I think I may try making some somosas tomorrow and in looking at
various recipes on the net I noticed that some call for just normal
all purpose flour for the dough and some call for "all purpose flour
( Maida precisely)"

Does anyone know if there is a serious difference between a regular
all-purpose flour and the Indian Maida flour for this?

I'm not necessarily going to go buy some Maida flour but the local
Halal shop does carry it so I can at least consider it.

Thanks

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

John Kane wrote:
>
> I think I may try making some somosas tomorrow and in looking at
> various recipes on the net I noticed that some call for just normal
> all purpose flour for the dough and some call for "all purpose flour
> ( Maida precisely)"
>
> Does anyone know if there is a serious difference between a regular
> all-purpose flour and the Indian Maida flour for this?
>
> I'm not necessarily going to go buy some Maida flour but the local
> Halal shop does carry it so I can at least consider it.
>
> Thanks


AFAIK maida flour is just very-finely milled and sifted wheat flour. The
samosa pastry I used to buy in London was made from plain wheat flour.
Nowadays I use large egg roll wrappers, said pastry not being available
here (or else haven't seen it). Doubt it makes much difference.

However as usual, might be worth a try using both types of flour since
you can get it.

On Sep 2, 10:27*am, John Kane > wrote:
> I think I may try making some somosas tomorrow and in looking at
> various recipes on the net I noticed that some call for just normal
> all purpose flour for the dough and some call for "all purpose flour
> ( Maida precisely)"
>
> Does anyone know if there is a serious difference between a regular
> all-purpose flour and the Indian Maida flour for this?
>
> I'm not necessarily going to go buy some Maida flour but the local
> Halal shop does carry it so I can at least consider it.
>
> Thanks
>
> John Kane, Kingston ON Canada


If I were you, I'd just buy this: http://www.jslfoods.com/site/product...pringroll.html

All-purpose flour: http://www.ochef.com/97.htm
All-purpose flour is made from a blend of high- and low-gluten wheats,
and has a bit less protein than bread flour — 11% or 12% vs. 13% or
14%. You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour,
although your results may not be as glorious as you had hoped.

Maida flour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maida_flour

Maida flour is a finely-milled wheat flour used to make a wide variety
of Indian breads such as paratha and naan. Maida is widely used not
only in Indian cuisine but also in Central Asian and Southeast Asian
cuisine.

Though sometimes referred to as "all-purpose flour" by Indian chefs,
it more closely resembles cake flour or even pure starch. In India,
maida flour is used to make pastries and other bakery items such as
bread, biscuits and toast.

After the flour is ground in a flour mill (Chakki), it is passed
through a fine mesh (600 mesh per square inch) to obtain maida.

Pastry flours available in United States may be used as a substitute
for maida.[1]

Food made with maida is not considered to be particularly healthy in
India as it lacks the fibre content present in the much more widely
used wholewheat(atta) flour - hence, its use remains occasional.[by
whom?]. Still, during festive days, especially in South India, maida
is a common ingredient.


Wheat flour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_flour
Other flour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flour#Other_flours

On Sep 2, 9:45*pm, Manda Ruby > wrote:
> On Sep 2, 10:27*am, John Kane > wrote:
>
> > I think I may try making somesomosastomorrow and in looking at
> > various recipes on the net I noticed that some call for just normal
> > all purpose flour for the dough and some call for "all purpose flour
> > ( Maida precisely)"
>
> > Does anyone know if there is a serious difference between a regular
> > all-purpose flour and the Indian Maida flour for this?
>
> > I'm not necessarily going to go buy some Maida flour but the local
> > Halal shop does carry it so I can at least consider it.
>
> > Thanks
>
> > John Kane, Kingston ON Canada
>
> If I were you, I'd just buy this:http://www.jslfoods.com/site/product...pringroll.html
>
> All-purpose flour:http://www.ochef.com/97.htm
> All-purpose flour is made from a blend of high- and low-gluten wheats,
> and has a bit less protein than bread flour — 11% or 12% vs. 13% or
> 14%. You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour,
> although your results may not be as glorious as you had hoped.
>
> Maida flour:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maida_flour
>
> Maida flour is a finely-milled wheat flour used to make a wide variety
> of Indian breads such as paratha and naan. Maida is widely used not
> only in Indian cuisine but also in Central Asian and Southeast Asian
> cuisine.
>
> Though sometimes referred to as "all-purpose flour" by Indian chefs,
> it more closely resembles cake flour or even pure starch. In India,
> maida flour is used to make pastries and other bakery items such as
> bread, biscuits and toast.
>
> After the flour is ground in a flour mill (Chakki), it is passed
> through a fine mesh (600 mesh per square inch) to obtain maida.
>
> Pastry flours available in United States may be used as a substitute
> for maida.[1]
>
> Food made with maida is not considered to be particularly healthy in
> India as it lacks the fibre content present in the much more widely
> used wholewheat(atta) flour - hence, its use remains occasional.[by
> whom?]. Still, during festive days, especially in South India, maida
> is a common ingredient.
>
> Wheat flour:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_flour
> Other flour:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flour#Other_flours

Thanks Arria and Manda. The idea of using spring roll wrappers never
occured to me and I have a box of them in the freezer. Perhaps next
time although I found that it is so simple to make the dough that the
effort of finding the spring roll wrappers in the freezer may
discourage me.

The somosas turned out okay although I followed the extremely simple
recipe a bit too closely and ended up with about 20 thumb-sized
somosas when I wanted them bigger. I had the dough subsectioned and
decided it was way to difficult to get it back into larger balls when
I realised this so I had to make up some more dough to get the larger
size that I wanted.

If I can get just a kilo or so of maida I may give it a try anyway but
I'm not will to buy the 5 kilos that the local store had on display.
Note to self : Ask them about smaller quantities.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada