Okay, here’s my blog post about experimenting with King Arthur All-Purpose Flour, focusing on its protein content:
So, I’ve been on this baking kick lately, trying to really nail my sourdough. And everyone keeps going on about protein content in flour, and how important it is. I’d been using whatever all-purpose flour was on sale, but I finally decided to grab a bag of King Arthur All-Purpose, since I’d heard good things. I wanted to see if it really made a difference.
Getting Started
First thing I did was just look at the bag. It clearly states the protein content – which is helpful! You know, not all brands make it that obvious. I compared it to the generic brand I had in the pantry, and yeah, there was a noticeable difference. The King Arthur was higher.
The Mixing
When I mixed up my usual dough recipe, I could feel a difference right away. The dough felt…stronger, I guess? Like, it had more resistance when I was kneading it. It wasn’t as sticky as what I was used to, which was a nice change.
- Observation 1: Less sticky dough.
- Observation 2: Dough felt tougher and more elastic.
The Proofing and Baking
I let it rise the same amount of time I usually do. It seemed to puff up a bit more than my usual loaves, which was exciting! Then came the baking. Man, the oven spring on this thing was pretty impressive! It rose up nice and tall, with a good, open crumb. My generic flour loaves often come out a bit flatter.
The Taste Test
Okay, the important part, right? The bread had a really nice chew to it – not tough, but definitely had some substance. The flavor was, well, like good bread! I’m not sure I could say the flour itself tasted different, but the texture was a definite improvement.
My take away
I did the comparison, then bake the bread by using King Arthur All-Purpose Flour and using the generic one. The one using King Arthur has better performance in many aspects.
So, yeah, I’m kind of a convert now. I can see why people recommend King Arthur. That higher protein content seems to actually make a difference in the final result. I’m definitely going to keep experimenting with it, maybe try their bread flour next. My baking journey is not finished!
