Embarking on your next baking endeavour? You probably have all-purpose flour, the workhorse of baking, but there are plenty of other, more specialised flours out there!
Even if you’re just starting to dabble in baking, it’ll help to have a basic understanding of flour varieties.
Tip: the biggest difference to consider is protein content, which is often referred to in percentages. When water interacts with the proteins, it forms elastic sheets of gluten, giving your baked goods the ability to rise! More protein means more gluten will be formed, and affect the amount of structure and chew you get.
At a glance: 4 main types of baking flour
|
Cake Flour |
Low Protein | Less Gluten | Great for cakes | Example :
Chocolate cake Chiffon Cake |
| All- Purpose Flour | Medium Protein | Moderate Gluten | Suitable for anything | Example: Biscuits
Scones |
| Bread Flour | High Protein | More Gluten Formation | Hardest texture
Great for Bread |
Example:
Banana Bread Focaccia Bread |
| Self-Raising Flour | Low protein | Less Gluten | Great for anything that needs a some raising agents | Examples:
Cookies Muffins |
All-purpose Flour
All-purpose flour, also known as refined flour is made from wheat grains after separating the brown covering. It is then milled, refined and bleached. All-purpose flour is usually translated as “plain flour” , containing 8% to 11% protein.
It is the most versatile flour among the others. It can provide structure to breads, but it is soft enough to produce tender baked goods such as cookies and pastries. All-purpose flour is commonly used in baking cakes, tarts, scones and other desserts.
If there is any flour that you should stock up in your kitchen, it’s definitely this one! Use either Gabrielle T Organic All Purpose Plain Flour for your bakes or premix for scones from Janice Wong’s Scone Premix.
Cake Flour
Cake flour is known to produce less gluten due to the low protein content of about 5% to 8% compared to all-purpose flour.
Cake flour is known to be finer, lighter and softer due to a bleaching process that further weakens the gluten proteins. This helps to alters the structure of the cake flour starch, increasing its capacity to absorb more liquid and sugar, thus ensuring a tender and fluffy texture leading to moist cake! Yum!
It’s ideal for making baked goods including cakes, muffins and brownies! Use Organic Wave Japanese High Quality Cake Flour to make your favourite dessert or premixes like Janice Wong’s Double Chocolate Brownie Premix for your brownies too!
Bread Flour
Always thought why your bread is soft and fluffy?
This is because of the gluten formed during kneading when using this high-protein flour. Bread flour is milled from hard spring wheat, which has a higher protein content of about 12% to 14% than the hard winter wheat used in all-purpose flour. Protein adds strength to the dough and enables loaves of bread to rise high, this enable the end results of the bread to be soft and chewy. Ideal for making sourdough, cinnamon roll & bagels!
Use Mamami Japanese High Quality Bread Flour or Gabrielle T Organic Bread Flour to make your desired fluffy and chewy bread!
Self-raising Flour
Self-raising flour is made by adding baking powder and salt to low-protein wheat flour during the milling process. It’s generally made from soft wheat with a protein content around 8% to 9%. We recommend to use the whole bag within 6 months from opening, to prevent the raising agent to lose it strength for that rise in your bakes!
It is ideal for making cakes, muffins, biscuits that need that little extra rising agent! Hence you can skip adding baking powder if you do not own one or ran out of them!
Use Blue Key Self Raising Flour for cakes and biscuits that need that extra lift!
