Not all flours are created equal.
Wheat flours may all be white and fluffy but they are not all the same. There are hard flours, soft flours. Some weigh more per cup, others can take on more water without losing structure.
So how do you know what bread flour to use for making sourdough and other bread successfully? Can you just trust what’s written on the packet?
Well, no.
In Australia, what is considered bread flour to one company, is not to another and this varies across the globe. Many flours labelled ‘bread flour’ in Australia are designed for working with yeast. They can have a softer quality and still produce decent yeasted loaves.
However, what is labelled ‘all-purpose’ in Canada is more suitable for making sourdough. This is so very different from Australian All-Purpose flour. Each company and country has its own expectations and applications for flour that affects the labelling. And their intended use for such flour may not be what you are looking for, so you need to know how to ignore the marketing and work out for yourself what each flour is suitable for.
The good news is – it may not be the title of the flour but the information you’re looking for will be on the packet.
The key is in reading the nutrition label. From this one little piece of mandatory information, you can identify what the flour is suitable for – cakes, all-purpose or bread-making whether you are in Australia or abroad.
What is strong bread flour?
Cake flour is for cakes, so they are soft and crumbly however bread flour is for bread, making it crunchy and chewy. Even though they look the same coming out of the packet, they yield very different results. If you’ve ever tried making one with the other, you will know, first hand, it’s not worth the effort. A chewy cake is about as exciting as a crumbling sourdough!
Apart from the type of grain used, such as rye, wheat or spelt, the biggest difference between various types of flour is the level of protein in it which affect the gluten. Gluten is the elastic band of baking and determines how texture and structure is formed. The strands can be soft and short in items like cake, or strong and stretchy, like in sourdough bread. Hence why flours are often described as soft or hard (strong) flour.
Low protein flours are soft because they have less gluten and vice versa, high protein flours contain more of this stretchy stuff, making them a strong flour.
So which do you think is more suitable for bread making?
If you said “Ummm… the high-protein flour, so the elastic band of gluten is more stretchy??” You would be 100% correct! This is strong bread flour.
So, what does that look like when it comes to bread flour in my country?
The protein qualities for different baking needs don’t change regardless of where you live. What does change is the labelling, and in some instances, this isn’t based on the true definition of the flour itself but as defined by the company labelling it.
However, this doesn’t exclude that flour from being a potentially excellent bread flour. You just need to know where and what to look for on the packet to decide for yourself whether or not to give it a go.
A quick look at the protein content in flour
Here, I will teach you how to choose a flour-based on what you’re making, and not by the label used to describe it on the packet.
Best protein levels in flour for:
Cakes and pastries: LOW protein (8% or less)
General baking: MEDIUM protein (9-12%)
Breads: HIGH protein (13+%)
You would think then, all flour would be labelled like this:
Under 8% Protein: ‘Cakes and pastries flour’
9-12% Protein: ‘All-purpose flour’
13%+ Protein: ‘Bread flour‘
However, this is not the case. This is what differs the world over and, why some bread flours – as labelled are not true bread flours. I have seen protein levels vary from 8% to 14% with the product baring ‘Bread Flour’ on the packet.
Even worse are bread mixes. They are not ‘worse’ for making yeasted bread, no, they can make some great bread! But bread mixes often use flours at the lower end of protein levels (8%) and compensate by adding bread enhancers to the mix. This doesn’t hep feed your sourdough
Cake flour is usually labelled as cake flour but it’s worth checking the nutritional panel on the side of the packet if you’re wanting an authentic cake flour. You may find it’s actually all-purpose flour labelled as cake flour for marketing purposes, aiming to reach the home baker. For cake flour look for the protein content be 8% which is 8g per 100g, or 80g per 1kg.
All-purpose flour is designed to be a good all-rounder and is often a 50/50 mix of low and high protein flours (soft and strong). All-purpose flour does not include the wheat germ, which contains oil, so this flour generally has a longer shelf life than say, wholemeal. Again, this makes it more suitable for general baking. Anything labelled all-purpose in Australia, generally is all-purpose flour. It is great for general use and you may not need to check the protein content as it won’t matter for general uses. The protein content should be between 9-12%.
This brings us to…
Bread flour
As mentioned, not everything labelled bread flour is suitable for bread making, especially for making sourdough bread. Conversely, some flours that are the best flour for making sourdough, aren’t labelled as bread flour at all. In Canada, all-purpose flour has a fairly high protein level, and from my research, I believe it’s suitable for making sourdough bread. This may be the case in other countries as well and makes sense of the YouTube advice from so many saying ‘you can totally use All-Purpose flour to make sourdough bread!’. But it doesn’t work in my country because All-Purpose flour is completely different.
Confusing hunh?
To make it easy – don’t judge a flour by the labelling culture or even the country you live in. You just need to read the nutritional content for the protein level.
Bread flour has more protein content than all the other flours, 13%+. This is how you know the flour is a strong bread flour and the best type of flour for making sourdough bread.
True bread flour is made of ‘hard’ wheat, meaning it has more gluten – the elastic band of baking which gives you a strong stretchy structure, puffing your bread high and wide, while still holding it’s shape.
If you use flour with lower protein levels to make sourdough bread, your loaf will be floppy and dense. Yeasted bread is a little more forgiving but you will get a better loaf with actual bread flour. Flour with less than 13% protein won’t have enough strength to raise your loaf and stay full-bodied, no matter whether you bake that loaf in Australia, Austria or Uganda. Or… whether the flour was called ‘bread flour’ on the packet.
For true bread flour, look for 13%+ protein which is 13g per 100g, or 130g per 1kg. The flour could be wheat, rye, wholemeal, spelt or other. It can also be a blend of these flours. The method is the same. Check the nutritional panel for the protein level.
Some flours are naturally high in protein, spelt being a good example, though it is lower in gluten so the loaves don’t rise as much. However, their interiors will remain soft.
11-12% protein is the highest protein level in flour offered by major supermarkets in Australia but this may be different in your country and for ease, it’s definitely worth starting there! Some brands may fare better than others in the low protein range. For true bread flour, you’re may need to visit more specialised stores like health food, wholefoods, bread making stores and online retailers.
In my post What Bread Flour To Buy and Where To Get It In Australia, I list the bread flours that I have used extensively in making sourdough bread and where to get them in Australia.
Example of Nutritional Table showing the protein content
*13g of protein per 100g of flour is 13%
The protein content will give away whether or not the flour is suitable for making bread, even when the name on the packet says ‘Bread Flour’.
A note about wholemeal and wholegrain flours when it comes to sourdough
Wholemeal, wholegrain and flours with fine bran absorb more water than white flours. Add 20-25g extra water to your sourdough recipe. While these flours are available with high-protein levels, producing sourdough breads that hold their shape and give you a lovely tasting sourdough loaf, wholegrain doughs are not as stretchy as white. Used at 100% they ripen a little faster and rise a little less – both in proofing and the oven. Shape when 2/3 doubled. You can also mix with white bread flour for a larger, lighter loaf in any proportion. Sourdough will take the characteristics of the flour you add most of in the dough. E.G 40% Wholemeal and 60% White, the loaf will be more stretchy than the other way around due to the dominance of the white flour. Experiment to find your favourite blend.
Where to buy the best flour for making sourdough ~ rest of the world
This list is built by you! As I am unable to try every bread flour that’s available around the world or know where to get it, customers and friends share where they buy bread flour from in each country. Please contact us to add to the list!
United States
Amazon – Online. May be free delivery for Prime.
Cairnspring Mills Organic Espresso Artisan Bread Flour 13-14% Protein
Giusto’s Vita-Grain High Performer High Protein Unbleached Bread Flour 13-13.5% Protein
King Arthur, 100% Organic Unbleached Bread Flour, Non-GMO 12.7% Protein
King Arthur, 100% Organic Whole Wheat Flour, 100% Whole Grain, Non-GMO 13.8% Protein
King Arthur, Sprouted Wheat Flour, 100% Whole Grain, Non-GMO 14% Protein
Bob’s Red Mill, Organic Flour, Whole Wheat 13-15% Protein. Hard red spring wheat. Makes 4.5 loaves
United Kingdom
The Source Bulk Foods ~ Online and in store
Organic White Strong Flour Sadly this is only 10% protein but I haven’t found any higher protein content flour in the UK. I would mix this 50 / 50 with Plain Wholemeal Flour Organic to boost the nutrient content for your sourdough and give it the best possible chance of rising your bread.
New Zealand
The Source Bulk Foods ~ Online and in-store
Bakers White Flour 12.5% protein. Should make some nice loaves. 1kg makes 2 loaves.
Organic Plain Wholemeal Flour 12.5% protein. Should make some nice loaves. 1kg makes 2 loaves.
Organic Plain Wholemeal Flour SG 12.5% protein. Should make some nice loaves. 1kg makes 2 loaves.
Organic Unbleached Plain White Flour 12% protein. Should make some good loaves. 1kg makes 2 loaves.
Organic Bakers White Flour 12.1% protein. Should make some good loaves. 1kg makes 2 loaves.
Organic White Unbleached Spelt Flour 12.5% protein. Spelt makes a more shallow loaf. Should make some very nice sourdough. 1kg makes 2 loaves.
Organic Wholemeal Spelt Flour 12.6% protein. Spelt makes a more shallow loaf. Should make some very nice sourdough. 1kg makes 2 loaves.
Organic Rye Flour 11% Protein. Rye flour doesn’t rise as much and makes a much wetter dough. It’s also on the lower end of the scale for protein. I would mix this with a higher protein flour to make a gorgeous loaf of sourdough light rye bread.
Ireland
The Source Bulk Foods ~ Online and in-store
Organic White Strong Flour – Sadly this is only 10% protein but I haven’t found any higher protein content flour in the UK. I would mix this 50 / 50 with Plain Wholemeal Flour Organic to boost the nutrient content for your sourdough and give it the best possible chance of rising your bread.
Make your own bread flour
Vital Wheat Gluten can transform inferior flour into something fairly magical. I have been using it to boost bread flours that are at the lower end of the protein scale with noticeable improvement. A little goes a long way! So if you are limited in with options for bread flour. not all is lost. You can make your own, with whatever flour you have available.
Follow this guide to match the amount of Vital Wheat Gluten you need for the flour you are using. See: How to add Vital Wheat Gluten to sourdough bread
Where to get VItal Wheat Gluten
Australia: I’ve found the cheapest online is from Amazon AU or try health food stores.
All other countries also try Amazon worldwide or your local health food store.
Make sourdough bread the easy way
If you’re new to sourdough or bread making and are looking for an easy way to dip your toe in the water of artisan baking without the blood sweat and tears of the initial learning curve, you might like to try our unique no-knead sourdough process.
Pantry Sourdough Starter make the same authentic loaf of homemade sourdough bread (and pizza!) which so many home bakers are trying to master at the moment. Because this is all about Beautiful Living Made Easy, here’s the beautiful catch – you don’t have to make or upkeep a sourdough starter. No courses to take, no baker’s yeast to add, no bread machine to own, no experience to have! BLME Sourdough is easy Sourdough.
How can I make sourdough without keeping sourdough starter?
I’ve turned my 13-year-old sourdough starter into a dormant form that you can keep the flakes in your pantry, always on-hand, without the maintenance or trial and error of keeping a sourdough starter.
- Easy step-by-step process
- No kneading
- No added yeast
- No bread machine or other special equipment
- No experience
- No sourdough starter to maintain
I am passionate that anyone, anywhere should be able to make life beautiful easily, including making their own sourdough bread.
Related Articles:
The Big Deal About Flour and Sourdough
Bread Flour Storage – Made Easy
Make Your Own BLME Bread Mix
