Bread Flour

Bread Flour

By Amy Riv

Bread flour is white flour made from hard, high-protein wheat. Bread flour is also call hard flour or high protein flour. It has more gluten strength and protein content than all-purpose flour. This high gluten has certain toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Bread  flour is unbleached and sometimes conditioned with ascorbic acid, which increases volume and creates better texture. This is the best choice for yeast products. Bread flour has high percentage of protein. This harder (stronger) flour best suited to chewy, crusty breads and other yeast-risen products.

Which type of wheat flour is best for bread making? Flour is made up of carbohydrates or starch, proteins, and in the case of whole-wheat flour, a bit of fat. Of these three nutrients, protein matters most to the baker. The proteins in wheat are called gluten-forming proteins, and the quantity and quality of these proteins determines how a flour will perform in the baking bread.

The value of high protein (strong) wheat flour in final bread dough is common knowledge amongst bakers. Generally speaking strong flour enables levain raised dough , stronger. Stable structure, fermentation and proofing tolerance , better bread volume, better crust color, chewy texture better dough symmetry and overall appearance. Higher proteins means there is more of the structural and soluble proteins that have beneficial effect on the critters and the dough .

Tags: bread flour, wheat flour