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FLOUR DESCRIPTIONS
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ALL PURPOSE FLOUR: A blend of hard & soft wheat flours
BREAD FLOUR: Has a high gluten content. Feels gritty to the touch.
CAKE FLOUR: Made of soft wheat's & has a more crumblier texture
PRE-SIFTED FLOUR: Completely pulverized. Has a high gluten content. May toughen cakes
PASTRY FLOUR: A low gluten flour. Used mainly for quick breads
ENRICHED FLOUR: Nutrients added back refining, but only a fraction replaced
BROWNED FLOUR: A heated all-purpose flour. may add color to your recipes
SELF-RISING FLOUR: Contains just the right amount of leavening & salt for baking, may lose potency in storage
WHOLE GRAIN FLOUR: Contains the full brain portion of the wheat and is high in nutrients. Use slightly more in recipes that all-purpose flours
BRAN FLOUR: Usually mixed with all-purpose flour & may give a somewhat dry effect to the baked product
GLUTEN FLOUR: This flour is made by washing the starch from a high protein wheat flour. It is basically a starch free flour
CORN FLOUR: Usually a very starchy flour used in sauces as a thickener
RICE FLOUR: Good for making Textured cakes
RYE FLOUR: Usually combined with wheat flour to make rye bread. If rye flour is used alone, a sour dough leavener is needed to provide the elasticity the bread needs
POTATO FLOUR: A thickener flour used mainly for soups & sauces
COTTONSEED FLOUR: A high protein flour used in baked goods to increase the protein content.
Flour Types
All-Purpose Flour
The most common called for flour in recipes. A blend of hard and soft wheat, it may be bleached or unbleached. Bleached is best for pie crusts, cookies, quick breads, pancakes and waffles. Unbleached is generally best because of it's higher protein content for yeast breads, Danish pastry, puff pastry, strudel, Yorkshire pudding, eclairs, cream puffs and popovers
Cake Flour
This a "fine-textured, silky flour milled from soft wheats with a low protein content." Since it has a greater percentage of starch and less protein, it's best for keeping delicate cakes tender. You can use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour in recipes by increasing the cake flour by 2 tablespoons per cup, but that in some recipes the substitution may cause sinkage or collapse. Similarly, you can use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour by decreasing the all-purpose flour by 2 tablespoons, but it is not recommend to substitute when making delicate cakes such as angel food or sponge.
Self-Rising Flour
Sometimes referred to as phosphated flour, this is a low-protein flour with salt and leavening already added. It's most often recommended for biscuits and some quick breads but never for yeast breads. 1 cup of self-rising flour contains 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. It can be used instead of all-purpose flour in a recipe by reducing the salt and baking powder according to these proportions.
Instantized Flour
Is granular in texture and, because it disperses instantly in cold liquids, is best for preparing smooth gravies and sauces.
Bread Flour
This is white flour made from hard, high-protein wheats. It has more gluten strength and protein content than all-purpose flour and absorbs more water. It is unbleached and sometimes conditioned with ascorbic acid.
Semolina Flour
Is made from the coarsely ground endosperm of durum. It is used to make couscous and pasta.
Pastry Flour
Milled from soft wheat, this falls somewhere between all-purpose and cake flour in terms of protein content and baking properties.
Durum Flour
Grown in the U.S. almost exclusively in North Dakota, durum is a hard spring wheat used to make noodles. It's finely ground semolina.
Natural Grain Flours
Rediscovering the natural flours of yesterday is one of today's delights.
Whole Wheat (or graham) is made from the entire wheat berry after it has been thoroughly cleaned.
Cracked Wheat is cleaned wheat cracked or cut into angular fragments.
Rye Flour, milled from rye grain is usually mixed with wheat for bread baking.
Buckwheat Flour is made from the triangular seeds of the buckwheat plant. Know by it's "speckles", it is a robust favorite for pancakes.
Soy Flour is ground from whole raw soybeans and is slightly sweet-tasting. It is extremely rich in high quality protein and is an excellent source of iron, calcium and B-vitamins
Cornmeal is made from ground corn and gives a crunchy sweetness to breads and other foods.
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