I’ve by no means identified my dad and mom’ pantry to be with out massive (very massive) baggage of all-purpose flour and bread flour. Once I was rising up, my mother would usually use AP flour to make a easy dough for manaeesh, a Center Japanese spherical flatbread sometimes topped with cheese or za’atar. She normally used bread flour every time we determined to make a home made pizza, and I at all times observed that we went by it at a a lot slower tempo than all-purpose flour, however I did not totally grasp the distinction between the 2 varieties of flour till I grew to become an editor at Critical Eats.
Each bread flour and all-purpose flour have particular makes use of within the kitchen, and it’s vital to understand how their variations can have an effect on your baking and cooking—as a result of they will have an effect on it very a lot. “The rule of thumb isn’t change one type of flour with one other in a recipe—it could possibly actually mess issues up,” says Editorial Director Daniel, who by no means misses an opportunity to nerd out concerning the science of proteins in flour. I additionally spoke with Culinary Editor Genevieve, who has educated and labored as a baker, to study extra about these variations and easy methods to use every in recipes.
The Key Distinction Between All-Function and Bread Flour and All-Function Flour: It is All About Protein
The largest distinction between all-purpose and bread flours is their protein content material. The protein content material in bread flour ranges from 12 to 14%, the best amongst refined wheat flours. All-purpose flour, then again, comprises a reasonable protein content material of 9 to 12%, making it a way more versatile flour choice. These protein ranges instantly relate to how a lot gluten the flours can produce, which determines the construction and chewiness of the completed baked items.
Critical Eats / Vicky Wasik
Gluten is shaped when two proteins, glutenin and gliadin, are blended with water or one other water-based liquid. The upper the protein content material, the extra gluten growth there might be. Decrease-protein flours are preferable for tender baked items like muffins, biscuits, cookies, and muffins, for instance, since an excessive amount of gluten would make them more durable and chewier. Increased-protein flours, then again, can produce stronger, extra elastic doughs which are essential for a greater crumb and rise in crusty breads, pizza doughs, and bagels—it is the energy and elasticity of a high-gluten dough that improves its capability to entice gasoline bubbles and kind puffy air pockets throughout baking.
The difficult factor about bread and AP flours is that there are not any strict guidelines, which means the precise protein proportion relies on the model. For this reason our recipes typically name out sure manufacturers of flour. For instance, King Arthur sells an all-purpose flour that has an unusually excessive protein content material verging on bread flour ranges. As a lot as we love King Arthur merchandise, we are inclined to keep away from their AP flour for that reason—it is simply an excessive amount of of an outlier. (Our baguette recipe is only one exception to this, because it requires a high-protein AP flour for a correct crisp and tender texture, and King Arthur, with its higher-than-normal 11.7% protein quantity, suits the invoice.)
A safer guess for AP flour is a model like Gold Medal, which is 10.5% protein, a pleasant candy spot so far as all-purpose flours go (and no, they don’t seem to be paying us to say this!). For breads the place you need a extra tender texture, go for AP flour with a decrease protein content material, like White Lily.
Widespread Makes use of for Bread Flour and All-Function Flour
There are not any hard-and-fast guidelines about whether or not it’s best to use bread or AP flour in any given recipe—within the fingers of a educated baker, many recipes might be made to work both approach, and AP flour particularly is a flexible flour that may seem in recipes starting from delicate pastries to hearty sourdough loaves (it’s all-purpose, in any case). That stated, the 2 flours have totally different benefits that may make them kind of applicable for varied recipes.
Critical Eats / Vicky Wasik
Bread flour, because the identify suggests, is used to make sturdier doughs for breads, bagels, and pizza; bread flour might also seem in recipes for extra tender, fat-rich doughs like challah as a result of their fats content material inhibits gluten formation, one thing of a balancing act that helps to reach at a loaf that is each tender but in addition substantive. Nonetheless, not all bread recipes require bread flour. Fluffier breads (each candy and savory) like focaccia and cinnamon rolls lean on AP flour, however in case you’re desirous about making challah or sure flatbreads often, you then’ll wish to maintain a bag of bread flour readily available.
Critical Eats / Vicky Wasik
All-purpose flour is a extra versatile flour, and is commonly a most well-liked alternative for recipe builders, together with our personal, because it’s protected to imagine most individuals have already got it of their pantry. “There is a cause it is referred to as all-purpose,” says Genevieve. “I take advantage of it for many baking” A lot of our bread recipes, together with white bread, sourdough, and Parker House rolls, name for AP flour because it’s potential to formulate nice recipes utilizing it with out requiring one thing like bread flour, which house cooks are much less more likely to have at house.
Can You Substitute All-Function for Bread Flour, and Vice Versa?
It’s at all times finest to observe recipe pointers, and we don’t suggest swapping one flour for the opposite until you’re a talented baker and know easy methods to modify accordingly—the protein distinction between bread and all-purpose flour means they usually require totally different ranges of hydration and strategies of dealing with. It’s often not so simple as a 1:1 swap. Nonetheless, we’ve previously tested mixing AP flour with vital wheat gluten as an alternative choice to bread flour, and it really works in a pinch (this was particularly useful through the pandemic, when everybody was making sourdough and bread flour was often out of inventory).
“Recipes with flour are formulated fastidiously for a selected kind of flour and swapping one for an additional is by no means a given,” says Daniel. “When you do swap, be ready to not be glad along with your outcomes, and blame nobody however your self.” Genevieve provides that in case you swap bread flour rather than AP flour, “anticipate no matter you’re making to be fairly bready. Which is perhaps fantastic for a bran muffin or banana muffin however in all probability not ideally suited if that is not what you are going for.”
The Takeaway
Bread and all-purpose flour differ of their protein contents. Bread flour comprises a spread of 12 to 14% protein, whereas all-purpose flour is barely decrease at 9 to 12%. This distinction in protein could appear small, however it could possibly produce remarkably totally different outcomes. This implies it’s vital to make use of the appropriate kind of flour referred to as for in a recipe to make sure the very best outcomes. So whereas I do know I’ll undergo a bag of AP flour a lot faster than bread flour—particularly with all of the manaeesh my mother makes—I at all times maintain bread flour readily available for every time it is time for a pizza night time.
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