What's in a flour?

I only knew three major kinds of flour before, Plain or All Purpose Flour, Cake Flour and Bread Flour. When I went to the culinary school, pastry flour was added to my list. Now that I work in a flour milling company, my list got longer. For home baking, we're fine with the first three.

Here's a short description of the following:

• Bread Flour - Technically, it has the highest protein content among the four, ranging from 12 to 14%. The higher the protein, the stronger the flour is. Protein produces gluten which is responsible for giving structure to our bread. It is the main reason why we don't use it in making cakes because we want a softer texture.

• Plain or All Purpose Flour- The name speaks for itself. We use it for making cookies, pastries, some cakes and even breads (e.g. cinnamon rolls, which we want softer than our usual breads). We also use plain flour for cooking and to thicken our sauces. Protein content lies between 9 to 11%. 

• Pastry Flour - Used for pie bases, biscuits or cookies and other pastries. Its protein content is between 8 to 9%. A cross between plain and cake flour. If you can't find any pastry flour in the market, you can combine plain and cake flour; 1:1 ratio.

• Cake Flour - The weakest and has the lowest gluten. It has around 6 to 8% protein content. Cakes such as chiffon or sponge types are soft & tender, hence, we don't need a strong flour to be used in our recipe. It is whiter in color so it's easy to distinguish between a bread flour or plain flour. I had difficulty sourcing cake flour here in our supermarkets not until recently.

Ooops, I forgot, here overseas, we have self raising or self rising flour. It is flour with baking powder mixed in it.

I know, I sounded like a geek. Ha ha.