How do you choose the right flour? (2024)

Flour is the most essential ingredient for a baker — the one we reach for in nearly all of our recipes. It comprises the highest percentage of some of our best-loved baked goods: simple sandwich bread, flaky pie crust, and buttery biscuits. And there are so many types of flour — self-rising flour, whole wheat, all-purpose. So which one is the right one for your baking?

Despite what an enormous role flour plays in our kitchens, it’s often overlooked when we talk about ingredients. We carefully choose other components of our recipes, comparing chocolate varieties or debating between types of cheeses. Flour doesn’t get the same attention; many bakers simply assume that flour is flour. But all flour isn’t created equal — and as bakers, we want you to know what that really means.

How to tell types of flour apart

There are two important considerations: quality and protein content. First, ensure that your flour is the best you can find. Most flour companies bleach their flour with chemicals like chlorine dioxide and benzoyl peroxide to give it an artificially white appearance. Some don’t: King Arthur Flour contains no bleach, no bromate, and no artificial preservatives of any kind.

Second, know about protein content. Every type of flour is milled to have a specific protein content — the higher the protein, the “stronger” the flour. It’s important to use the right flour with the proper protein content for your recipe and also to choose a brand that adheres closely to that number. Some flour brands allow wide fluctuations in their protein content, so every time you use it, you’ll get slightly different results. King Arthur Flour is milled with the strictest specifications in the industry. Baking with flour that’s consistent in protein will give you the best, most consistent results at home.

If your recipe calls for a specific type of flour, great! Follow that. If you’re not sure which flour to use, here’s a quick rundown.

All-Purpose Flour: 11.7% protein

The most versatile “essential” pantry flour. With a medium protein content, you can use all-purpose flour in any recipe calling for flour, but it’s ideal for cookies, muffins, quick breads, and pie crusts. It’s strong enough for breads and mellow enough to create tender scones and biscuits.

Bread Flour: 12.7% protein

For yeast bread, here’s what you need to know: the higher the protein content, the higher the potential rise. Use bread flour for all your yeast baking, from classic sandwich loaves to bagels to pizza dough.

Learn more about why bread flour makes great bread: Does bread flour really make a difference in your bread? (The answer is yes.)

Golden Whole Wheat Flour: 13% protein

Milled from 100% hard white spring wheat (a lighter-colored grain than the traditional red wheat used in whole wheat flour), this flour has a similar nutritional profile to whole wheat but is mellower in flavor and lighter in color, acting more like all-purpose flour. Takeaway: the wholesomeness of whole wheat with the performance of all-purpose.

Whole Wheat Flour: 14% protein

Whole wheat flour is made by milling the entire wheat berry, including the inner germ and outer bran, which gives it more nutrition and stronger, more robust flavor. Use it in whole wheat sandwich bread or try adding it to your favorite baked goods. Start by replacing 25% of the flour called for in your recipe with whole wheat, and increase from there.

While the total protein content is higher in whole wheat flours, leading you to think they might rise the highest of all, that's not how whole wheat bakes. Whole wheat flours contain all the parts of the wheat berry, including the bran and the germ. Bran, when ground, has sharp edges that can cut the strands of gluten that form in the dough, which is why whole grain loaves can be shorter and denser than those made with white flour.

Your baking solution? Add more liquid, which softens the bran and helps the flour behave more like a white flour does in baking. Learn more about how these flours behave in our Complete Guide toBaking with Whole Grains.

Self-Rising Flour: 8.5% protein

Beloved by biscuit bakers everywhere, this combination of soft wheat flour, baking powder, and salt is praised for its creamy taste and lighter-than-air texture. It yields ethereally light and tender biscuits, scones, and pancakes, and saves you time in the kitchen, too (two fewer ingredients to mix in).

Cake Flour: 10% protein

Our unbleached cake flour has a protein content of 10% —that lower protein content means it has less gluten-forming potential, making it better suited to tender cakes with a soft, fine crumb. And it’s not just for cake: Our Test Kitchen uses lower-protein cake flour to achieve a melt-in-your-mouth texture in cookies too.

Learn more about baking with cake flour: Cake flour vs. all-purpose flour: What's the difference, and how do I substitute?

For our full range of flour offerings, be sure to visit our online shop to get just the right flour for your baking adventures.

Thanks to illustrator Lucy Engelman for the gorgeous line drawings in this post.

Editor's note: This post was updated in November 2023 to reflect our current flour offerings.

FAQs

How do you choose the right flour? ›

Every type of flour is milled to have a specific protein content — the higher the protein, the “stronger” the flour. It's important to use the right flour with the proper protein content for your recipe and also to choose a brand that adheres closely to that number.

Show Me More ›

What should you look for when choosing flour? ›

The difference between bread flour and other types of flour “comes down to the protein content of the flour,” says Chef Jürgen. Most crusty bread recipes require flour with a high protein content. “For recipes like cookie dough or cake batters, the protein content should be low so the texture remains tender,” he says.

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How can you tell the quality of flour? ›

High-quality flour should have a uniform appearance, free from discolorations, specks, or foreign particles. Texture and Consistency: Another sensory method is to feel the consistency and texture of the flour. Rub a small amount of flour between your fingers. It should feel soft and silky, with a fine, powdery texture.

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What is the best flour to use? ›

Whole-Wheat Flour

Whole-wheat flour is much heartier than all-purpose flour and produces denser baked goods with a more robust flavor. Milled from wheat berries with the nutritious bran and germ still intact, whole-wheat flour is rich in fiber and essential micronutrients like iron, magnesium and vitamin B6.

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Which flour is closest to all-purpose flour? ›

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.

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Why is King Arthur flour better? ›

What you get—instead of those chemical bleaching agents—is flour from superior grains grown by farmers we trust. Our flour is carefully milled according to the strictest specifications that we've developed over generations to give you the best, most consistent results at home. Not a bad trade-off if you ask us!

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Does high quality flour make a difference? ›

The best baking starts with the best flour. Many bakers simply assume that all flour is the same. But all flour isn't created equal — from the wheat it's milled from to how it's processed to its protein content, flour varies in so many ways.

What type of flour is used most often? ›

All-Purpose Flour: If a recipe calls simply for "flour," it's calling for all-purpose flour. Milled from a mixture of soft and hard wheat, with a moderate protein content in the 10 to 12 percent range, all-purpose flour is a staple among staples.

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What flour to use for cookies? ›

All-purpose flour is the most commonly used flour in cookie recipes due to its moderate protein content (usually around 10-12%). This balanced protein level makes it versatile enough to produce both soft and chewy cookies as well as slightly crisp ones.

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Does all-purpose flour matter? ›

All-purpose flour can be bleached, which creates a softer texture. All-purpose flour can also be unbleached, which is the kind we recommend because it provides more structure in baked goods and retains more of the nuance of the wheat.

What is the best way to pick up flour? ›

Okay, so what is the best way to clean up flour? It's actually fairly simple: Scrape it up. When you have a pile of flour on your countertop or floor, use a bench scraper, pastry scraper, spatula, an old credit card, or even a stiff piece of paper to scoop up the flour.