Bread Flour vs All-Purpose Flour

Bread flour and all-purpose flour have been widely used in making bread, pastry, cakes and other kinds of food. Although bread flour may be used in lieu of all-purpose flour, one must know that results may be different from its intended purpose. This is because bread flour and all-purpose flour vary widely in one aspect that really matters.

Bread flour

Gluten is a protein found in food made of wheat, barley and rye which makes dough more elastic. It also helps dough to rise and retain its shape. Bread flour is high-gluten flour. It contains 12%-14% protein. This gives bread a harder, chewy bite to it. Most breads and pizza crust recipes call for bread flour since both aim to get lofty results. Bread flour is also useful in boosting other grains where it gives added lift.

All purpose flour

All purpose flour has a bit less protein present compared to bread flour which is around 11%-12%. It is usually made from a mixture of high and low gluten wheat. Therefore, using all-purpose flour can result to softer crumbs. Thus, it is mostly used in making cakes and other pastries that are soft in nature.

Difference between Bread flour and All-purpose flour

Bread and all-purpose flour may be substitutes with each other. However, before doing so, one must know what result such substitute would give to the end product. Therefore, knowing what one wants to achieve in the end will definitely matter in deciding, whether to use a substitute or not. For example, if you want to bake a pastry that normally uses all-purpose flour but you run out, and so decided to use bread flour instead, you should expect a difference in texture when the pastry is done baking. However, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the taste will change as well. So this substitution would probably work out well.

Everything really depends on what you want to achieve from your baked products. If you want the loftiness of a pastry, then you would want to use bread flour. But if you prefer soft, easy-to-mouth kind, then all-purpose flour is your best choice.

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