Bread Flour Versus All-Purpose Flour | Bread Machine Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Can I use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour in a bread machine? ›

A flour high in gluten will produce a nicely risen loaf, while a low-gluten flour (such as pastry flour, cake flour or self-rising flour) will not. Most bread machine manuals and cookbooks call for bread flour rather than all-purpose flour.

Here's How Much to Add

Lots of baking sites disagree about how to turn all-purpose flour into bread flour. Some people recommend adding just 1 teaspoon of vital wheat gluten per cup of all-purpose, while others recommend 1 to 3 tablespoons per recipe. I guess the variation depends on the baker's preferences and budget.

All-purpose flour is the most common flour called for in recipes, for both cooking and baking. But if you don't have any in the pantry, or can't find any in the store, there are other flours you can use in its place. Bread flour and cake flour—on their own or mixed together—can substitute for all-purpose.

"Bread machine bread flour" is the same thing as bread flour; both contain more gluten than all-purpose flour. If you don't have bread flour, you can make a substitution: 1 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon wheat gluten (available at health food stores & some supermarkets) to make 1 cup of bread flour.

There may be too much salt or sugar. Excess of these ingredients can inhibit or even kill the action of the yeast. The wrong type of yeast may have been used. Please only use the easy bake/easy blend, fast action yeast that comes in sachets.

Too much heat or humidity might lead to a too-quick rise and a crevice near the center of your bread. Conditions that are too cold might delay proofing or rising, resulting in a super-dense loaf. The bread machine works on a timer and hums along at its regular pace.

(Though bread flour can still give you a fluffier, almost cotton-candy-like texture in most buns and rolls.) You could even technically substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour if you add less water, mix the dough more gently and for a shorter period of time, and don't expect the same results.

And because all purpose flour absorbs less water than bread flour, you'll need to reduce the total amount of water in a recipe that specifically calls for bread flour. Otherwise, the dough will be too sticky. I typically recommend reducing it by 15-30 g.

Bread flour has a higher protein content (around 13% more), which leads to more stability, form and rise in the dough, allowing it to lift and hold shape.

For reference, our all-purpose flour has 11.7% protein content. So by swapping in bread flour for all-purpose flour in cookies, we're raising the protein to enable more gluten formation and higher liquid retention in the dough.

What's the best flour to use for cinnamon rolls? ›

Bread flour is hands down the best option when making cinnamon rolls. Any good cinnamon rolls recipe is going to usually call for bread flour instead of other kinds of flour. This is because bread flour is high in protein, usually containing 11% to 13% more protein than other kinds of flour.

We tried using bread flour in several baked good recipes, including yellow cake and sugar cookies, but didn't have success. The cake had a dense, gummy texture and the cookies lacked crispness. There are important differences between wheat flours related to the proteins that form gluten when combined with water.

Yes! All-purpose flour has a 9% to 12% gluten content, while bread flour's gluten content falls in the 10% to 13% range. Even if your all-purpose flour lacks gluten, you can still use it in the bread machine. Again, the worst that will happen is that your bread will not rise as much as it would with bread flour.

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.

The wrong bread machine setting was used.

Different settings have different time lengths for mixing, kneading & baking. The wrong setting may give the dough too much time to rise (so the dough rises higher than expected). This may result in the dough collapsing in on itself.

While not traditionally used in conjunction with bread machines, self-rising flour can be used as a substitute for bread flour. The process of making bread in a bread machine using self-rising flour slightly differs, as ...

Too much yeast was added.

If you add more than the called for amount of yeast (e.g. because you wanted to try & make a fluffier bread), it can cause the bread to rise too much and then collapse.

Saf-Instant: The red instant yeast is designed for dough recipes with minimal sugar (less than 10% of the recipe). The gold instant yeast is for sweet dough. Fleischman's: Rapid-Rise Yeast, Bread Machine Yeast, Pizza Crust (also instant yeast, but formulated to use in a dough that needs no proofing).