Flour is a basic ingredient included in almost every baking recipe, but the type you use will deeply affect the outcome. I have intentionally pictured different brands here because I have not found the brand to make any difference in the finished product.
All-Purpose Flour is the most common type and, as its name suggests, useful for all purposes. It is either bleached or unbleached. I use unbleached because
it seems to me to be healthier than coming into contact with the chemicals used for bleaching. This will work well for everything unless you want to make an absolutely snow-white cake, in which case I would recommend getting bleached flour.
Bread Flour is basically unbleached all-purpose flour with a higher gluten content for better bread texture. Do not use this in cakes, cookies, or muffins if you can possibly avoid it, because it will make them tough and chewy. If you are in a hurry and this is all the flour you have in the house, go ahead and use it, but be extra careful not to mix anymore than is absolutely necessary in order to minimize the development of the gluten and be prepared for a less than stellar result.
Whole Wheat Flour has the fiber that All-Purpose and Bread Flours lack. It has a strong flavor of its own, the texture is not as fine, and the resulting product will not be as light and fluffy as with a white flour. It is a good way to get more fiber, however. If you want to experiment, try mixing half and half with all purpose flour in a muffin or coffee cake type recipe where the alteration in texture and taste will be less noticeable.
Other Flours:
Self-Rising Flour – This is usually bleached white flour with salt and leavening added. I do not use it personally, because I like to know how much leavening I am using.
Cake Flour – Much finer. This makes excellent cakes. I have not tried this, but am eager to.
Home-ground flours – this can be done to obtain types or blends that are not otherwise available – I do this and will share about it later. Also, some people think it is healthier to have fresh ground flour – I have not studied it enough to have an opinion on that.
