I don't know about you but I am always looking at recipes and noticing references to different flours. I mainly use all-purpose flour when baking, and I thought let me learn what the difference is between all these flours.
What is flour and why do we use it?
Flour is a baker's staple pantry ingredient. I always purchase it in bulk online or I buy it at my local store. When you go to purchase flour I am sure you see so many different brands and types. It can be hard to figure out which kind of flour you need. Do you pick bleached vs unbleached, bread vs cake vs all-purpose. I know it can get overwhelming. Let me help you out by explaining all these differences.
So flour. What is it? Flour is a powder substance that is ground from grains. The grains come from seeds that are harvested from cereal plants. The grain produces gluten which is a type of protein that is what we need as bakers or cooks to make our food grow and taste good! These grains go through a milling process to form the powder texture and that is the flour we purchase in our stores.
White vs. Wheat flour
The main difference between these two flours is the fiber content. Whole wheat flour has a higher fiber content compared to white. In general, when thinking about healthy food whole wheat flour is often favored over white flour because whole wheat flour is richer in nutrients that are important for your diet.
Unbleached flour vs. Bleached flour
Bleached flour is treated with chemical agents to speed up the aging process while unbleached flour will bleach as it ages. This does affect the color and grain of the flour and can have an effect on the baking process.
I would recommend always purchasing bleached flour and it is the standard for baking cookies, pie crusts, quick breads, muffins, and so on.
Cake Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour vs. Bread Flour
The main differences in flour varieties come down to protein content. In general, the flour will create most of the structure and texture of baked goods and also serves as a thickening agent in cooking.
Cake flour/Pastry flour - This kind of flour contains a relatively low amount of protein, which results in less gluten formation. Less gluten creates more of a fluffy and tender texture in baked goods. Therefore, cookies made with cake flour will be soft. You will normally use cake flour for making cakes because you are looking for a lighter texture.
Bread-flour - contains high protein which helps produce lots of gluten. Gluten-full flour produces excellent loaves of bread and gives the dough more elasticity. Cookies made with bread flour will come out ultra-chewy.
All-purpose flour - this is my go-to flour because it behaves predictably when baking. It has a medium amount of protein content so it is the perfect balance of gluten. All-purpose flour is ideal for forming a well-balanced cookie texture.
The brands. Which one do I prefer?
I grew up using King Arthur Flour and I tend to default to buying this brand. My two other favorite brands of flour are Bob's Red Mill and Gold Medal. Occasionally, I will use Pillsbury Best flour if that is what I can find in large quantities.
King Arthur flour mills their flour to a very controlled and consistent protein count of 11.7%. This means that you should get the same results every time you use King Arthur Flour. King Arthur Flour is reliable to use and you can purchase it in large quantities.
Bob’s Red Mill products are made at their manufacturing facility in Milwaukie, Oregon and it’s milled to a protein count range between 10-12%. It is consistently made and very reliable. I have found many local bakeries use Bob's Red Mill for pastries and breads because it produces superior results.
Gold Medal’s all-purpose flour is made with a mixture of hard and soft wheat, which results in a lower protein count at 10.5%. For me, Gold Medal is still consistent for my homemade baked goods so I often will buy it at my local store.
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