All Purpose Flour

Two different types of All Purpose Flour

All-purpose flour combines hard and soft wheats. All-purpose flour is available bleached, which creates a softer texture, as well as unbleached, which is what we recommend because it provides more structure in baked goods and retains more of the nuance of the wheat. You can bake just about anything with it -- breads, biscuits, pizza dough, cookies, you name it. Be careful not to use self-rising flour, which is all-purpose flour with leavening added, unless the recipe specifically calls for it.

 All-purpose flours vary throughout North America from region to region. Some feel that Canadian all-purpose (such as Robin Hood) is superior to American as it can be used for bread. All-purpose flour is intended for general household use.

 All-purpose flours are generally a blend of hard and soft wheats, though this too may vary according to manufacturer and the tastes of the area they are producing it for.

Substitutes

In American recipes calling for all-purpose flour,. In the UK. use plain flour. You may have to use a small amount more of plain flour as plain flour is somewhat weaker than American all-purpose.

 In Canadian recipes calling for all-purpose flour, you can substitute American all-purpose flour or UK plain flour except when the recipe is a bread recipe. Canadian all-purpose is a truly all-purpose flour, being very high in gluten, and can be used for bread, but American all-purpose and UK plain flour cannot. In America and the UK, if the recipe is a bread recipe calling for all-purpose flour or just white flour, you must use bread flour: Canadians can use all-purpose.

 I do have to disagree somewhat with this last bit of information as I have baked bread many years using American (Gold Medal) All Purpose flour with no problems.

 Now I use King Arthur Gluten Free All Purpose flour but not to bake bread with.

 I think you need to chose a brand and stick to it as after using it for awhile you will know what it should do and how the texture of your batters and pie crusts should look and feel like. Yeast Gluten Free items I have tried just don’t seem to work well. Now there is a Cup for Cup, Measure for Measure, etc, on the market but they still are not recommending it for yeast items.

 I have found that if it is the matter of less than a ¼ cup I can sub over the GF all purpose for regular all purpose without a problem but I would hesitate to do that with anymore of it in a recipe.