How To Make Bread Flour from All Purpose Flour {and why I didn’t}

August 15, 2016 by Beverly

The last few weeks or so I’ve been thinking about dusting off my old bread making machine and putting it to use again. I tend to go in spurts when it comes to kitchen machinery. I’ll spend a few months using something all the time (whether it be my juicer, or blender, or Magic Bullet, or what have you), and then I just seem to fall out of the habit.

But then a few months later I’ll pull one of my gadgets back out of the cupboard and it’s like having something new all over again. Sort of like an unexpected Christmas! I guess I’m like a kid that way. I have to keep rotating my toys to keep them interesting. Next thing you know I”ll just be playing with the box it came in. 🙂

So currently it’s my sturdy old bread machine that I’ve had for many years that’s come back on my radar. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve used it and lots of questions started popping up.

Where are my bread machine recipes?
Was I just using the recipes that came in the instruction manual?
Umm, where’s that stupid little instruction manual anyway?
Do you suppose those recipes would turn out better if I used bread flour?
Does my grocery store stock bread flour?

And then of course . . . the question that ALWAYS seems to pop into my head . . .

Hey, can I make my own bread flour ??

The DIY Hack To Make Your Own Bread Flour

Some time ago I realized there was a simple solution to make your own self rising flour. It was just a matter of adding some baking powder and salt to your all purpose flour. So I had a hunch there might be some sort of quick answer to the question of how to make bread flour from all purpose flour too. And I was right – there is! Here’s the magic formula:

{{ For every 1 cup of All Purpose Flour add 1 teaspoon of Vital Wheat Gluten }}

Umm, OK. But what is that weird ingredient up there? Vital Wheat Gluten? Never heard of it. Can you find that at a grocery store? How much does it cost? Am I going to have to run all over creation looking for this? Maybe just order it online? Ugh, more questions.

The Difference Between Bread Flour and All Purpose Flour

To understand why this method works, I first wanted to understand the difference between bread flour and all purpose flour. Bread flour is made from wheat with a higher protein content, thus enabling better formation of gluten. With a little more gluten the bread dough will have more elasticity and the crumb can hold together better. This post on the King Arthur Flour blog has some comparison pictures of breads cooked with both types of flour and there’s not a huge difference, but some cooks swear that bread flour really does make for a better loaf of bread.

So if we want to achieve the same thing with our all all purpose flour, we need to raise the protein level, so we can raise the gluten level, and we do that by adding a little bit of Vital Wheat Gluten.

I Found It, But I Didn’t Buy It

I was all set to give this homemade way to make bread flour a try and went off to my local grocery store (Meijer) to see what I could find. Sure enough, Vital Wheat Gluten was right there on the shelf in the baking aisle by flour, baking soda, baking powder, etc. That was a nice surprise! There was no need for a special trip to an expensive health food store or to pay shipping to order it online. The Vital Wheat Gluten was on sale for $5.99 (normally $6.79) for a 22 oz package.

Now, I was really hoping for some kind of tiny package that only cost a buck or two. Maybe something like those little packets of yeast. After all, I was only going to need a few teaspoons. The 22 oz package looked like it probably had enough in it for 100 teaspoons.

If I was baking bread every day for a big family, well then it would probably make sense. But for an occasional play time with the bread machine? It didn’t seem like the right solution.

Then I wandered a little farther down the aisle and looked at the bread flour that was for sale. It was $2.89 for a 5 Lb bag. That seemed like a more practical answer for someone like me who just wants to bake the occasional loaf of bread. I set the Vital Wheat Gluten back down on the shelf and went away without buying it.

What’s Your Situation?

I do think this quick homemade method of adding a teaspoon of Vital Wheat Gluten to your cup of all purpose flour has some merit and could still be a good trick to have up your sleeve. But I don’t think it’s the right solution for everyone (like me). It’s probably the most useful if you bake a lot of bread, are somewhat particular about your finished loaves of bread and/or you can find Vital Wheat Gluten for sale in a smaller quantity or could perhaps share it with a friend who also likes to bake bread.

For me, if the occasional mood strikes to experiment with my bread machine and I want to give some bread flour a spin, I’ll just pay the $2.89 and buy myself a bag of bread flour. That feels like the best solution for me.

How about you? Do you think bread flour makes a difference? Would you pay the price to buy some Vital Wheat Gluten? I’m always curious to hear what others think and love your comments!

Comments