Welcome To The
Morrison's
Peter Pan All-Purpose
Flour Test
| Disclaimer - Before we get into the test, it's worth mentioning that we are not connected with any flour vendor mentioned on this web site. We can't tell you where to find any of these flours outside our own home town, and we have no idea why the vendor discontinued your favorite flour, or why your favorite recipe is no longer on the back of the package. And now... here's the review of this flour..... |
What we paid for it: $0.89 for 5 lbs.
Protein content: 10%
Interesting Vendor Story: Nope. Not this time.
Our first impressions : It's been years since we used Peter Pan. We looked at the sack and were more than a bit concerened. It's pre-sifted. It's bromated. It's bleached. It's encriched. The artisan's anti-Christ in a bag. We were surprised and pleased that it handled very nicely, mixing well, rising well, delivering a workable soft dough in all our recipes. (Please note this was the first flour test in which we changed the recipe for the Bohemian Rye bread to 1 cup. The added 1/8 cup made the rye bread a lot easier to handle.) The smell of the rising doughs was very enticing, and the breads were delightful.
Any special reason we're testing this flour: I purchased this flour because I've used it in the past. And because there was a discussion recently in rec.food.sourdough about "cheap flours", and Peter Pan was mentioned. "They just can't be as good" was a loudly repeated cry. So, we'll see.How'd we screw up the tests this time? The baking went fine. No mistakes. In fact, everything went well, for once. Sadly, we had problems in taking the pictures. They all have a strong blue cast from the blue countertop. We haven't had the time to figure out how to correct the colors to our liking. Sorry....
Conclusions: We liked it. A lot. It did everything we asked it to do, and did it well. We wish the crusts had been a bit darker on two of the breads, but that is a very minor issue.
Bohemian Rye
This was the first time we've baked the Bohemian Rye
bread with 1
cup
of
water
instead of 7/8. We feel that the
hydration adjustments we've made in the past mean the recipe wasn't all that
different in practice than in past tests. In any case, we found the dough easy
to handle. The bread was a delight, offering
a good rye and caraway taste, with the caraway carrying over into the aroma.
The crust was thick, soft, and chewy. The crumb
was fairly open and irregular, with a wonderful taste. The sour tang you hope
for in sourdough came through more than most of the other versions of this
bread we've made for these tests.
Ciabatta
is a favorite bread. Peter Pan made a version that delighted.
It featured
a nice irregular crumb with good definition.
The crumb offered a good wheat
flavor with strong sournotes. The flavor carried over in to the aroma, where
there was a nice sour aroma with good wheaten undertones. The crust was nicely
browned without excessive
crispness. It was great with
oil,
as well as with soup. Very nice!
Sourdough Pan Bread -
should be, more than any of the other breads here,
a celebration in sour. More than any of the
white flours we've tested so far, this flour delivers. The sour of the bread
extended into its aroma - a nice lightly acidic aroma that told us this was
sourdough. The bread had a thin,
firm, crisp crust. The crumb was soft, irregular, and well defined. The only
complaint we could level against this bread is that the crust did not brown as
much as we might have hoped. As with previous versions of this bread, it made
excellent
grilled cheese sandwiches.
Three stage French bread featured a nice thin firm crust with nice color,
though it was a little bit
light. The crumb was a little
tight, but nicely irregular. The taste of wheat predominated the crumb, with
mild sour notes. The bread had a mild aroma.
Hydration Pictures As discussed, we took pictures at 60, 80, and 100% hydration. This flour was moister than most at the same levels of hydration, without excessive stickiness.
Morrison's Peter Pan All Purpose Flour at 100% hydration |
Morrison's Peter Pan All Purpose Flour at 80% Hydration |
Morrison's Peter Pan All Purpose Flour at 60% hydration |