Marilyn, trying to research online the effects of phosphorus on seeds made my head bizzy and I didn't get very far. My personal theory, based on mostly what I know of corn, grass and soybean production and the like would be that large doses of Phosphorus would increase blossoms at the expense of decreased seed. I don't think it would stop seed production, just set it back. My other personal theory is that some fertilizer being helpful doesn't mean three times as much is necessarily better than just enough. Right now while it's so dry here, I'm thinking how easy it would be to completely burn up every annual in the garden with a big dose of Nitrogen without adequate water. Nell Oh yeah, for increased seed production (more beans?), you'd use a fertilizer with more Potassium, like 5-10-15 -- or a careful dose of wood ashes. Fertilizer 'speriments would make a good science project, wouldn't they?

Put me down as another person who uses unbleached flour. I see no difference between its performance and the "bleached" variety. I like the "no chemicals" aspect. I have an apple crumble in the oven right now. The "crumble" is made with unbleached flour. Sometimes I use the whole wheat, too.

Great information already posted... Here's an expanded version. Flour 101- -The more protein, the lighter the yeast bread - up to a point. Too much protein (gluten) will make bread tough, which is why commercial flour is a combination of protein levels so that it has an average amount correct for different baking needs. -There are two types of protein that make up the gluten group - glutenins and gliadins. This is what we generally call "gluten". Glutenins provide the elastic quality that allows bread dough to expand. Gliadins play a secondary roll by contributing to the viscosity and extensibility of bread dough. -Although durum wheat has the highest amount of protein of all wheat types, the main protein in durum wheat is gliadin, which makes it excellent for pasta, not bread, because of the viscosity and extensibility. This is the type of wheat I use for wholegrain pasta. -Bread flour is highest in the protein glutenins (great for yeast breads), milled from hard wheat varieties. -All-purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheat so that it fits a protein profile that suits "all-purposes" for general baking. A little too much protein for really fine cakes, a little less protein than needed for really good bread. A middle-of-the-road flour. (Source: CookWise by Shirley O. Corriher) Percentage of protein.... Durum wheat - 13-13.5% protein - used for pasta Bread flour - 11.5-12.5% - use for yeast breads, pasta, pizza Northern unbleached all-purpose flour (King Arthur) - 11.7% - use for yeast breads, cream puffs, puff pastry, pasta, pizza Northern all-purpose flour (Robin Hood, Hecker's)- 11.7% - 11-12% - use for yeast breads, cream puffs, puff pastry National brand unbleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) - 10-12% - yeast breads, cream puffs National brand bleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) - 9.5-12% - biscuits, quick breads, muffins Bleached Southern all-purpose flour (White Lily, Martha White, Gladiola, Red Band) - 7.5-9.5% - Pie crusts, biscuits, quick breads, muffins Cake flour - 7.5-8.5% - Cakes, quick breads, muffins, pancakes ------------------------ Whole grain flour can have as much or more gluten than commercial flours. I'm using hard white winter wheat that has 13.1% protein - excellent for yeast breads. I've worked with wheat that had 16% protein levels. It takes more kneading to develop the gluten in high-protein wheat varieties and you won't get as tender a crumb as you do with lower protein levels. I also mill soft wheat for pastry, biscuits, cakes, quick breads; or mixtures of low-gluten flour (spelt) and hard wheat to make "all-purpose" protein levels when I need lower-gluten flour (cookies, quick breads, etc.). For low-gluten "cake" flour, I use a 3:1 mixture of soft white wheat and oats (or spelt) for fine cakes like chiffon or angel food. -Grainlady

As plllog pointed out, there are many degrees of fineness to the grind, but semolina is generally a medium to coarse grind (think of the round gritty stuff on the bottoms of English Muffins - that is often semolina flour) milled from durum wheat, with the bran and germ removed leaving the starchy endosperm to be milled. I've milled my own wholegrain version of it using whole durum grain so I could control the size of the grind I needed for 100%wholegrain pasta and noodles. I also like to use semolina when a recipe suggests using cornmeal on the bottom of English Muffins or breads. Semolina doesn't burn as easily in a hot oven as corn meal. Durum wheat is an extra hard, high-protein variety of wheat, but it has milling characteristics best used for pasta and noodles due to the higher amount of the protein gliadin, than glutenins (which are the two types of protein that make up the "gluten group"). Gliadin contributes to the viscosity and extensibility of the durum wheat flour - which is great for the strength needed for making pasta. High-protein hard white and hard red wheat varieties contain more glutenins of the gluten group - which are best for making yeast bread. All-purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheat. You use a medium to coarse grind of durum wheat for making pasta, and a fine flour grind of durum for making noodles. Although that's left mainly to commercial products these days, and those of us who do home-milling and want to use the "correct" type of flour for pasta/noodles. Durum wheat flour, unless it's hard amber durum, doesn't make good yeast breads. Durum wheat actually has 3 subclasses that reflect the percentage of hardness of the kernels and the presence of amber color, as well as the amount of gliadin and glutenins (needed for making yeast breads). -Grainlady