Unbleached White All-Purpose Flour (2024)

FAQs

Can you use unbleached all-purpose flour for all-purpose flour? ›

Bleached and unbleached flour can be used interchangeably. Some believe that bleached flour is better when you want your baked good to have a really bright white color, like when you make a white cake; or a lighter, fluffier texture, like when you want to make extra fluffy pancakes.

All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour is a type of refined enriched wheat flour used for a myriad of things including baking, as a thickening agent, or breading. Whole wheat flour: Whole wheat flour is a whole grain that provides more fiber and other nutrients naturally than refined enriched flours.

You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour one for one in any recipe that calls for it. Your bread might not raise quite as high or have quite as much chew, if you are using all-purpose flour, but it will still be delicious and homemade and all the good things.

If this is your first time making sourdough, I'd recommend starting with all-purpose flour because it tends to behave the most predictably. If you're feeling ready to branch out, just start feeding the starter with whatever whole-grain flour you would like to use for baking.

Cakes: For light, delicate cakes like yellow cake, angel food cake, and chiffon cake, use bleached flour, especially when the recipe calls for cake flour. For sturdier cakes like carrot cake, pumpkin loaves, quick breads, and muffins that can tolerate a denser texture, use either bleached or unbleached.

Bleached flour is whiter and has a softer texture. It produces fluffy baked goods, making it a good match for cookies, pie crusts, and pancakes. Unbleached flour is less white and has a denser consistency. It tends to be best for baked goods that require structure, like yeast breads, eclairs, and pastries.

Chemically bleaching flour currently is banned in Australia, the European Union, and many other countries across the globe due to the carcinogenic properties of the chemicals used. These facts aside, the bleaching process can also impart a bitter aftertaste and off odors.

Can You Substitute Unbleached Flour for Bleached Flour? Using unbleached vs. bleached flour makes no difference in recipes. However, baked goods made with bleached flour contain proteins that have been altered, which helps in forming gluten bonds when baking.

You can use any flour to fry, and some will add Panko to the batter to make a little crunch. However, you can add cornstarch to your flour and get an even crispier chicken.

BA's resident baking expert Shilpa Uskokovic says that if you're out of bread flour, you can generally swap in unbleached all-purpose flour in a 1:1 ratio, but that you may need to reduce the amount of liquid to offset the decrease in protein.

Why is King Arthur flour better? ›

King Arthur Flour contains no bleach, no bromate, and no artificial preservatives of any kind. What you get—instead of those chemical bleaching agents—is flour from superior grains grown by farmers we trust.

All-purpose flour

Like its name, this flour can pretty much do it all, from cakes to bread, muffins, pastries, and pizza. All-purpose flour is blended with both hard and soft wheat, which means it has a medium level of protein in it; more than cake flour but less than bread flour.

So if you look solely at the ingredients, it is cheaper to make your own sourdough. But if you bring other factors into it - it might not be as cheap. This post aims to show you how you can bake a classic sourdough loaf with a little work and no fancy equipment.

NOTE: Use regular, unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour for best results- skip organic. The enzymes are different which can hinder the rising process the first time around. I use either KAF, Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Filtered water or tap water is fine.

The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour.

The bleaching process produces many changes in the taste, texture, and appearance of flour. The chemicals used to speed up the aging process in bleached flour cause it to have a whiter color, finer grain, and softer texture. Conversely, unbleached flour has a denser grain and tougher texture.

Bleached flour makes baked goods more consistent. They also have a better texture and rise better. Unbleached flour is good for creating a very compact and dense loaf of bread, but that's typically its only advantage.