Bleached Vs. Unbleached Flour

Decorating By YummyCreations Updated 1 Feb 2012 , 3:36pm by AnnieCahill

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YummyCreations Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 4:31am
post #1 of 5

Hi, I've always used bleached white flour for my cake recipes and was thinking of switching to unbleached for all of my baking. Has anyone noticed any difference in the way their cakes come out? Or have any thoughts on this.

Thanks!

4 replies
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scp1127 Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 6:06am
post #2 of 5

They have very different properties and will not produce the same results.

I'm not going to type it when it can be googled (slow typist). Just check into it. I have subbed out but only when I want the desired results. And this is usually in yeast work, not cakes.

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ChefAngie Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 6:27am
post #3 of 5

DO A FAMILY TASTE TEST-BAKE A CAKE OR CUPCAKES OUT OF THE UNBLEACHED FLOUR THEN THE BLEACHED FLOUR. SET UP A TASTE PANEL-IF IT PASSES WITH THE FAMILY CRTICS YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL LIKE IT.
MAKE GRADING SHEETS:
APPEARANCE
TEXTURE
TASTE

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FromScratchSF Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 6:45am
post #4 of 5

I have tried and failed to use unbleached cake flour in my scratch cakes. And I have tested like crazy. But I know many bakers use unbleached APF but add potato starch. There is a recipe that Erin of Three Little Blackbirds was kind enough to post on her blog that I've been meaning to try but haven't gotten to yet.

http://www.threelittleblackbirds.com/2011/12/yellow-butter-vanilla-cake/

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AnnieCahill Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 3:36pm
post #5 of 5

Yummy,

Do you have a copy of the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum? If not, you should get it or check it out from the library. There is a lot of information in that book regarding bleached vs. unbleached flour. And as Susan said, there is a lot on the internet. I really like Joy of Baking and there are lots of videos and information on that site that can help you with a lot of your questions.

Also, other RLB fans will appreciate her blog (although I'm sure a lot of you have seen this). These articles discuss flour and there are lots of pictures of her different experiments with various flours:

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2010/03/the_power_of_flour_part_one_of.html

I too have an extensive notebook with all kinds of scary cryptic notes and pictures, descriptions of crumb and texture, etc. Maybe one day I will put it all out there on a blog for everyone.

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