Bread Flour vs All-Purpose Flour?
Can I substitute bread flour for all-purpose flour in a muffin recipe?
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
7 Comments:
Only if you don't mind chewy muffins. Bread flour has higher gluten content which adds elasticity. Good for bread - your call on muffins.
MaresyDotes at 8:59PM on 04/02/09
If you're desperate for muffins and only have bread flour, try one of these:
* Whiz up the flour in your FP a minute or so. It will act like a hyper-whisk and aerate the flour.
* Short your flour measurement by 2 tablespoons to decrease the "heaviness" of the batter.
* Assuming your muffin recipe calls for whole eggs, whip the egg whites to soft peaks before incorporating them into the recipe. This will add additional lift to the recipe and possibly cut down on the heaviness.
therealchiffonade at 9:20PM on 04/02/09
Good suggestions from therealchiff...however, if you can avoid using the bread flour and use a.p. do so. A guy friend of mine thought he would bake some muffins with bread flour at the pizzeria he worked at, and well they were described by as all as hockey pucks. And guys being guys, that's what they ended up being used as in a pick up street hockey match outside in the alley behind the pizzeria.
dhorst at 9:33PM on 04/02/09
Thanks all, I went to the bodega and bought some ap flour. Now I know that bread flour really does have a purpose and isn't just a marketing gimmick as my husband says.
Peony at 10:26PM on 04/02/09
My pastry instructor told us that there are only two kinds of flour. Cake and bread. He claims that AP is whatever is left of each mixed together. That may be a crude description, but he claimed that was why people would often have inconsistent results in home baked goodies. Oh, and "pastry" flour is one part bread to two parts cake flour if you ever need it. :)
MaresyDotes at 11:00PM on 04/02/09
@dhorst...LOL! Necessity is truly the mother of invention.
@MaresyDotes - sometimes the crude definition best makes the point. My dad used to say of the grated parmesan in the green can, "That just means they swept the floor that day."
BTW, check out this online Cook's Thesaurus for other ingredient substitutions.
therealchiffonade at 9:06AM on 04/03/09
If you can only buy one flour, buy AP flour. You can always add vital wheat gluten to make you own bread flour (sort of).
Don Luis at 11:10AM on 04/03/09