How many of you use plain old all purpose flour to cook and bake with?

[BettyR]

I belong to a cooking forum and I am getting so tired of being snubbed because I use plain old all purpose flour. I was just wondering if I'm really that weird or what?
I want a second...or third...or fourth (ha, ha) opinion!

All these people are really snooty about the flour they use to make the breads that they make. Don't get me wrong, they make some works of art, I'm very impressed with what they can turn out but when I make bread I'm just putting food on the table not making art.

I use AP flour because I live in a rural community and the small grocery stores here don't carry bread flour. But then again if they did have bread flour it would probably cost too much and I still wouldn't buy it.

I purchase a 25 pound bag of AP flour at the local farmer's market for $6.50...that comes out to $1.30 per 5 pounds..which chaps my rear end because just two years ago that same 25 pound bag of flour was $5.00. It makes up a fairly large portion of our diet since we go through one 25 pound bag in a month. So I would not be willing to pay more for bread flour since everyone is happy with the food I make with the AP flour.

I guess our diet is not that sophisticated since we eat mostly meat, poultry, and vegetables that we have grown ourselves. But we also eat homemade breads, dumplings, pasta, pastries, pies and cakes made out of....(((gasp)))....plain old all purpose flour!!!!

 

[KBlue]

Well, I am with you!

I use AP flour for everything except cakes. I purchase a 2 lb box of cake flour just for cake making. (I make cakes so rarely that it lasts forever though).

 

[Tigertrea]

I used to buy only cake flour but lately I've only bought AP. I find it works just fine for my baking. I rarely make cakes but, I make bread and other things much more often.

 

[carlye828]

I have tried all of those special flours, and let me tell you, the worst pie crust I ever made was using pastry flour. I tried and tried and it never came out to be even close to acceptable. I've also used a lot of bread flour, and I'm just not impressed. It's no better than using all purpose for me; definitely not worth the price. Spending more money than necessary is just stupid.

Look at it from the flip side. Those snooty folks just need their special flour to put out a quality product. They probably also don't have a homestead to take care of. They are baking show bread to photograph and post pictures of on the internet. You're filling bellies, and I'm sure fitting 1,000 other tasks in your day.

 

[KellerTX]

I have made some really tasty stuff with AP! If they want to play with the others, let them.

 

[3LilBirds]

I use AP Flour. No one ever complains about my cooking or says anything negative about using flour. So you're not alone in using flour.

 

[bnjrob]

The only time I buy "special" flour is if it is for a "special" recipe that calls for something like whole wheat, rye, etc. (which isn't very often). Otherwise, I buy the cheapest, no-name bag of flour I can find.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

People will snub people for anything in any area of life. Art, dogs, clothes....pogo stick routines... Some reasons do at least have some reason hidden in them, and some have no bearing on real life.

For me, there is a reason I don't use cheaper flours anymore, that does not relate to social elitism. I tried going as cheap as I could find...and I ran into taste problems. I am sensitive enough to tastes that bleached flour tastes gross, bitter, and chemically to me. The cheap unbleached flour still oddly tastes not quite right to me (may have to do with the bromate process, though potassium bromate itself is tasteless), though not nearly to the same degree. I decided to go a bit higher in price and tried King Arthur AP flour. I can put a bit directly on my tongue straight out of the bag, and it tastes like flour should. They don't use things like chemical additives and such in their flours. I only use KA brand flours these days, whether whole wheat or white. I tried cake versus all purpose flour and didn't notice a difference. And that's really the point. It's all about what you prefer taste and texture wise and/or what purpose you are using it for. For me, only flours that are less processed seem to do the job as far as my tongue is concerned. I also like that KA flours have a higher protein content because I like what that does for the dough. Others can't taste any difference between say, bleached and unbleached, so it wouldn't be a concern for them.

 

[bigmike&nan]

All Purpose Flour is a combination of a heartier flour (bread flour) and a more refined flour (pastry flour). It's roughly 50/50 depending on how careful the manufacturer is when combining what they have around. And it works well for most breads and pastry, that is why they called it ALL PURPOSE. I love Gold Medal AP, don't like buying generic brand flour (the wife gets it by accident when she shops for me) as it tends to sit on the shelves of warehouses and stores longer and occasionally is a little rancid when you buy it.

I use AP for just about everything, when I don't have bread flour in the house I make my baguettes, pizza dough and so on with AP and it's hard to tell. The extra gluten in the Bread flour would help when making a hearty bread or pizza dough that you want to have a chewy crust to - I see the flour the pizza joints used and it is some special really hearty bread flour, a very hard flour (less refined than standard bread flour).

It sounds like that bread forum is pretty stuck up. I know a lot of folks in the South swear by certain brands of flour for biscuits, dumplings and breads. Stuff made at older small mills that really has a very fervent following. You just ignore the snobs there and snoop, lurk and copy all their "secrets". You're very well liked here and for good reason, I think we all love good food but have a more practical side than a lot of folk.


Mike

 

[braindead101]

I have used ap flour for many years. I tried one of those fancy flours for pie crust and never had so much trouble rolling dough in my life. Also tried a high quality flour [pricey] and can't tell the difference. Bread flour has a better gluten content which helps deliver a better crust, better chew but to me not worth the extra $ or the running around to get it.