Bread Flour Vs. All-purpose Flour Which Should You Use?

Monday, 17-Jan-2022 |

Bread Flour Vs. All-purpose Flour

When you take a peek in any pantry, you would come across a lot of food items such as bread, biscuits, cookies, muffins, cakes, and other delicious baked goodies. People use a wide range of flour types for baking and cooking various items. The commonly used flours are bread flour for bread and cake flour for pastries and cakes. You use all-purpose flour for baking scones, cookies, and biscuits. Expert bakers will explain that different flour has different properties, and therefore they are used for baking different items.

While baking a specific item, you would reach out to the grocery store to get the right flour. The confusion arises when you have to choose between bread flour and all-purpose flour. How will you know which one is best for you? What are the important factors that help you know which flour will give you the best results?

Let’s begin this informative article to understand the difference between these two and how to make an informed choice.

Understanding The Bread Flour

Bread Flour

When you are comparing bread flour with all-purpose flour, then the first thing you should note is that they are made from wheat grains. But the level of protein in each flour is different. The bread flour is made from the wheat kernel including the bran, germ, and endosperm. Due to this, the flour is a bit coarse in texture and has a yellowish shade. The protein level in the bread flour is more than 12 percent, whereas the protein content in all-purpose flour is less than 8 percent. When the protein content is more in bread flour, it will have high gluten content. Therefore, when you wish to prepare bread from bread flour, you do not need to add yeast or baking powder to increase the fluffiness.

Moreover, with bread flour, you will have a sturdy structure of the bread loaf and have a better taste. When you prepare dough with bread flour, you do not need water or juice (any other liquid) in high amounts. With a small amount of water, you can trigger the gluten that will easily trap the air fillers and give a fluffiness to the loaf.

Understanding The All-Purpose Flour

All-Purpose Flour

As you can easily get from the name—all-purpose flour is a versatile flour and can be used for preparing bread, cakes, pastries, muffins, biscuits, cookies, etc. When you think that you have space for just one flour in your kitchen, then most of us would get all-purpose flour.

The protein content in all-purpose flour is less than compared to bread flour. This means that the gluten formation will be in a lower quantity. You may also require adding yeast to the flour to impart fluffiness to the bread loaf. This also explains that you would need to add water, juice (any other liquid) in slightly larger quantities to trigger the gluten. As you are using all-purpose flour, there will be a difference in the texture of the bread loaf. It will be softer and have a loose structure. The best part of using all-purpose flour is that it is shelf-stable, and you do not have to worry excessively about storing the all-purpose flour.

But the shelf life of bread flour is short, and you need to store it in an airtight container to ensure that it does not become rancid. When you know everything about the all-purpose flour and bread flour, it’s time to understand other essential things. Can you use all-purpose flour in place of bread flour in a baking recipe?

This is one of the most common questions that all the bakers would ask. Usually, all-purpose flour is commonly available in the kitchen and is a versatile flour. If it can be used instead of bread flour, this problem would be resolved for many people.

Whether you can substitute the all-purpose flour for bread flour? Yes, you can! But make sure, while you are using all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, use it in moderation. Always start by adding in smaller quantities. Also, ensure that the water you are adding is in proportion. Bread flour requires less water and all-purpose flour requires more water. It is better that you measure all the ingredients and then adds them accordingly.

Summary

If you want to get all-purpose flour and bread flour in bulk, you will find it at US Flour. They are the leading suppliers of a wide range of flour in the US. The products are of high quality, and you will get the bulk flour at affordable rates.