As a New Gen Baker, you’ve likely come across different kinds of flour and wondered about the difference between cake flour and all-purpose flour. Which type goes better with which recipe?
If you bake regularly, it makes sense to keep several types of flours in your cupboard depending on whether you’re baking cakes, breads, or pies.
First of all, these flours are all made from wheat. But the difference boils down to how each type of flour was milled, the kind of wheat used, and where it was harvested. These factors define how much protein content there is in either.
How much gluten can be formed using a particular flour is based on protein content which determines the structure and texture of baked goods. The lower the protein content, the less gluten is formed.
To get the light and airy structure of cakes, you want a flour with very little protein, which is why MAYA Cake Flour has approximately 7 to 8% protein content.
When baking something chewy like bread, MAYA All-Purpose Flour is more suitable since it has a lot of protein in it – around 10 to 12%.
If a recipe asks for another kind of flour, you can use cake or all-purpose flour as a substitute by figuring out the protein content of the other flour and adjusting its ratio manually. But that can get a bit tricky.
For example, if what you have on hand is MAYA All-Purpose Flour, you can approximate MAYA Cake Flour by adding 2 tablespoons of MAYA Corn Starch to a small cup of MAYA All-Purpose Flour. On the other hand, if you want to increase a flour’s protein content, just add a few tablespoons of vital wheat gluten.
However, the easiest way is simply getting the specific flour you need for your purposes.
So there you have it! These are the main differences between MAYA All-Purpose Flour and MAYA Cake Flour. Make sure to have both available in your cupboard if you are a New Gen Baker who bakes regularly, and use each specifically, whenever it is called for. Happy baking!
