What is the difference between bakers flour and plain flour

How to Read a Recipe. Why We Use Unsalted Butter. Thankfully, the bakers at King Arthur Flour came to the rescue… and they really do have all the answers. They do. Real baking stuff! The specific protein contents below are specific to King Arthur Flour which really is the only flour I use in my kitchen. If your protein levels fluctuate, your end product will fluctuate, and customers tend to want the same awesome biscuit every single time.

King Arthur Flour has some of the tightest milling specs in the industry which means their bags of flour are consistently great every single time, plus all of their flours are unbleached, too! Where does flour come from? A wheat berry is divided into three parts: bran, endosperm, and germ. Whole wheat flours contain the entire wheat berry while white flour variations contain only the endosperm of the wheat berry.

The bran is the hard outer shell of the wheat berry. Bran is like the shell of an egg. Once that shell is broken it adds small sharp shards of bran to milled flour. These small bran shards are also known as fiber! The germ is very inside of the wheat berry. Think of it as similar to the yolk of an egg because both the wheat germ and egg yolks contain fat.

Because whole wheat flour contains the whole wheat berry bran, endosperm, and germ , it can sometimes go rancid or sour.

It can spoil! Rancid flour tastes bitter which can be prevented by storing whole wheat flour in the freezer! The endosperm is the inside body of the wheat berry and makes up most of the mass of the wheat berry. Only the endosperm is used in the milling of white flours. Flour has protein. There are two proteins present in the endosperm of the wheat berry: gliadin and glutenin. Once liquid is added to flour, the proteins are transformed into gluten. When the carbon dioxide is trapped within the gluten strand mesh it creates a sturdy, reliable dough.

All-Purpose Flour: The name really says it all with all-purpose flour. This flour is great for just about everything! King Arthur All-Purpose Flour has a middle-of-the-road protein content of This allows for the flour to be sturdy enough to hold its structure in a yeasted bread and light enough to produce an easy crumb in a layer cake.

I always have a giant container of all-purpose flour in pantry and I find that I use it for absolutely everything. Whole Wheat Flour: Whole wheat flour means business. It is made by milling the entire wheat berry, not just the endosperm. What's the difference between cake flour, bread flour, and all-purpose flour? Is it okay to use all-purpose flour for everything? The main difference among flour types is in the gluten content, which varies depending on whether the flour is made from hard wheat or soft wheat.

Gluten is the protein that helps yeast stretch and rise. To achieve the best baking results, use the type of flour a recipe specifically calls for. All-purpose flour is designed for a number of uses, including cookies, quick breads, biscuits, and cakes.

A mixture of high-gluten hard wheat and low-gluten soft wheat, it comes in both bleached and unbleached forms, which can be used interchangeably. Bread flour is an unbleached, high-gluten blend of mostly hard wheat and is best used in yeast breads. Cake flour is made predominantly of soft wheat. Its fine texture and high starch content make it ideal for making tender cakes, cookies, biscuits, and pastries that do not need to stretch and rise much.

Pastry flour is similar to cake flour but has a slightly higher gluten content. This aids the elasticity needed to hold together the buttery layers in flaky doughs such as croissants, puff pastry, and pie crusts. Self-rising flour is all-purpose flour that has had baking powder and salt added to it.

Use it in yeast bread recipes in place of all-purpose flour by omitting salt , and in quick bread recipes by omitting salt and baking powder. How much cake flour should I use in place of pastry flour? Also, will the amount of baking powder, baking soda, or salt need to be changed? Pastry flour and cake flour are both milled from soft wheat and have lower protein levels, which makes them more suitable for items that need to be tender, such as cakes, pies, and pastries.

However, recipes call for specific types of flour for a reason. At 6 percent to 8 percent, cake flour has a lower protein level than pastry flour, which ranges from 8 percent to 10 percent protein. In the past, wheat was left to mature in the field, and flour was stored in silos for a while, allowing the oxygen in the air to bleach the flour naturally. Unbleached flour, on the other hand, is suitable for yeast breads, Danish pastries, puff pastries etc. It is also used for coating food prior to frying in order to give them a crispy exterior.

Plain flour is also used as thickening agents for soups, broths etc. Plain flour binds mixtures together while giving it structure and is also ideal for making unleavened bread like naan and other kinds of Indian bread. Different recipes call for different flours; be it for texture, taste or other qualities that are important for each dish. The variety of flours that exist in the world is so diverse that it is quite easy to get confused between these types.