Q&A Types of White Flour, Their Weights and How Much Water to Use
Q: I want to use a white flour with higher protein, how do I adjust the recipe?
A: We wrote the original white-flour Master Recipe for The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day with typical all-purpose white flour (such as Gold Medal), which has a protein content of about 9.8-10.5%. The following flours have a greater protein content and will require you to add more water to dough that is entirely made from these white flours. You don’t need all that extra water if white flour only part of the loaf’s flour mixture.
King Arthur All-Purpose, 11.7% protein (add approximately 1/4 cup extra water to the full recipe).
Dakota Maid All-Purpose: add approximately 1/4 cup extra water to the full recipe
Canadian all-purpose flour, most brands: add approximately 1/4 cup extra water to the full recipe
Gold Medal Better for Bread 12.5% protein: add approximately 1/3 cup extra water to the full recipe
King Arthur Bread Flour 12.7% protein (add approximately 1/3 cup extra water to the full recipe)
Any “bread” flour: Most flour labeled as “bread flour” is 12-13% protein (add approximately 1/3 cup extra water to the full recipe). In Europe, this flour is labeled as “strong flour.” If a flour is labeled as “high-gluten” it’s probably 14-15% protein (add approximately 1/2 cup extra water to the full recipe).
Q: What is the weight of the flour that you use?
A: We wrote the book with measures because we find that most people are still using cup measures when baking. We have been pleasantly surprised at the number of our readers that are scaling their recipes. Here are the weight equivalents to the flour that we use:
1 cup all-purpose flour = 5oz
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (master recipe) = 2 pounds
1 cup whole wheat = 4 1/2 oz
1 cup of rye = 4 1/4 oz
Q: What should the “hydration” of the dough be?
A: Again, we tried to avoid confusing professional language in the book, but several people have asked about bakers percentages and hydration levels for white flour. The hydration needed for dough storage will vary with to the type of flour you are using. “Hydration,” when the term is used by professional bakers, means the ratio of the water weight to the flour weight, expresed as a percentage. High protein flours absorb much more water and will require you to add more water. Here are the hydration levels we’ve used, but remember, this applies to dough made from white flours (whole grain is a different story, requiring higher levels of hydration):
When using most all-purpose flours (eg., Gold Medal): 75% hydration
When using Gold Medal Better for Bread: 83% hydration
When using King Arthur all-purpose: 81% hydration
When using King Arthur bread flour: 83% hydration
When using most bread flours: 83% hydration
When using most high-gluten flours: 85% hydration
More in The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and our other books. If you use vital wheat gluten to get an airier crumb with whole grains loaves, you need even more hydration–see The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
We recommend that you follow the Master Recipes in our books as we have written them until you get a feel for the proper consistency. Once you know what it should feel like then it is wonderful to play with other flours.
Click here if you want to understand baker’s percentages.
Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.
Hello! Still experimenting the recipies – good results, will mail you a longer story later! One question – I am sure you have written about it somewhere, but unfortunately have not found it… I do have my own wheat sourdough and rye sourdough in the fridge. I feed them weekly to keep them alive and they work very well. How would you recommend to use sourdough instead of yeast in your master recipe or in some of your special recipies? Have you tried sourdough?
We’ve tried it, and it works, though it can be temperamental. I’ve used about a cup of very active levain in our basic recipe in exchange for some water and flour; my experiments left out commercial yeast altogether.
It takes some experimentation, let us know how it works. Jeff
Doesn’t the weight depend on the brand of flour? I’ve found that some brands will actually print it on the package. KAF AP flour is 4.25 oz. per cup.
Hi Sheri,
It will also depend on how you are scooping the flour out of the bag. We’ve found with our scoop and sweep method that the flour is packed more than if you spoon the flour into the cup.
There are so many variables and that is why people will end up with slightly different outcomes.
I hope this helps?
Zoë
ps Thanks for sharing the book!
My copy of the book arrived this afternoon and the first batch of basic dough just went in the fridge.
Hank
Hi Hank,
Keep us posted!
Have fun, Zoë
Would a cup of bleached flour have a different weight?
First off, I absolutely adore this book. I made pizza crust the other day and it was wonderful.
Now, I’ve been trying to track down the protein content of KA’s white whole wheat flour, and I can’t seem to find it anywhere. I’d like to figure out if it more closely resembles the protein content of all-purpose or whole wheat flour, so I can figure out how best to use it in my bread. Any help? Thanks!
Hi Leigh Ann,
The King Arthur white whole wheat (www) is like a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat in terms of the way it absorbs water. You will want to add a bit more water to the dough. I’d say 1/4 cup more. You may also want to do 1/2 www and 1/2 all-purpose so that you have a lighter crumb?
Try it out and see what you think!
Thanks, Zoë
My book arrived the other day and I had my first chance to try it today. Since I’d already done the basic recipe, learned from the article in the Tribune, I tried the European Peasant Bread. I realized after already getting into it that I didn’t actually have any whole wheat flour, so I just added a bit more rye. The first loaf, which was baked immediately, turned out great. I can’t wait for the next three over the coming week or so.
Thanks for a great book and a very good technique.
Hi Dale,
I’m glad your bread came out so well! Adding lots of rye can be tricky, it has a tendency to get very dense.
Enjoy all the bread!
Zoë
Results are great, but I am having a problem creating the gluten shield. My baguettes open up where I haven’t slashed them!
Do you know where I can buy the old fashioned double edge razor blades?
Hank
Hank: My experience, with single-edged razors from the hardware store, is that they stick in the wet dough. I’ve preferred a high-quality serrated bread knife to slash. If you use a double-edged razor, isn’t that going to be hard to hold onto without cutting your fingers?
As for the gluten cloak, have you checked out our videos on this website? Just use enough flour so your fingers don’t stick (don’t incorporate it). Jeff
Hi
I’m very pleased to find this site! My book arrived today so I haven’t tried it yet. But I live in France and I’m wondering what type of flour I should be using? Can I use ordinary plain flour, which I think may be softer (less gluten) than American flor? Or should I use bread flour and adjust water content accordingly? I’m really looking forward to trying it!
Veronica: Our recipes were tested with unbleached “all-purpose” flour that is about 10% protein (mostly gluten). If you can find similar protein level, the recipes should work well without adjustment. If it’s above 11.5%, you may need a little more water (maybe 1/8 cup). If it’s below 9.5%, you need less water (again, maybe 1/8 cup less). Actually, scroll up to the top of this page for more specific recommendations about water adjustment based on level of protein.
It may take some experimentation. Where did you find our book over there? Jeff
I didn’t 🙂 I ordered it online from the Book Depository in the UK (actually I tried Amazon UK first, but they seemed to be completely incapable of getting hold of it; I waited 2 months and gave up).
My all-purpose (presumably bleached) flour is labelled with a protein content of 9%. There’s no indication on the bread flour packet. So I think I’ll try with the AP first, with a little less water, but will try to get hold of some unbleached flour too.
AP flour in France is labelled “Type 45” or “Type 55”, but that’s to do with mineral content, not protein. I think Type 55 might have slightly more gluten. We shall see!
Thanks for your advice
Veronica
Veronica: Very interesting. One good option would be to use half and half all-purpose and bread flour. Nine percent is really a bit too low and your loaves may spread out too much, even if you adjust the water. That protein (gluten) helps it rise vertically. Jeff
Thanks Jeff! I’ll let you know how it goes (currently delayed by lack of pizza stone…).
Veronica
Hi Zoe and Jeff,
I’m new to baking bread and found it quite troublesome when i first tried it the conventional way. Almost gave up until I came across your wonder book! Tried the master recipe today but halved the portion since there’s only my sister and I eating. Got all the measurement mixed up but still turned out fine, albeit too salty. My sis loved it!! One question: any difference in the US and Australian measuring equipments?
Thanks
Jocelyn: There are some subtle differences, according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_weights_and_measures
So I’m not surprised that the result was acceptable. Our next book may include weights (metric too) so we can get past this problem.
Thanks for trying the bread… Jeff
Hi again
I followed the basic recipe using 3 cups plain flour and 3 1/2 cups bread flour, and refrigerated the dough overnight. I think the dough wasn’t wet enough, as the loaf didn’t rise much, and the crumb was quite dense. The flavour was good though, and the crust excellent, so next time I’ll use a little more water and see how it goes.
Veronica: Sounds like your bread flour may be very high in protein. I agree that adding more water is probably the way to go. Protein in dough absorbs water. Boost the water till the dough looks like these pictures: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=121#comments Jeff
Hi Jeff – you have left a comment on my blog inquiring about the kind of flour I’m using re: very nice crumb. I have to say that it was my very first loaf and that I had used store-brand bleached all-purpose flour!
In fact I switched to unbleached name-brand flour and now I can’t replicate it anymore (now it’s too dense). Maybe adding some water would help?
Thanks muchly for your interest.
Is there an inconsistency in Chapter 4 of your book? In the chart on p. 18, it says, with “more liquid (giving you wetter dough), you’ll get… Requires less resting time before baking”.
However on p. 19, I see “Increase resting and baking time if any of the following apply… Wetter dough.”
The first seems to say that wetter dough requires less resting time, and the second says that it requires more. Which is right?
GM: Hopefully we can figure this out by looking at the protein content of the two flours. The nutritional labeling may give the answer. How many grams of protein are listed in each flour (and also the grams per serving size)? That will give us a rough estimate of the protein percentage. Can you post that here?
Normally we say to avoid bleached flour because bleaching removes some protein, but for French products, the protein contents may be very different from what Zoe and I tested in the United States. Sounds like the French unbleached premium product is more like bread flour, and probably does need to be mixed with a little more water (about a quarter cup).
But also, please have a look at our discussion of dense crumb at https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=141 because there may be other explanations for dense crumb. Jeff
Jerry: You’re right… the comment on page 19 is wrong; wetter doughs require less resting time because the slack crumb resists gas expansion less than drier crumb. Jeff
Jeff:
Both the bleached AP flour (Sobey’s stores ”Nos Compliments” brand) and the unbleached AP flour (”Five Roses” brand) list 4 g protein per 30 g serving.
I have almost fixed the density problem by doing an overnight fridge rise and baking at 475F while avoiding the whole cloaking biz…I’d rather have an ugly but tasty loaf 🙂
Thanks for everything!
Interesting, so it’s not a protein question. Both of those are pretty high protein for AP flour.
Part of me is tempted to say, “stick with the flour that works best,” even though I can’t fully explain what’s going on. Sounds like you’re finding solutions with that weblink so that’s great.
Thanks for all the feedback!
Jeff
I was so excited to try the bread that I mixed up a recipe without reading this page first — I used King Arthur AP flour but didn’t increase the water. The dough seemed drier than I expected, and now I know I should have added extra water. The whole batch is in my refrigerator. Can I add the extra water now and let it rest for another night or should I just figure it’s a lost (or at least dense) batch? Thanks for any advice!
Hi Amber,
Yes, you can add water now and let it rise again. You may want to do it in a stand mixer with a dough attachment. Once the dough is mixed it is harder to incorporate water by hand. Having said this I’ve done it, but it is a work out! Add the water a Tablespoon at a time to loosen up the dough and then it will be easier to deal with.
Let me know how it goes.
Zoë
Hi, I heard about your book on the lobstersquad blog and rushed to buy it, I do bake my own but love the idea of having fresh bread available at the drop of a hat! I am glad to have found the weights though, I am in the UK and although I found some cup measures looking at the first mix I doubt they are american as it was very dry – having said that, a little experimentation (guesswork) has lead to a fab loaf!! Could you let me know how many ml a cup, or 3 cups, of water is please. Many thanks for a great book!!
Sarah: Thanks so much for finding us. Our next book will do a better job of using metric volume and weight equivalents.
3 cups of water (US) is 710 ml. One cup (US) is 237 ml. Have a look at https://www.metric-conversions.org/cgi-bin/util/conversion-chart.cgi?type=4&from=21&to=4, and at their website in general.
Jeff
My flour is 11.4% protein.
Works wonderful in flatbreads and pizza but I have yet to succeed at making a free form loaf.
I tried adding more water but the dough then spread out even more making the problem worse.
Any ideas?
Magalee: 11.4% protein is higher than what we tested with (about 10%). What happens when you follow our recipe and add the usual 3 cups of water? And can you get a flour with 10% protein? Or adding an intermediate amount of water to your 11.4% flour?
Jeff
If I use the 3 cups of flour the dough spreads flat when I leave it to rise after cloaking it.
I have a 50lb sack of this flour so that’s why I use it.
What do you mean by intermediate amount of water?
I think I misunderstood you. I thought you were getting flat results only when increasing the water, so I was suggesting that you add less (somewhere between 3 cups and whatever you were adding). But it seems you’re saying that even three cups leads to a flat result, which I can’t explain with a high-protein flour. Maybe cloak and shape a bit more? Jeff
Actually the last loaf I made was great….but i don’t know what i did differently!!!
I bet it was something with the handling of the dough and how you cloaked. But then, bread is a mystic thing! Jeff
Hi
Just following up my earlier comments about French flour. I’m now finding I get pretty good results with organic white AP flour. It doesn’t give protein content on the pack, but by experimentation I have arrived at 72% hydration:
800 g flour
576 g water
12 g salt
2 sachets yeast
I also think I wasn’t using enough flour at the cloaking stage. Now I roll the ball of dough in the flour to get it thoroughly coated, so it doesn’t stick to my hands. And I use baking parchment on the peel as well, slide the whole lot into the oven, and remove the paper after about 20 minutes to brown the bottom crust.
Veronica: This is about the hydration level we use as well. You’re using a little less salt, and all that’s fine. You may find y ou can decrease the yeast a bit, as some of our more experienced bakers have found that they like it slower-risen, with less of a commercial yeast flavor. You have to wait longer for that initial rise, of course.
The parchment is great when you don’t want to mess up your oven. I find that I MUST peel the paper off as you say, and my only other enhancement is that after peeling, I put it on another shelf (without the stone) so that air really can circulate.
Thanks, Jeff
I just bought your book last night and the first loaf is in the oven as I type. When I was reading the book, I noticed that the master recipe can be frozen before baking. What is the best method for that and are there any recipes in the book that should not be frozen before baking? Thanks in advance for your help.
Hi Lynn: When freezing dough, wrap it very well in plastic and then a ziplock bag, or use any airtight container. If you have room, freeze in loaf-sized portions so you won’t have to repeatedly defrost and freeze dough that you won’t be using in that session. All of our doughs take well to freezing.
Jeff
Just a quick flour question. I use White Lily pretty much exclusively (we live in Knoxville where up until recently it was produced). It is a low gluten, low protein winter wheat flour, and following all of your directions, I am getting very good bread, however, I don’t think it rises as much as it should.
White Lily weighs less per cup than other flours, and i will try making the recipe by weight, but it seems to me that this would make a drier dough, and it’s already drier/stickier than your appears to be in pictures. Rather than stretching out and needing to be cut from the bucket of dough, I need to cut a section directly out, or I am able to grab a handful – that is, it’s really not stretchy at all.
I’m interested in your thoughts on this – even if it’s “switch to another brand of flour” – as White Lily has recently moved their operations to the midwest, and it isn’t quite the same as it once was, and I am not feeling nearly as loyal as I used to!
Thanks, Jami Anderson
ps – the bread still tastes great, but I just think I ought to be getting a bigger (less dense) loaf.
Hi Jami,
I love White Lily flour and have used it for all kinds of pastry, but not for bread. As you have mentioned it is very low in protein and gluten, which is why your bread isn’t rising well. It is also why your dough has no stretch to it. The gluten gives the dough the structure it needs to expand and trap air bubbles, giving you a nice open structure. Without the gluten the gas will just escape and the bread will be dense.
You can either try a new brand of flour or add vital wheat gluten to your dough. The latter will give you the stretch you need to bake a lovely loaf of bread.
I didn’t realize that White Lily moved, how could they???
Thanks, hope this helps!
Zoë
Zoe-
Sadly, I have a big batch of White Lily flour dough in my fridge… the good news is that it works really well for the pizza dough and calzones, so we’ll just use if for that for a week. It’ll go well with all of the tomatoes in the garden.
White Lily was purchased by Smuckers, and though they swear nothing will change, bakers who are wiser than I say it’s just not the same. I’ll still use the self rising for biscuits though – you can’t beat it!
Thanks so much – both for the quick answer and the great book.
Jami
O.k. I finally figured out how to post questions…
If I don’t plan on putting my loaf on a baking stone, do I still need to use the cornmeal dusting on the bottom of my cookie sheet? Could I just use a greased sheet?
I make my dough up and then immediately weigh out the pound loaves and drop them into a plastic bag. When I am ready to use the dough, they are all measured out. By doing this, I don’t need to use the flour to remove the portion I want to use. Do I still need that flour “in the batter”?
Sometimes the dough gets dusted with flour, sometimes with cornstarch wash, sometimes with butter, sometimes with oil. Does it matter which I use? Can I use either method with any dough?
I have experimented lots!! I had purchased my unbromated unbleached flour from my co-op and always had lovely bread, but the co-op “died” and so i have tried other flours. I was surprised to see that not all Unbleached unbromated flour is created equal. I wonder why that is? I have bought the King Arthur to try next.
Hi Louise: Yes, this is the place to post questions (among others). If you like, you can put all your questions in; in any case, I’ll answer all four here:
1. If you’re using a greased cookie sheet, you can skip the cornmeal.
2. No, you don’t need to compensate for that flour in the initial mix.
3. The different toppings create a different style of bread. You can experiment with different combinations but be aware that brushing with oil makes it impossible to get a crisp crust, but even that’s a style question. Likewise egg wash.
4. The flours’ main differences are in protein content. So Pillsbury unbleached all purpose has a little less protein than Gold Medal, which has less than King Arthur. As you use higher-protein flours, you get a drier dough; you may find you need to adjust the water a bit to keep a consistent result. Jeff