Lost in the grocery and looking for flour?

Flour is flour, right?  Nope.  There are as many different flours as there are uses for flour.  

So first, when you say flour what do you mean?  Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines flour as:

1 : a product consisting of finely milled wheat; also : a similar product made from another grain or food product (as dried potatoes or fish)

2: a fine soft powder 

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flour)

So, flour mostly applies to finely milled wheat in the baking sense, however, we use other flours such as rye, corn, and potatoto name a few in baking.

What is special about wheat flour?  Wheat contains two proteins, Glutanin and Gliadin.  When combined these form the protein GLUTEN.  This gluten is a very sticky, elastic protein that helps dough become, well, dough.  More on gluten some other day...(Note: some people are very sensitive to gluten and have Celiac's Disease, others have gluten intolerance.)

So, how does this apply to different flours?  The unique flours you find at a grocery all contain different levels of protein.  The variation in flour protein allows the baker to do different things with the flour.

The most common types of wheat flour and their uses are:

• All Purpose - The most common household flour about 11% protein.  Most useful home flour - also called Hotel & Restaurant Flour.  I like this for homemade cookies.
• Bread or Patent - a higher gluten flour about 13% protein, used primarily for bread, often contains malt - commonly used in professional bread bakeries.
• High Gluten - very high gluten flour, about 14% protein.  Used in pizza dough and certain breads.  Generally unavailable to consumers...please call us if you need some!
• Pastry - about 9% protein, used in pastries such as croissants, danish and puff pastry
• Cake - lowest gluten flour, about 7% protein.  Mostly used in cakes.

All these flours serve unique purposes and allow the baker to make the bread, pastry, or cake to behave in a desired fashion.  (For instance, a cake made with bread flour would be very chewy and undesirable but a cake made with cake flour will be soft and cut easily.)

So, the next time you are baking and wandering through the grocery you can look to this simple guide to find which flour you need for baking.  We recommend always using King Arthur Flours...

For much more detailed information go to http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/grains.html for some excellent information on grains and the flours they make.