Different Types of Flour

Flour comes in many different varieties. Take a closer look at some of the common types of flour, how they are different, and which to use in your cooking.

Different Types of Flour

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Before we jump into the different types of flour you might find at your grocery store, let’s talk about two other terms you might see on flour labels – enriched and bleached.

Enriched

When wheat is processed to make flour, the bran and germ are removed from the wheat berry (the whole grain), leaving only the endosperm. The endosperm is ground, and this is what most flour is made from. Most of the vitamins and minerals in wheat are in the bran and germ, so many flours are enriched. Enriched flours (like most all purpose flours) have simply had the vitamins and minerals that were lost in the bran and germ added back in. (This is similar to milk being fortified with vitamins A and D.)

Bleached

All flour is cured before it gets packaged and sent to the grocery store. During the curing process, the glutenin and gliadin proteins (two proteins that later combine to form gluten) are oxidized. This oxidization helps glutenin and gliadin to form stronger gluten proteins later on. Oxidization also turns flour that starts off as a little yellow to a white color. Oxidization happens without any help, but it can take a few weeks to happen. Treating flour with a bleaching agent helps to speed up the oxidization process.

Bleached flour has been treated with a chemical (some examples of bleaching chemicals are hydrogen peroxide, benzoyl peroxide, calcium peroxide, or azodicarbonamide) to speed up the oxidization process. Unbleached flours have not been treated, and have oxidized (and turned white) naturally. Here is some more information about bleaching from King Arthur.

The Flours

There are so many flour options! The ones I’ll discuss in this post are different types of flour that I could find in my local, rural grocery store. If you have any questions about a different type of flour, leave me a comment below. I’ll see what I can dig up about it!

All Purpose Flour

All Purpose Flour is just that. It’s great for most recipes. All purpose flour is usually made of a blend of hard and soft wheats, and typically has a gluten content of 10-12%. (Hard wheats tend to have a higher gluten content, while soft wheats tend to have a lower gluten content.) This all purpose flour has been both enriched and bleached.

Unbleached All Purpose Flour

Unbleached All Purpose Flour is processed in the same way as all purpose flour, until the curing step. The endosperm is separated from the bran and germ, and the endosperm is used to make the flour. This flour has been enriched to add back vitamins and minerals that were lost with the bran and germ. Unbleached flour may have a little more gluten than bleached flour.

Bread Flour

Bread Flour has a higher gluten content than all purpose flour. Bread flour is made from hard wheat and is 12-14% gluten. More gluten means this is a “stronger” flour. It’s great for making bread, because the gluten can form big bubbles to catch the carbon dioxide that is released by the yeast (that’s what makes bread rise). These big bubbles leave big air spaces in bread as it bakes. It also makes a chewier bread, with a crust that will nicely brown during baking.

Whole Wheat Flour

Whole Wheat Flour may also be called “graham flour.” It usually has a higher gluten content than all purpose flour. Some whole wheat flours are made with the entire wheat berry (the germ, bran, and endosperm). Other whole wheat flours are made with the separated components of the wheat berry – it starts with the endosperm (like all purpose flour), and the bran and germ are added back in. Whole wheat flour has a different texture than white flour. It usually needs more liquid to make a dough, which means your dough might be sticky. This makes it more dense, so breads baked with 100% whole wheat flour often don’t rise as much as breads baked with all purpose or bread flour.

Because whole wheat flour contains the bran and germ, it contains some oils. Over time, these oils will go rancid and cause the flour to spoil. White flours have a longer shelf life than whole grain flours.

Self Rising Flour

Self Rising Flour is white flour that has salt and baking powder added. The baking powder is a leavening agent. When using self rising flour, you do not need to use yeast or extra baking powder for the dough to rise. For each cup of flour, there is 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder and 0.5 teaspoons of salt.

Self rising flour is low in gluten. King Arthur Self Rising Flour is only 8.5% gluten (compared to their Unbleached All Purpose Flour at 11.7% gluten). Self rising flour would not make great yeast breads (especially since you shouldn’t use yeast with self rising flour), but is great in biscuits, cookies, cakes, or quick breads.

Rye Flour

I originally grabbed this Rye Flour off the shelf because I thought it was gluten free – “oh, great, a gluten free option for the blog post!” I was wrong. Rye flour is not gluten free. Rye is one of the four grains that does contain gluten. Now I’ll just have to write another post all about gluten free flours instead.

Rye flour does have less gluten than wheat flour, so it will make breads with a denser texture than all purpose flour or bread flour.

I always have all purpose flour and bread flour in my pantry. There is usually some whole wheat flour there as well, but not always. Which flour is your must-have in the house?

Enjoy!

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