Why You Should Really Opt For These Name Brands When Buying All-Purpose Flour

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Ready to bake up a storm this week, but just realized you're out of trusty all-purpose flour? Before you dash to the store and grab another generic bag of flour, let me convince you to reach for one of these trusted name brands instead: King Arthur Baking or Bob's Red Mill. If you're wondering why you should trust me, well, I recently baked thousands of cookies when testing recipes for my upcoming cookbook, "108 Asian Cookies." Some have even dubbed me the "queen of Asian baking."Accolades aside, I simply love to bake, and at heart, I'm a scientist. Consistency matters to me whenever I make new batches of bread, cakes, or cookies. And the fact is, to stay consistent and bake better, bakers often stick to the same brand of flour every time.

I'm the same way. Whenever I bake cookies, for example, I reach for King Arthur Baking's all-purpose flour, a pantry staple of mine. What sets this unbleached and unbromated all-purpose flour apart is that each bag is reliable and behaves the same, thanks to decades of obsessive testing. That means every batch of my curry peanut butter cookies or ube linzer cookies bakes up exactly the same, time after time. There are no surprises, and this is very important to a baker. While store brands can work in a pinch, they're often less consistent in protein content and milling, which can change how your cookies spread (or don't spread) or how your bread rises.

The other solid brand that offers a high-quality all-purpose flour is Bob's Red Mill, which is also unbromated and unbleached. I rank it slightly below King Arthur Baking's all-purpose flour since Bob's Red Mill's protein content ranges from about 10% to 12%, whereas King Arthur's holds steady at a consistent 11.7% every time.The amount of protein in flour matters when baking because protein affects how much gluten forms in your dough or batter. A steady protein level means your bread rises just right, your cakes stay tender, and your cookies spread as expected. Again, there are no surprises, batch after batch.

These brands are also consistent for those who stock their pantries with ingredients for gluten-free baking. I recommend using Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour, a reliable alternative. I've baked multiple batches of gluten-free milk bread using this wheat flour substitution and found the bread to be tender, moist, and springy. I've also made delicious gluten-free ube crinkle cookies successfully using this flour. 

So next time you're reaching for all-purpose flour, skip the generic or mystery store brands and stick with the tried and true and expert-approved ones. Your taste buds (and your inner scientist) will thank you for it.