Types of flour and their substitutions

Lately, Culinary Tips has been getting a lot of searches for types of flour, substitutions of flour types, and uses of flour, so I’ve expanded the entry here on flour.  Hopefully this helps answer some questions.  If not, as always, drop us a comment below or email a question.

Firstly, to understand flour, it helps to understand its source, wheat.  There are several varieties of wheat, which I won’t delve into here.  They vary in colour, protein content, and texture.  The seed of which, has three distinct parts: the hull or bran, the endosperm, and the embryo or germ.  In whole wheat flour, the husk of the wheat grain is left on and ground, hence the term whole wheat.  In white flour is it removed, and only the endosperm and embryo are ground.

Inside flour are two important proteins that make baking possible – glutenin and gliadin.  When these are kneaded together in the presence of water, they interlink and form a network called gluten.  Gluten gives baked goods a chewy/firm texture, and captures the gases released from yeast during fermentation, and the carbon dioxide released from chemical leaveners in baking.

For many baking projects the right type of flour can make all the difference, but how do you know what the right type is? First lets discuss the types of flour, and what they are used for. The four basic types of wheat flour on the market are:

• All Purpose
• Cake and Pastry
• Bread
• and Self-Raising

Apart from self-raising, which has a chemical leavener (baking powder) already added, the others differ from each other in respect to how much protein is left in during the milling process.

Though there are many different proteins found in flour, the ones that are of concern to bakers are gliadin and glutenin. These proteins form gluten. Gluten is what makes dough elastic.  When making bread you want maximum gluten formation, so the CO2 from the yeast will have a place to stay, but when you’re making say, scones or pie dough, the less gluten the better so the product will not be chewy.

Strong / Hard / Bread Flour

Bread flour has the highest protein content of them all, and though it varies from brand to brand and place to place, the protein content is 12-14%.  It is often made using a type of wheat called Durum.  Due to the high protein content, when worked with water, the most gluten is formed resulting in a chewier product.  Strong flour is typically used for making pasta, bread, and other yeast leavened baked goods.  Strong flour is also the type that should be used when dusting a workbench because of the large particle size.  Unless you are using yeast in your product, or making pasta, consider another type of flour.

All Purpose Flour

Next in strength comes all purpose, which has an 8-10% protein content, putting it basically in the middle of the road when it comes to gluten forming potential.  It is a blend of hard and soft flours.  If you are going to be making a variety of products, but only want to buy one type of flour, this is the one for you.

Cake Flour / Pasty Flour

At the grocery store, you will often see a single product called Cake and Pastry Flour, with generally the lowest protein content of around 7-10%.  Cake and pastry flour has the lowest protein content of all common types of flour, and should be used in making products with a light texture as gluten development is to be avoided.  For example, using a high protein flour will make your cake tough, causing it to not rise when baked.

If you only have bread flour and you want some scones tonight, by all means use it, but be extra aware that the potential for chewy scones is higher with bread flour than cake flour. If you are making bread, and you only have cake flour, you may be in for a little more trouble. Soft bread depends on proper gluten development to trap the gases from the yeast, creating leavening, and therefore a nice soft crumb. With cake flour, there is only about half the protein in bread flour, so the potential for gluten development is lesser.  To get fully developed dough, you may have to knead for so long that the heat from the friction in the bowl kills the yeast, leaving you with a big sticky pile of mess.

Quite a few British recipes call for self-raising flour because in the UK, self raising flour is roughly the same price as regular flour.  For each cup of unleavened flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder. If you only have self-raising flour, and your recipe calls for regular, omit the baking powder and/or salt (if your flour already has it mixed in).