People who are not cooking experts, or who are not exposed to pastry, often ignore the differences between the many types of flours. Incidentally, they even claim that these flours are interchangeable, and that the use of another type of flour in the recipe will not matter, as opposed to using the prescribed type of flour.
Nevertheless, this inappropriate term must be corrected to avoid any cooking, and or cooking problems, in the future.
In an example situation: a person bakes a cake using cake flour and another person uses all-purpose flour; really the resulting cake of both parties will be different. So, it’s better to use cake flour or all purpose flour for cake.
Here are the reasons why:
All-purpose flour, as its name suggests, is really useful for all purposes. It can be used to bake a cake, make bread and even bake cookies. This flour is sometimes referred to by many as ordinary flour. Conversely, with cake flour, this type of flour is obviously intended for making cakes, as well as pastries.
Cake flour is the usual ingredient for such recipes, because it helps make cakes or pastries softer, and gives the ideal texture.
In terms of texture in terns you use cake flour vs universal flour for cake, all-purpose flour is not as finely ground as cake flour. This is the reason why it is considered hard flour. To obtain a coarser texture, other kinds of flours are also incorporated or mixed with ordinary flour. Bread flours and wheat flours are common mixtures.
On the contrary, with cake flour, the bran and germ were removed. Instead, a special type of wheat, available cake flour bakery for cakes, is added to the Rosella product, so it’s no wonder that cake flours are much thinner and smoother in texture.
In terms of protein content, all-purpose flour contains relatively more protein or gluten than meal flours. It is not surprising that breads and biscuits with this flour as an ingredient seem to be harder or harder, because of more gluten that adds to the cohesion of the dough.
It is said that cake flours contain less gluten, which is better for cakes, because one would not want his cake to be hard, or hard.
Overall, it is not yet definitive to say which is the best product, because it all depends on how you use the flour and the type of recipe you will use. Nevertheless, here is a summary of their differences:
- All-purpose flour can be used in other recipes, such as cakes, breads and cookies, while cake flour is preferably used for cakes and pastries only.
- All-purpose flour is much harder and coarser compared to the softer, finer and smoother cake flour.
- All-purpose flour contains more protein or gluten than cake flour.