You spent months mastering a basic sourdough bread recipe—that’s amazing. Now, you’re ready to branch out with more advanced loaves. But one look at the baking aisle and your head is spinning from all the options. What’s the difference between pastry flour and cake flour? Do you need bread flour, or is all-purpose fine? What the heck is spelt?
With all the types of flour to choose from, baking projects can get a little overwhelming. Friend, you’ve come to the right place.
Flour is a catch-all term to describe anything—grains, seeds, nuts, beans, roots—that’s been ground into a powder. Here, we’re referring specifically to cereal flour, which is milled from the edible grains of cereal grasses (like wheat). Each grain is comprised of an endosperm (the inside tissue), germ (the embryo) and bran (the hard outer layers).