Difference between all purpose flour and unbleached flour

You’ve passed over one or the other every time you go grocery shopping, but do you know what the differences are between bleached and unbleached flour? They bake differently, they look different, and to some, they even taste different.

Table of Contents Show

Why and How Is Flour Bleached?
Why Is Bleached Flour Not Ideal?
Does Unbleached Flour Make a Difference in Baking?
Go With Your Gut
Confused in the baking aisle? Here's what you need to know.
Can you use unbleached flour instead of all
Does unbleached flour cook differently?
Is unbleached the same as all
Which flour is healthier bleached or unbleached?

Which one you use in your kitchen might play a subtle role in the way your breads rise, and even the nutritional content of the flour you use. If you’re ready to settle the score once and for all and know which flour is best for your kitchen, here are the facts.

Why and How Is Flour Bleached?

After flour is milled, it’s generally a nice off-white color. While this doesn’t bother some, many consumers prefer a pretty, pure white flour, so companies begin a chemical bleaching process to refine the flour further.

Benzoyl peroxide and chlorine gas, to name a few, are used to bleach the flour, refining the texture to a lighter flour, and removing the natural yellowish tone. The result is an ultra-white, ultra-fine flour that can rise faster in breads, and maintain a sharper color in baked goods.

On the other hand, unbleached flour is still naturally bleached, simply because it is exposed to oxygen. When the flour is exposed to the air, it naturally whitens to a certain extent, though this does not affect the texture of the flour.

Why Is Bleached Flour Not Ideal?

While we’re all for fast-rising breads and vibrant rainbow cupcakes around here, we’re not terribly crazy about bleached flour, for a couple of reasons:

Bleached flour is less nutritious.

During the bleaching process, a chemical breakdown occurs which diminishes the amount of nutrients in the flour — particularly vitamin E. As a result, these nutrients typically have to be added back in.

Bleached flour sometimes has a bitter taste.

Though it’s very subtle, those with a sensitive sense of taste may notice a distinct bitter aftertaste in bleached flour.

Chemicals are used to bleach the flour.

There are about 20 different chemicals used by companies to bleach flour, though only a few may be used at a time. Most are considered safe and food-grade, but many question the safety of long term consumption to foods that have been treated with chlorine. These preservatives remain in the flour after the bleaching process, and inevitably, in whatever you bake with it.

Does Unbleached Flour Make a Difference in Baking?

The short answer is, not a big one. Unbleached flour is naturally aged, so it’s ever so slightly more coarse than bleached flour. However, there’s none of the bitter aftertaste of bleached flour, and the slightly coarser grain of the flour means that baked goods just hold their shape a little better.

Though unbleached flour is slightly beige and a bit more coarse than bleached flour, it’s still perfectly easy to color for fun baked goods, and rises very well for yeast breads. Though many consider bleached flour ideal for cakes and pie crusts and quick breads, the reality is that the differences in how these flours bake are quite subtle — the greatest difference is in how they’re made and what’s in them.

Go With Your Gut

Bleached flour is not necessarily unsafe, but the process of making it requires more chemical involvement, and ultimately, you know less about what’s in your food. Here at Wheat Montana, we think that sometimes the simplest things are best, which is why we age all of our flours naturally, from our all-purpose to our whole wheat flours.

Unbleached flour is ground wheat, milled into its simplest form for baking, just the way nature intended it. Don’t believe us? Have a slice of our bread, or stop in one of our restaurants for a homemade cinnamon roll, and you’ll see that wholesome, unbleached flour, bakes just fine.

Confused in the baking aisle? Here's what you need to know.

Published on April 2, 2020

All-purpose flour is all-purpose flour, right? Well, yes and no. Stroll down the baking aisle at your supermarket and take a closer look at the those sacks of flour and you'll see that this pantry staple actually comes in two forms: bleached and unbleached.

If you've spent your entire life cooking and baking without realizing that there are different types of all-purpose flour, don't worry! Your secret is safe with us. For the most part, you can use them interchangeably with good results. Both flours have a medium level of protein, which makes either of them ideal for baking cakes, cookies, and pie crusts, thickening sauces and gravies, breading cutlets, and all of the usual suspects.

So what's the difference between the two? True to its name, bleached flour is mixed with chemical additives (chlorine dioxide and benzoyl peroxide), which give it the bright white color that we're all familiar with. These additives also assist in aging the flour, which helps it produce lighter and more tender baked goods.

Unbleached flour is aged naturally (with no or fewer chemical additives) by being exposed to oxygen over a longer period of time. It has a slightly darker color than bleached flour and has a texture that is a bit more dense. Because it takes more time to age the flour naturally, it is usually more expensive than bleached flour. Bleaching flour the natural way also preserves more of the nutrients found in wheat.

Unless you are making a vanilla cake that needs to look very white in appearance or a cake that needs to be exceptionally tender (like an angel food cake), you can use all-purpose bleached or unbleached flour for all of your cooking and baking needs, unless the recipe calls for a specialty flour. (Just as you did before you learned about this information!)

Can you use unbleached flour instead of all

Can You Substitute Unbleached Flour for Bleached Flour? Bleached flour and unbleached flour can be used interchangeably in recipes. However, baked goods made with bleached flour contain proteins that have been altered, which helps in forming gluten bonds when baking.

Does unbleached flour cook differently?

Does Unbleached Flour Make a Difference in Baking? The short answer is, not a big one. Unbleached flour is naturally aged, so it's ever so slightly more coarse than bleached flour.

Is unbleached the same as all

Types of Flour White bleached flour is best used for pie crusts, some cakes, cookies, pancakes, and waffles. White Unbleached—All-purpose Flour has a higher protein (gluten) content of approximately 11% and is good for baking most cakes, muffins, biscuits, biscotti, and some pizza crusts.

Which flour is healthier bleached or unbleached?

However, bleached flour does go through a chemical process that its counterpart does not, making unbleached flour a little safer to consume. Although unbleached flour doesn't go through an intense chemical process to whiten the powder and ultimately destroy key nutrients, it isn't as healthy as many people may think.