Difference Between Bread flour and All-purpose flour

Bread flour vs All-purpose flour

Flours may all look the same but they serve different purposes. There are more than a couple of flours and among these are all-purpose flour and bread flour. Though both are used for baking and other types of cooking, bread flour and all-purpose flour differ in their composition and in a number of other ways.

Types of flours differ in the quantity of wheat germ and bran that are milled with it. The type of wheat also plays a role. Both all purpose flour and bread flour are sub-types of wheat flour. The difference lies in the source material, production and nutritional value. Accordingly, the usage of all purpose flour and bread flour varies. All-purpose flour can be made from combining grounded low and high gluten wheat varieties. A type of hard wheat which is a hard spring crop is made to produce bread flour. Rye and barley can also be added to produce bread flour.

Bread flour is good for making breads and pastries. It has 12 to 14 percent protein content and is highly glutinous, which is why it rises and forms its shape. Bread flour is made from hard wheat flour . All-purpose flour, on the other hand, contains 10 to 12 percent protein. It is made from a combination of soft and hard wheat flours and can also be bleached or unbleached. Southern brands of bleached flour only have 8 percent of protein because they are made from soft winter wheat. An all-purpose flour is best for making cookies, breads, cakes and pastries.

Gluten is what binds bread dough together after the addition of water and after kneading. These are strands of amino acid protein and are created through mechanical mixing. Protein content of flours determines their gluten property. This is the reason why bread flours are better for soft breads and yeast bread baking. The chains of gluten allow the dough to capture gasses during the process of leavening and cooking, because of this, bread flour is not recommended for biscuits, pie crusts and other hard breads because they turn out chewy and tough in the end.
When you want to make chocolate chips and other cookies, an all-purpose flour should be used. Since it is for all or general purposes, all-purpose flour can also be used to make pizza doughs and rolls and other kinds of crusty breads. The gluten content also determines the price of flours. With this being the case, an all-purpose flour is generally less expensive than bread flour which has a higher gluten content.
If bread flour is not available, an all-purpose flour can be used as a substitute. However, you will not get the results you expect when using this as a substitute. In most cases, these two should not be interchanged. Cakes made from all-purpose flour would have a very disappointing result than cakes made from bread flour.
You can always experiment inside the kitchen. Regardless of the type of flour you have in hand, you can proceed mixing ingredients together and see how the finished product comes out. But you have to keep in mind the gluten property of flours as this will help you determine the outcome of your baked kitchen goodies.
Summary:

1. Bread flour and all-purpose flour have different uses and may or may not be interchanged or substituted depending on what you want to bake.
2. Bread flour has more protein content than all-purpose flour. The higher the protein content of a flour, the more glutinous it becomes.
3. All purpose flour is less expensive because it has a lower protein content.

Sharing is caring!