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.
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I am using Heckers Unbleached flour. Are you familiar with it? If so do you know if it has a higher protien content? I am getting a dense crumb and soft crust.
Stuart: On the “Nutritional Information,” What’s the portion size (in grams) and the grams protein? My guess is that Heckers Unbleached is typical medium-protein flour, around 10% protein. For the dense crumb, have you checked out our post on this at: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=141
But the first thing to try is a longer rest time, maybe 90 minutes or so and see if you like that better… let us know how it turns out. Jeff
Hi,
I baked a lot of bread when I was growing up in the Twin Cities and later, as a college student. (Probably the most memorable collegiate disaster dough was the tofu-whole wheat. Well, it was an experiment.)
I am now experimenting, with much more appealing results, with your recipes. Thanks for posting the weights and the water tweaks, along with the corrections to the book.
Hi Patty, thanks for stopping in. Hope you’ll be interested in our whole-grain recipes in the new book, which should be out in 12/09. Jeff
Getting back after 9/22.
1. Hecker’s all purpose unbleached flour is indeed %10 protein.
2. I had seen your post on the other blog about the crumb so I tried the overnight in the fridge on parchment paper process. This produced a crumb that was OK (although my wife though it undercooked), but the crust was a preculiar tan color that was thin and quite flexible. I tried another loaf the same way and raised the temp to 475 on the dial. Same result. For the last loaf on this batch I kept it out for a long rest time instead of the fridge method. I must have exceeded 90 minutes though and even though I had the dough on cornmeal it stuck to the paddle. I managed to get it into the oven but the dough “ball” was a bit misshapen. I used a 500 degree on the dial temp as well. This produced what we felt was a perfect crust and crumb, although the loaf was skewed!
So that was my first batter. But let me ask you – is it better to use corn meal or parchment paper to rest the dough on? Hope all is well.
Hi Stuart: Parchment is going to be better if you are preferring the very long rest time, which seems to have done the trick. Another option is to rest and bake on a silicone pad (no pizza peel at all). In both cases, you should peel off the parchment/silicone for the last third of baking, in order to crisp the bottom crust.
Have you tested your oven temp? I wonder if it’s running cool.
But you seem to have solved the problem. Jeff
Love your book-
unfortunately, we now have a family member with a gluten free diet, and were hoping you could have some suggestions for a gluten free adaptation – specifically for something we could make Pita out of?
Hi John: Thanks so much for your question, because we are hard at work on our 2nd book, tentatively titled “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day.” Because we’ve gotten so many questions exactly like yours, our new book will contain a chapter with gluten-free breads, including a pizza shell that would probably meet your needs. So many of our readers have a friend or family member who is off wheat.
Unfortunately, none of these recipes are ready for prime time. The book will be out in December 2009, which seems like a long way off. Thanks for trying our method– we expect to have a storable gluten-free approach by next year! Jeff
I’m *really* glad to hear you’ll have a gluten-free chapter in the next book. I just got my copy of your first book for Christmas (!!) even though I’ve been experimenting with your master recipe a bit for the last couple months. Two of my best friends are gluten intolerant, so it has made it harder to share my new hobby with them. Another thing to consider: if at all possible, it would be great if the gluten-free chapter could include a recipe that is also vegan (dairy and egg-free). I am vegan and have gluten-free friends who are as well. So if possible that would be great (even if it uses egg replacer and/or soy/rice/etc. milk).
Hi Ben: We’re busy at work on these, and we’ll see what they look like in the final analysis. It’s challenging without the eggs, which give lift…
Just got your book and tried the master recipe for bread and pizza and everything turned out great! Can’t wait to make it for my Mom! She and I have been searching for years to find bread that is similar to the one made by a family-owned bakery we used to frequent in Rochester, NY that has since closed. The search is now over…I can make it myself!!! Thanks. Looking forward to trying the Peasant Loaf next!
Thanks for visiting Lisa! If you have any questions about the Peasant Loaf or any other, come back and visit anytime– we answer these pretty quickly. Jeff
I made 1/2 your basic recipe and loved the loaves it made. Not knowing any better, I used Better for Bread Flour. I made four small loaves which I shared. Everyone raved. Today, using the last, I bought more flour, the same kind, and made another batch by hand, rather than using my mixer and it’s too dry. I put a bit of water on it and now am reading and find out that I should have mixed it in. The dough is still on the counter, rising, and I’m wondering what I can do to save it.
Any suggestions? Should I just throw it away?
Pat
Pat: I’m a little confused, but don’t throw it away. Bread flour tends to make a drier dough than AP (we tested with AP). If the dough’s too dry, work in a little more water (1/4 cup or so). If too wet, about a 1/4-cup of flour should do it. The confusing part is about why you’d get a different moisture level hand-mixing compared with machine-mixing. A bread-flour dough might be tough to mix by hand, but the final result should be the same.
If you meant that you threw a bit of water on it and let it sit, I’ve actually done that and it absorbs over 12 hours or so. So see what happens, or go ahead and mix it in. Jeff
I meant I threw it in hoping the flour would absorb it. I’ll leave it alone and report my success/failure tomorrow. Thanks for such a swift answer. I’m not sure why I got such a different result. Maybe I didn’t mix it as much or maybe my cups were different?
Pat
Cups vary, yes. You can also measure by weight, a little more consistent. 2 lbs of flour, 1 1/2 pounds of water is the basic Master recipe.
But I don’t think the vigorousness of mixing should make difference to the final doughs apparent dryness…
Thanks for that measurement Jeff! After a long battle with spread out, flat free-form loaves, I am trying the basic recipe again with no changes. I am following the 2 lbs flour and 1.5 lbs of water this time. I am also letting it rise on the counter this time as I have been letting it rise in the oven with the light on… perhaps it is too quick a rise or too hot in there? I thought it might be more like summer weather in there when all my bread was turning out great. I kept increasing the flour hoping that would stop the sideways spread but it didn’t. I also checked the flour before my batch tonight and it is 10% protein so it should work well with your measurements. I will let you know how tonight’s batch goes…
I am also going to try to work on the cloaking a bit more because it seems from all the Q&A that I have read that underhandling is a cause of the sideways spread… wish me luck!
PS I am so excited about your second book and really can’t wait until December to bake all that Healthier Bread!!! Do you have any recipes using mashed yams?
Thanks Laurraine… we have breads with pumpkin puree, and also cubed yams. Mashed yams will work as well as the pumpkin puree. Jeff
I have your book and I am in Love – I have made one master recipe and one buttermild recipe. I tried your pecan sticky buns and although they looked fabulous they were tough Very tough – I think I hurried the rising time – Question – can they be prepared normally up to the “in the pan ” part and allowed to rise in frig to bake first thing in the morning?? and if so – how long do they need for the second rise in the frig? I will master these but would appreciate your insight to Un Toughen Them 🙂
Thanks in advance for all the wonderful work you do here.
Hi Sandra,
Yes, you can do exactly that with the sticky buns. If you are having issues with them being tough you may want to let them rest for at least 45 minutes on the counter before baking in the morning.
Once you try them with the Brioche dough there will be no going back! 🙂
Enjoy!
Zoë
OK Briohe is the next dough I make – AND, have you tried baking in a covered Le Creuset as in the NY Times reicpe. I have a 5 Qt pot and have thought about using your recipe but cooking that way?? Can’t wait for the next book!! I am hooked!
Yes, it works beautifully in the covered Creuset. It will be in our next book, in fact. Jeff
I recently made the master recipe with 5 C AP flour and 1.5 C of whole wheat. I didn’t adjust anything and it came out great. Made nan, cinnamon raisin loafs, small rolls, and a sandwich loaf.
I noticed that one of the things I like about it for a general bread (e.g. sandwich bread) is that it has a tighter crumb than the loaves I’ve made with the NY Times recipe. That recipe uses bread flour. Is bread flour the difference?
I like the chewiness of the NY Times loaf and I know your book it says that bread flour = chewy. But if I go with bread flour will I lose the tighter crumb?
Also, if I use king arthur AP flour with the higher protein (and increase the water per your direction) will I lose the tighter crumb? I’d like to go organic if I can.
Hi Ben,
You can switch to bread flour and increase the water slightly as we describe. This will help your crumb, but only if you allow the loaf to rest longer before baking. You can let it rest up to 45-60 minutes longer than we say in the book, depending on the size of the loaf.
Try that and see what you think!
Zoë
I would like to boost the protein content of the bread without significantly increasing the calories. Can I use a soy flour and if so what would it do to the texture of the bread ??
Thank you ..LOVE YOUR BOOK… have just purchased another for a family member I am now up to 4 books as gifts!! and everyone loves them. Good job Guys.
I haven’t tried soy flour but my guess is that it will behave like other ground additives that don’t have gluten (or much gluten). That would mean that swapping out up to about a cup or cup and a half of soy flour in a full recipe (about 6 1/2 cups total flour) would work without major adjustments in the liquids. But I don’t know how soy absorbs water. Rule of thumb would be to keep the final consistency about how you’re used to seeing it in our Master Recipe (page 26). My guess is that even if you add vital wheat gluten (https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=142), this will be too dense if you start increasing soy flour beyond the 20-25% threshold.
Please let us know how your experiments work out. Jeff
I have purchased your book and it is lovely. However, I am disappointed that all of your recipes use so much white flour. I prefer to use only whole grain flours as they are so much healthier. I am an experienced bread maker and would like to adapt some of your recipes. Is there a “rule of thumb” that I can use as to how much liquid to use with the whole grain flours?
Any suggestions on how I can substitute the whole grains for the all purpose flour and still get the right texture?
I have made the whole wheat recipe and it’s great but would surely like to be able to use the other recipes as well.
Also, is there any reason that I could not mix the dough in my bread machine using the dough setting? It would also rise in there and then I would refrigerate it…would that be ok?
Thank you so much for your time. I love your book and will wait to hear from you. I love the texture of the bread…so much better than when baked in the bread machine. Thanks again…Peaches
Great timing, Peaches, we just submitted our manuscript to the publisher for our 2nd book, “Healthy Bread in 5 Min/Day.” It’s all about the question you ask but it won’t be out till 12/09 and we aren’t going to release any of the recipes or formulas from it on the web (for now). But in the meanwhile, you can start playing with the 100% WW bread in the 1st book, on page 76. You might want to consider some vital wheat gluten to improve that recipe, see https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=142.
WW absorbs more water than AP; you’ll see that in the recipe on page 76 and you should be able to take it from there. Basically, the short answer to your question is that you need more water, and consider a little VWG too. You cannot substitute WW for AP in our recipes without changing the water. Jeff
Hello
I am having a difficult time. I have never baked bread before. i bought your book several months ago and with great excitement mixed up the basic dough recipe and tried out my first loaf. It was a moderate success. I got a good loaf with a great crust but the inside was moister than I would like. I then made several additional attempts changing the length of time to rise. There was little change in the results. I then switched to weighing out the flour thinking that I may not be measuring accurately. It has only gotten worse since then. I have taken a couple of months off of bread making and tried again yesterday using 2lb King arthur unbleached flour and three and 1/2 cups of water 1.5 Tbsp yeast and 1.5 Tbsp kosher salt. I let the dough rest in it’s container on the kitchen counter for about three hours. It rose to about three times it’s original size and was sticky and loaded with pea size holes. Today I pulled up a piece of dough cut it off and pulled the top of the dough over and under. This dough was left out to rise for twenty minutes (no significant change in size)and then slipped onto the stone in a 450 degree preheated oven. 30 minutes later I had a nicely crusted loaf that had increased in size vertically by about 30 percent. It now was a ball rether than a loaf. I let it cool and the inside was as way to dense and way to moist. What have I done wrong?
Otto: In weighing your ingredients, be sure that you are using 5 ounces per cup of flour. That’s hour our scoop and sweep method weighs out. I think you’re using too much water– try 3.25 cups with King Arthur all-purpose (don’t use KAF bread flour).
Give it a longer rest time– at least 40 minutes, not 20.
So I think this is just too much water… see if these suggestions help and let us know. Jeff
No GF recipes til Dec 2009?!? Not even a hint??
My 2 year old son is allergic to wheat (and rice and oats, unfortunately). The only bread we can find that is safe for him is just undeer $6 per (SMALL) loaf!
Throw us a bone here guys! Preferably one that uses a combination of barley/sorghum/spelt flours… (prettily bats eyes)
Still workin’ on ’em, Amy. Once the book is out, we’ll start posting about the new material. Before then, and our publisher will kill us!
I’ve been waiting for my book but made the basic bread successfully several times. However, the past two times the dough was so wet you would have to pour it into a pan. One batch had to be thrown out and this last one is edible but I’m still having problems. This last batch was the GM Better for Bread and olive oil.
One thing I think I did both times in the two that I had problems with is adding the liquid to the flour instead of the other way around.
Would that make a difference?
Hi Cheryl,
Did you switch to the GM Better for Bread from a different flour. I have to do a little research and see what the protein content of that flour is? Did you add more water to compensate for bread flour?
Are you using the scoop and sweep method to measure your flour?
Let me know and we will try to figure this out for you!
Thanks, Zoë
She has talked to me and she switched to Gold Metal Better for Bread from AP flour and added the liquids to her flour the second two batches. She wants to know if that makes a difference to the outcome.
Yes, that’s right…from using AP flour the other times. I wondered if adding liquid to flour was not as good as adding flour to liquid. This was also an olive oil batch and I didn’t add extra liquid to make up for BFB flour…and a good thing I didn’t.
I forgot…yes I used scoop and sweep which would actually make you use more flour that usual, isn’t that right?
Hi, I have 2 questions.
1) I’ve made the deli rye bread recipe several times and my husband and I love it. Most recently, I noticed some white mold on the top of the dough. It had been in the refrigerator for maybe 5 days. The dough smelled great but I was worried and threw it away. I had been finishing one batch and immediately starting the next with out washing out the container first – to get a more sour flavor. Is there a limit to the number of times I can put the new dough in the unwashed container? Was the mold dangerous?
2) Do you check the internal temperature of your breads to determine doneness? I usually bake my normal mostly-WW sandwich bread to 200F. Is the moister bread baked to the same temp?
I’ve also made the brioche for Christmas – delicious – and the 100% whole wheat (although I did replace 1 cup of the WW with bread flour). I’ve been making the deli rye with 2 cups of rye flour and 1-1/4 less AP flour, which seems to work. I do have to let it sit a bit longer before it goes in the oven.
Thanks for a great book!
Cheryl and Pat: I’m going to let Zoe continue this conversation…
Anne: If there’s mold, it needs to be thrown away, as you did. Mold is different from dark liquid collecting above the dough, which is harmless. Mold is identified as a dark, light, or white patch right on the surface of the dough. It may or may not appear fuzzy/hairy. But it will be a patch. I’ve never seen mold on my dough, and I go long periods without washing the container. If you’re concerned, wash it every four batches? No way to know exactly how to answer.
Food safety experts say mold is possibly harmful, especially certain kinds. Best to be on the safe side.
We didn’t end up recommending internal thermometers because the inexpensive ones are anything but instant-read… they take up to five minutes to settle down. The true instant-read digitals are $80. But I’d say 205 for wet lean dough, and 180-185 for egg-enriched wet doughs like ours. Jeff
I have some Ceci flour that I use for making pasta. Do you think this would make a good bread and, if so, which dough do you think I could adapt to use this flour?
Many thanks!
Lu
Sorry, I forgot my second question. What bread flour do you use for the bagels and the pain d’epi? I’ve been using King Arthur, but now I wonder if I should be making any adjustments due to its high protein content.
Thanks again,
Lu
Lu: I assume you mean garbanzo bean flour? Ceci=garbanzo in Italian, or do you mean a durum semolina brand used for pasta?
If it’s garbanzo, just use a little in conjunction with AP or bread flour. Maybe 3/4 cup out of a full four-pound batch. If it’s actually durum semolina, you can use it in the Italian Semolina Bread on page 80 in the book.
I’ve usually gone with Pillsbury Bread Flour, or a local organic product. Both of those are about 12-13% protein. I believe KAF Bread is about 14 or even 15%. My guess is that it will work without an adjustment, but you could add an extra 1/4 cup water. Jeff
Jeff, yes it is chickpea. I will try it! It’s funny about the King Arthur flours, it’s all I’ve been buying for a long time, so maybe it’s time to go back to Ceresota unbleached or Pillsbury bread. I’m actually going to finish up what I have and then give the others a shot. It will be interesting to see any differences in the dough.
Thank you, Jeff.
Lu
I haven’t tried it yet, but I was using a different measuring pitcher for the water in the two recipes I had trouble with. Next batch I will go back to using the measuring cups I used the first times. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I am planning on making the basic recipe today for the first time. I am wondering if using generic store brand AP flour is OK?? Does it need and more or less water? Thanks! Just ordered your book this morning. Can’t wait to get it!
Generic store brand AP is OK, so long as it’s unbleached. That’s one of the biggest problems people have with our recipes.– bleached flour has lower protein then unbleached, and you need that protein to absorb all the water in our recipes. Don’t use super-low protein flours (soft flours) like White Lily, whether bleached or unbleached.
I purchased some artisan flour. How is that different from all purpose or bread flour. Should I adjust the master recipe?
Artisan generally just means hand made, what it exactly means for flour is unclear. The question is the protein content. Is the label billing it as high-protein or bread flour? If not, it’s probably like AP and can be used without modifying our recipes. If high-protein or bread flour, you need a little more water to keep the consistency the same as usual for our recipes.
Can I use KA Italian style flour for bread and do I need to adjust the water?