The bran in whole wheat flour impairs the gluten, so using a flour with more gluten can benefit the loaf's structure and rise. Oftentimes bread flour or all-purpose flour is substituted for some of the whole wheat flour to help give whole grain loaves a boost. (Remember to fluff and sprinkle your flour or use a scale to measure by weight.) Whole wheat bread So go ahead and use bread flour in the recipe, same amount as all-purpose. If you look closely at the crumb (the small holes that create the structure of the bread), you might see that the bread flour loaf on the right has slightly smaller holes, or what we call a “tighter crumb.” Granted, the difference was quite small.īoth versions were perfect candidates for thick slices of toast slathered with butter and jam. Now you might be wondering if there were any surprises inside of these loaves. As you can see, both of these loaves are worthy of making a perfect BLT. This is because dough made with bread flour absorbs slightly more liquid (due to the flour's higher protein level), so it's stiffer the resulting loaf rises upwards rather than outwards.ĭon’t worry, the difference in absorption isn’t enough to cause textural problems or hinder the rise of your loaf. The bread flour loaf, on the other hand, held its shape. These two beautiful loaves came out of the oven. They rose about the same amount, but you can see the all-purpose version mushroomed a bit over the sides of the pan. Our Classic Sandwich Bread recipe made with all-purpose flour on the left the same recipe made with bread flour on the right. I tried the recipe with both all-purpose and bread flour to see what would happen. (Plus, you might want a little more chew to make those BLTs you've been dreaming about.) But say you've got half a bag of bread flour to use up. This buxom loaf calls for all-purpose flour. It's the kind of bread that makes your toes curl under (in a good way!) when you butter up a slice. There’s no better place to start than our Classic Sandwich Bread. So I headed to the test kitchen to see exactly what would happen when I substitute bread flour for all-purpose flour in some of our favorite bread recipes. That's the next logical question eager callers ask.īefore responding with a resounding “Yes,” a few of us hotline bakers thought some testing was in order. “So can I use bread flour in a recipe that calls for all-purpose flour?” Our bread flour checks in at 12.7% protein, while our all-purpose flour is at 11.7%. Protein adds strength to dough and enables loaves of bread to rise high. It's a question we hear almost every day on the hotline.īread flour is milled from hard spring wheat, which has a higher protein content than the hard winter wheat used in all-purpose flour. “How is bread flour different from all-purpose flour?” That way when there's a sudden need for fresh bread (which happens often in my family), you'll be ready to go – no need to pick up the phone. Can you reach for the blue bag? Give us a call! We’re happy to help.Īnd while we love hearing your baking conundrums on the hotline, we also want to give you the tools you need to make informed decisions on your own. Like when you only have bread flour in the house, but the recipe you’ve been dying to make calls for all-purpose flour. You can always check the back of the bag, where you'll find the number to our Baker’s Hotline, 855-371-BAKE(2253). We're here whenever you find yourself stumped in the kitchen. Regardless of how it gets there, once bread flour is in your pantry you might wonder about its potential – what can you actually do with bread flour? How can you substitute bread flour for all-purpose flour? Or maybe there was just something enticing about the blue bag that called to you, promising you lofty loaves of homemade bread. Or perhaps there’s a big snowstorm coming, and bread flour was all that was left in the supermarket. Maybe someone else did the grocery shopping and didn't know there was a difference between bread flour and all-purpose. There are countless reasons you may end up with a distinctive blue bag of King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour on your pantry shelf. Is it okay to substitute bread flour for all-purpose flour?' 'I want to make a bread recipe that calls for all-purpose flour, and all I have on my shelf right now is bread flour.

Best all porpose table tool