I got asked the other day to explain the differences between plain flour and bread flour, as a colleague had been confused by the variety on the shelf in the supermarket. I got to thinking (dangerous I know!) that those new to baking may find the choices daunting, and even if you have been baking a while, picking the perfect flour can be a bit confusing. I took the liberty to list what I know, in addition to some additional research on your behalf.

Flour is a powder that is created when you grind cereal grains or roots. Predominantly used to make different forms of bread, it is a main staple of many cultures diet’s all over the globe. Did you know that it is combustible? Flour dust is a hazardous cloud of extremely fine flour that becomes suspended in the air and is often produced in the milling of the grains. All fine powders are combustible, but the starch in flour causes it to burn hot. Prior to modern milling techniques, mills were a dangerous place to work as they occasionally blew up.

Terminology Bleached/Unbleached Stone-ground Gluten Wheat Flours Plain/All-purpose Flour Self-raising Flour Cake Flour Strong White Flour/Bread Flour Wholemeal Flour/Whole-wheat Flour Brown Flour Spelt Flour ’00’ Flour Non-wheat Flours Rye Flour Rice Flour Corn Flour

Bleached/Unbleached

Wheat flour is often bleached using various chemicals. Flour that has been bleached is much paler in colour than its unbleached counterpart. It can also absorb more moisture and sugar than standard flour and will produce a very light, soft texture. A lot of the nutrients are lost in this process, but additional nutrients are added back in following the bleaching.

Stone-ground

Milling of flour is accomplished by grinding grain between stones or steel wheels. Today, “stone-ground” usually means that the grain has been ground in a mill in which a revolving stone wheel turns over a stationary stone wheel, vertically or horizontally with the grain in between. Much of the nutrients are removed by the mass-produced roller-ground method. Stone-grinding preserves these nutrients so that the flour is more healthy.

Gluten

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Technically, some form of gluten is found in all grains, so it’s not really correct to refer to other grains as “gluten-free”. Flours made from wheat, barley, rye or their derivatives are best avoided by people with coeliac disease. Corn, oats and rice are usually sufficiently lower in gluten protein to be considered gluten-free.

The development of gluten by kneading affects the texture of your baked goods.  More refining of the gluten leads to chewier products such as pizza and bagels, while less refining yields tender baked goods such as pastry products. The formation of gluten strands and cross-links are essential in baking bread, as the proteins trap the carbon dioxide produced as the yeast ferments, resulting in a nice strong rise.

Plain Flour

Plain flour is probably the most common and most versatile of flours, and known in the US as All-purpose flour. Made from wheat, is contains no leavening agents and so makes it perfect for dredging, or thickening soups and gravies. It is more commonly sold bleached, but can be found unbleached. It can be used for bread and pizza bases as yeast provides the necessary leavening. It is extremely versatile in baking because the amount of leavening agents added (such as baking powder or bicarbonate of soda) can be regulated by the baker. It has a high amount of protein (gluten), about 12.5-14% compared to 10-12% in All-purpose flour.

Self-raising Flour

Self-raising flour is essentially the same as Plain flour, except that chemical leavening agents have been pre-mixed (usually salt and baking powder). This flour is perfect for scones, biscuits, and cakes and muffins where an even rise is desirable.

Cake Flour

Cake flour is more finely milled that Plain or All-purpose flour. It has very low gluten content (usually around 6% to 8%), making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher gluten content of other flours can make the cakes tough. It is not readily available in the UK, although some specialists may stock it. You can create a substitute by replacing 12% (12g per 100g) of your plain flour with cornflour/cornstarch, and sifting together several times.

Strong White Bread Flour

Strong White Flour, or Bread Flour, is always made from hard wheat. It has a very high protein content, between 10% and 13%, making it excellent for yeast bread baking. It can be white or whole wheat or somewhere in between.

Wholemeal/Whole-wheat Flour

As the name suggests, Wholemeal and Whole-wheat flour is made from the whole grain of the wheat, known as the wheat-berry, including the bran, endosperm, and germ. There is no real difference between whole-wheat and wholemeal flour, unless the packaging on wholemeal flour states that barley and/or rye are added to the wheat. Although, wholemeal flour is more likely to be roller-milled than stone-ground, and to which the bulk of the bran and wheat germ removed by the roller-milling process has been returned. In the United Kingdom, whole-wheat flour is more commonly made from white wheat (9%-11% protein) instead of red (15%-16%) as in the United States.

Brown Flour

Brown flour is white flour to which a percentage of bran has been added (usually 10-15% bran), this bran may be either fine or coarse, so it may be called ‘fine brown flour’

Spelt Flour

Spelt Flour is a flour produced from the type of wheat called spelt. It is less commonly used in modern cooking than other wheat varieties but is still used for specialty baking. It has a mild nutty flavour. It has moderate levels of protein, so not suitable with coeliac disease.

‘OO’ Flour

‘OO’ Flour is an Italian flour where millers grade their flour by using a ‘zero’ rating. A single zero flour is coarse in texture,whereas triple zero is much finer, like cornflour/cornstarch. But everyday flour is usually classed as double zero, or ‘OO’. Millers will then combine different wheat varieties to make flour to suit different purposes. It is often lower in protein than most British flours and so produces a much crisper crust in bread, and a finer texture in cakes.

Rye Flour

Rye Flour is often used to bake the traditional sourdough breads of central Europe and Scandinavia. Most rye breads use a mix of rye and wheat flours because rye does not produce sufficient gluten

Rice Flour

Rice Flour is made of ground kernels of rice. It is used in Western countries and especially for people who suffer from gluten intolerance, since rice does not contain gluten. Brown rice flour has higher nutritional value than white rice flour

Corn Flour

(maize) flour is popular in the Southern and Southwestern US, and Mexico. Coarse whole-grain corn flour is usually called corn meal. Finely ground corn flour that has been treated with food-grade lime is called masa harina and is used to make tortillas and tamales in Mexican cooking. Corn flour should never be confused with cornflour/cornstarch.