I am trying to figure out the protein content of the flour that I have here to see if I can make homemade pastry flour.  These are my calculations.

Robin Hood all purpose flour:

30g or 1/4 cup has 4 grams of protein, so 1 cup or 120g will give me 16g of protein.

Robin Hood cake and pastry flour:

30g or 1/4 cup has 3 grams of protein, so 1 cup or 120g will give me 12g of protein.

If this is correct, even the cake and pastry flour is high than the pastry flour that Rose uses which is King Arthur’s and has a protein content of 9.2 grams of protein per cup of flour.

So there is no way to bring down the protein content and make my own pastry flour.  Bummer.  When I made the cream cheese flaky pastry last week I just used the all purpose flour and I thought it turned out fine, the bottom crust was a little tough.  Should I use the cake and pastry flour instead since it has a lower proten content and is closer to what Rose recommends?  That is my only option I think.

I’m so confused.

Liza, the serving size is too small to be accurate.  For instance, the cake/pastry flour could have 2.5 grams of protein per 30g serving, and then be rounded up to 3 grams.  2.5/30=8.3% protein.  Or, it could have 3.4 grams and be rounded down, 3.4/30=11.3% protein.  See what I mean?

Perhaps you could call or email the company to get the protein content per 100g?

Thanks Julie.  I didn’t realize this was the case.  I was just going by what is printed on the label.  Hmm.  I will have to email them to find out the protein content.

If you can’t find lower protein flour you could substitute vodka for the water in the recipe.

That is quite interesting Gene.  How does the vodka work?  I have never heard of this.

Hi,

Cooks Illustrated did and article on using vodka in pastry dough a while ago. Here is a link to the recipe.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/11/cooks-illustrated-foolproof-pie-dough-recipe.html

Thanks Jan,
The theory goes that you want to avoid forming gluten (the reason for low protein flour). It takes water for gluten to form so vodka being mostly alcohol won’t allow gluten to develop. It is mostly tasteless and the alcohol evaporates in the oven. I haven’t tried it but several friends have reported great success.

Also, the acidity of the vodka helps relax the gluten.

That said, Rose’s cream cheese crust uses a combination of cider vinegar and heavy cream to tenderize, both of which strike me as a more flavorful way to go.

Liza, I am assuming you are in Canada?  You may want to go to Sobey’s or Safeway as at my last visit they had Swan’s Down Cake Flour, which should be a lower protein—I think this brand is a fairly standard cake flour.  Sorry I don’t have the percentages.  I am a wee bit frustrated also with the nutrition info on the Canadian products—although—we do have some high protein flour here so it’s good for bread at least

Thanks Sherrie.  There are quite a few Sobey’s around my area.  I’ll have to hunt around for it.  I haven’t seen it in the one I go to close to where I work.

OK,  I received an email from Robin Hood yesterday and they stated that for their cake and pastry flour, 100g contains 10 grams of protein.  This is very close to the amount that rose recommends in the pie and pastry bible.  So am I safe to go ahead and make my pie pastry with this flour alone?

I don’t have Rose’s recommendation in front of me, but if it’s close I think it will turn out well.  Looking forward to seeing it!