"bread flour"

Bread flour is white flour that has a relatively high percentage of protein (gluten--or, more specifically, gluten-forming proteins). Bread flour has the highest levels of the generally available flours, cake the lowest. All-purpose is a compromise for between the different sorts. However, there are no standards for gluten content; you might find that the all purpose flour sold in Canada is as high in gluten as the bread flour in the southern US. See how it works out for you; supermarkets also sell vital wheat gluten, which can be used to raise the gluten content of flour. I believe that lower gluten flours are generally used in Europe, but I don't know if a bread machine is more likely to reqiore "bread" flour.

Strange. Your supermarket should carry bread flour which is higher in gluten than AP. It is often labelled "best for bread". The popularity of bread machines means that supermarkets usually carry several brands including their own. If you get really keen on bread baking, you might try the Loblaw's "wholesale" outlet (?Great Canadian...) which sells bakers' flour in 20kg sacks for about $11.

Friends of mine with a bread machine, here in Calgary, use AP flour with good results. The protein value of this is about 12% compared with 14-15% for some bread flour. However, in Europe, great bread is made with 10% levels.

Graham

Bread flour contains more gluten than all-purpose ("AP") flour. It should work OK in your bread machine, but gluten adds strength to your bread's structure and provides the elasticity (stretch) during the kneading process. This, in turn, better traps the bubbles of gas given off by the yeast and can improve the rise of your bread.

Machine kneading in bread machines can give dough much more of a beating than hand kneading. The extra gluten in bread flour helps assure that the dough maintains sufficient stretch without breaking.

You can buy "Vital Wheat Gluten" which has been extracted from wheat flour by a washing process. It is a fine white powder which is sold in boxes or bags of a few ounces. You can add this to your AP flour at a ratio of about 1 teaspoon per cup of flour.

Arrowhead Mills (box) and Bob's Red Mill (celo bag) are two suppliers of vital wheat gluten. You can find the stuff in health food stores and sometimes in supermarkets with the baking supplies. Here is a description and photo of the Arrowhead Mills product:

is also available from King Arthur Flour's Bakers' Catalog. A 10-ounce box sells for around US$3.00 and you might want to experiment with it to see if you like the result or if it doesn't seem to make any difference in your recipes.

Cheers, The Old Bear

In Commodity Fact Sheet page (check in fas.usda.gov) The minimum protein level for bread flour is 11.3%

In theartisan.net, their preferred flour is an unbleached all-purpose flour, ranging in protein content from 9.8 - 11% for making Italian bread.

Using AP flour in bread-machine baking is fine. But if you want to mix with whole wheat flour or rye flour, it's better to use bread flour or add a little vital wheat gluten into your AP flour.

You can check the label when buying flour in the supermarket.

I wish you enjoy baking.

Hi: Bread flower has a higher nitrogen content than all purpose. Bread flower dough must be kneaded in a bread machine or a mixer (like the kitchen aid). It is available in the supermarkets and is often labled for bread making machines. All purpose flower will work but the bread does not have as good a consistency (crumb). You can get bread flower (and many others) from the King Arthur company in the US. You can locate their address on the web.

Joe

It's okay, Joe. I'm from Rochester, so I understand the tendency to use "flower" and "flour" interchangeably.

For those not in the know, Rochester NY is known as both the "Flower City" and the "Flour City."

I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard that bread flour has added to it, citric acid (vitamin c) powder to make it bread flour.

I tried adding the teeniest pinch of citric acid to my all-purpose flour for a pizza crust, instead of using bread flour which seems to make it a little too bubbly for my tastes. The addition of the citric acid did change my crust.

Big imagination? Dee

It may change the texture of the dough but you did NOT make bread flour out of All Purpose flour. The difference between bread flour and all purpose flour is the protein content. Bread flour has more. However, I don't know of any 'official' value that allows one to call flour bread flour. Most bread flour I believe is in the 14-16% protien range while All Purpose flour is in the 9-11% range. However, I believe some flours are in the 12% and are used for either flour.

Furthermore, ASCORBIC not citric acid is vitamin C. Minute amounts are added in the "dough conditioners" to aid the yeasty-beasties to breed but they don't turn an AP flour into a bread flour. Graham

Howdy,

I would add a comment to this...

It is often unnecessary (or even undesirable) to use "bread" flour for making bread. Most of the classic French breads are made with wheat flours so low in protein that they would not be described as "bread flour" by the American millers.

HTH,

Just to piggy-back on this, Carol Field recommends all purpose flour for the breads in her book, "The Italian Baker."

Barry

Oops - sorry - I meant "ascorbic acid." not "citric" acid. Dee

Perhaps this is what I mistakenly thought about bread flour being all-purpose with the addition of ascorbic acid. It is at

"Some bread flour has ascorbic

acid added, some doesn't. I used to be able to choose from four or five

different brands of bread flour, but now I have to take what I can get!

But, adding a little ascorbic acid gives your bread an extra boost, even if

there's already some in the flour. I add some if I want an especially

light loaf, it makes the bread less dense. The acidity is also supposed to

make the bread last longer."

Thanks,

Dee

Yeah, big imagination. Try checking out difference in protein/gluten levels. THAT is the real diff between bread flour and AP.

According to things I have read, the amount of ascorbic acid added by those large-scale bakeries that use it is something on the order of one-eighth ounce to 100 pounds of flour. And I think, if anything, I've overstated the amount.

So the notion of someone throwing in a quarter of a vitamin C tablet for a batch of bread dough is pretty amusing. I guess if a little is good, then a lot is great, eh.

Barry

Check out the Artisan site for a good discussion on flour.

Also

for a complete description of all General Mills flours. Attached to each description is a specification sheet showing what is in each flour. The specifics may be different between GM flours and other millers, but the relative characteristics between the various flours will hold -- all purpose vs artisan vs bread flour.

Barry

Big Imagination calling -- ring, ring!

Now, this is not ALL the time, but when I have bought some baked bread at stores where I've paid $4-6 a loaf, I would describe the bread as "lifeless." I have attributed that in the past to the quality of their flour and have tried to buy good flour for my own baking.

Now I am using exclusively King Arthur, because I feel that is the best I can find. I know that price is not always an indicator, but GM can be found at half the price of KA in the same store (Well, I can't be precise in the percentage difference, but I know it is a LOT of difference.) But I always buy KA because I "buy" into their advertisement for their product, as well.

I have used GM for pizza's in the last couple of years (and, of course, it can be my own lack of expertise) but I didn't use the whole bag because I found it had that lifeless taste.

Big Imagination, Dee

I guess we're destined to have a flour thread every three or four months.

Barry