Bread flour vs ordinary plain flour?

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I would'nt use just ordinary plain flour.
The bread would't turn out quite right.
I'm no expert breadmaker but it's the high gluten content(I think) that makes bread flour different and much stronger.
Someone is bound to come along who is a breadmaker and will be able to tell you more.

Boodle

When I make bread I tend to just use plain flour as it is what I have in. It has a lesser gluten content than bread flour but the final result is always more than edible for us and we lurve fresh bread

pawpurrs

Funilly enough I didnt have any bread flour this weekend, and used value plain and best loaf ever!

crockpot

I have some value plain so I will have a go!

Just looked on my supermarket and asda and tesco have it at 68p!

Does anyone know if aldi do it and how much bread flour that is?

Thanks

ariba10

The flour used in bread making is termed Strong Flour.

If you are happy with the results in using ordinary flour then carry on. Personally I do not like it.

squeaky

Basically, yes, you can use bog standard plain flour - but you should leave it to rise longer to allow it to form the gluten chains, which are what makes bread chewy. (Short gluten chains are what makes cakes crumbly. So if you've got crumbly bread - this is why).

There's more information and a link to an interesting and informativer article here:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=740633

salster

I've always used normal Plain Flour and mine does okay.

jenster

cos the stong flour is more expensive i tend to use 2/3 value plain to 1/3 strong to
make the flour go further

and again comes out fine for us

ZCC72

crockpot wrote: »

I have a MR fastbake and make bread and pizza dough in it but the price of bread flour at Lidl has gone up from 46p a bag in jan to 79p now!

A bag of plain or Sr is 43p, is there any reason why i could not use this? atleast for the pizza dough anyway?

What is it that makes flour bread flour?

Or can anyone tell me where I can buy cheap normal white bread flour from?

thanks

Definately ok for use for both! It'll be a case of trial and error - just keep working it until it "feels" right. I agree with Squeaky re longer proving time, and you may find that your kneading time is different too- again, just keep going until it feels "springy".

The science bit....Household flour is soft, roller-milled, refined and probobly bleached. Stong Plain Bread flour is usually milled from a blend of soft/medium soft wheats. The bran and germ are sifted from the ground grain, leaving the endosperm (protein & starch) in a semolina (Semi-half, molina- milled = half milled!!) which is then ground into flour. There are differences for wholemeal, granary, farmhouse, etc...

Hope this helps.

meanmarie

Thanks to all for information re different flours....have found that I get best results with strong flour, which is €2.45 for 2 kilos, making hm bread very expensive, as plain and sr are €1.19 for 2 k. Will try leaving bread to prove for longer time and see if I can adjust amounts of strong and plain together to get a good loaf more cheaply

Marie