Flour

[diner46]

Does anyone know the difference in flours? My supermarket, part of the Walmart group, has flour at 45p all the way up to £1.08 and over. There must be some preparation or ingredient difference. can anyone explain??

[Mama Mangia]

Read the ingredients on the label of the bag. Some flours are made with winter wheat,me with summer wheat. there are basically 4 types of wheat flours - from "soft" to "hard" -

cake flour has a delicate gluten (protein) structure - made with soft wheat

pastry flour had a little more structure (protein) and is great for pies, muffins, cookes,, tarts, biscuits - made of soft wheat but not as glutinous as all-purpose

all-purpose - for anything - a combination of hard and soft flour

bread flour has a stronger gluten structure used to make white bread, rolls, buns, hamburger buns, etc.- made with hard wheat



and then there is self-rising - which has leavening added (baking powder and salt) and will lose it's potency after a while so use before expiration date

whole wheat or graham flour is milled from the entire kernel of wehat containing the bran and the germ - makes a heavy bread - that is why many use half wheat and half white

durum wheat is great for making pasta - gluten-rich wheat

sometimes you are just paying for the name

[The Ironic Chef]

The cheaper the flour also usually means it has been refined so much it's practically useless and anything that it had in it to start with is gone.(Such as vitamins, minerals and fiber) Over refined and bleached out. You might as well consider it paste material.
Store brands that sell really cheap are usually under that category. Name brands I would like to believe, try to put out a better product for its intended purpose. The better the flour, the higher the cost.

[Mama Mangia]

many stores brands are actually made by the brand name companies - for instance - one store brand here for margarine is actually Mrs., Filberts margarine, ditto with hundreds of other food items -

there is just too much over processing today for everything - through trial and error I've found flours that I am satisfied with and then they change them - so I begin again looking for a satisfactory flour

[shipscook]

the most wonderful flour I have ever had was from Japan.
It came aboard in Singapore. Everything is imported there and mostly very good,
I believe we probably export wheat to Japan????
Any way, it was slightly off white, had a lovely feel to it and a very slight aroama that was very nice.
Breads were so good as were other baked goods.
enjoy,
Nan