If you occasionally step into the kitchen to bake a loaf of bread or maybe whip up a cake for a very special occasion, you probably don’t see the need for anything other than all purpose flour. And it’s true that all purpose flour will give you perfectly fine cakes and breads. But if you really want to go the extra mile for extra light fluffy cakes, or dense, chewy, homemade breads, then you need bread flour and cake flour.
Do You Know Your Wheat Products?
All purpose flour, bread flour, and cake flour are all wheat products. The difference is what type of wheat it is milled from. Bread flour is made from hard wheat, while cake flour is made from soft wheat. All purpose flour is a blend of the two. Simple so far, right?
What makes these types of wheat different is their protein content. If you want to get super specific about your protein contents, you can call up the company who mills your flour and ask them what their exact guidelines are. It is best if you use the same brand of flour all the time as this will let you get consistent results with your baking.
Generally speaking, cake flour contains 7 to 8 percent protein. Bread flour usually contains between 14 and 16 percent. The main defining characteristic of any flour is how much protein it contains. But why does protein matter?
Protein in Flour?
The amount of protein in flour is what determines how much gluten can be formed. Gluten is what creates the structure of your final baked good. Low protein flours, such as cake flours, create less gluten. This means less structure which is what makes your cake light and airy. Bread flour, with its extra protein, creates a lot of protein which is why your homemade bread is dense and chewy.
What flour you use for your baking ultimately comes down to personal preference. Some people prefer to make their bread with all purpose flour (which usually has a protein content of 10 to 12 percent) because they want lighter dinner rolls and think that using bread flour makes them too heavy. If all you have on hand is all purpose flour and you want the heavier bread flour results, you can add some wheat gluten into your mixing bowl.
Similarly, all purpose flour will produce beautiful cakes for you. However, if you want to get lighter cakes without having to buy cake flour, you can use corn starch to lower your flour’s protein content. The rule of thumb is to put in 2 tablespoons of corn starch for every cup of flour. You will also need to remove part of every cup of all purpose flour to complete the substitution. If you want, you can measure out two tablespoons from every cup of flour. Most bakers simply do not fill their measuring cups up the entire way when they are adding the flour.