant by 'strong' or 'weak' flour?
Taking the breadmaking quality of the flour (i.e. its intended use) as a reference, it is usual to identify three categories:
Strong flours, used in the production of preparations that have a long processing cycle (leavened products, panettone,...)
Medium strength flours; used in breadmaking
Weak flours; used to produce dry biscuits and industrial breadsticks.
4.What is the difference between semolina, granite and flour?
Flours are made up of impalpable flours. Semolina and granite, on the other hand, consist of harder, non-floured endosperm particles made from hard and soft grains respectively.
5.What is the shelf-life of a product?
Shelf-life is the commercial life (shelf-life) of a product stored under appropriate conditions.