On the floor, the Meals & Wine take a look at kitchen seems to be quite a bit like a house kitchen. It’s mild and ethereal, with consumer-grade home equipment that assist guarantee our recipes will be recreated anyplace. However beneath the floor, the take a look at kitchen operates like a well-run business facility, with each piece of speciality tools you possibly can think about, an in depth listing of distributors, and bulk elements that by no means run out due to a extremely organized behind-the-scenes workers.
I labored within the take a look at kitchen for years, and the one factor that also impresses me to at the present time is the extremely well-stocked pantry. Each time I wanted to refill my sugar or flour bins, I didn’t run to the grocery retailer. I simply stepped into the pantry and voilà, I had what I wanted. However we didn’t inventory any and all manufacturers — which brings me to the Meals & Wine take a look at kitchen’s all-purpose flour of selection.
Why we use Gold Medal all-purpose flour
Meals & Wine / Common Mills
Our take a look at kitchen solely shares Gold Medal model all-purpose flour for recipes that run the gamut from truffles to rooster cutlets. To seek out out why this greater than 135-year-old flour firm with roots in Minneapolis was chosen over others, I requested former colleagues and present workers to offer some background.
Constant availability and high quality
Callie Nash, take a look at kitchen director of Folks Inc., the father or mother firm of Meals & Wine, explains that the take a look at kitchen’s elements must be available for dwelling cooks throughout all the nation and reliably top quality — each of which describe Gold Medal. “Through the use of merchandise which have a status for top of the range requirements we’re guaranteeing our recipes will be executed persistently.”
Consistency is essential when testing, growing, and photographing a recipe. Every of Meals & Wine’s recipes goes by means of an in depth testing and evaluate course of. A minimum of two skilled kitchen workers take a look at every recipe, so it’s essential that the identical elements are used all through the method to remove any variables.
The meals studio, which incorporates 28 take a look at kitchens and 13 photograph and video studios throughout many Folks Inc. manufacturers like Meals & Wine, makes use of about 900 kilos of flour yearly. Nash explains that each two months, the studio orders six 25-pound luggage of all-purpose Gold Medal flour.
Protein content material
Not all manufacturers of all-purpose flour have the identical protein content material. For instance, King Arthur all-purpose flour has an 11.7% protein content material, which may produce completely different outcomes in comparison with Gold Medal, which has a protein content material of about 10.5%.
“All-purpose flours can fluctuate of their protein content material, which is a mirrored image of their power or gluten-forming capabilities,” explains Tricia Manzanero Stuedeman, senior recipe tester and developer at Folks Inc. “Larger protein content material will yield a stronger, extra elastic gluten community and decrease protein content material will yield a weaker gluten community. Whereas different manufacturers might fall increased or decrease on the spectrum, Gold Medal is taken into account ‘center of the highway’ in relation to protein content material.”
Needless to say some recipes name for various kinds of flour, akin to lower-protein cake flour or higher-protein bread flour, for that reason. But when your recipe lists all-purpose flour, you’ll be able to confidently seize a bag of Gold Medal with the Meals & Wine take a look at kitchen’s approval.