Okay, so I’ve been baking a lot lately, and I kept seeing “low gluten flour” pop up in recipes, especially for things like cakes and pastries. I was like, “What the heck is that?” I’m used to just grabbing all-purpose or maybe bread flour, so this was new territory for me.
First, I hit up the grocery store. I wandered around the baking aisle, scanning all the different flour bags. I saw the usual suspects – all-purpose, bread, whole wheat – but no “low gluten.” I even asked a store employee, and they just pointed me to the cake flour. I grabbed a bag, figuring it might be the same thing.
When I got home, I did some digging online. Turns out, “low gluten flour” isn’t really a specific type of flour you buy, but more about the protein content. Regular all-purpose flour has a protein content of around 10-12%, which creates a good amount of gluten when you mix it with water. Gluten is what gives bread its chewy texture.
But for things like cakes, you don’t want a lot of gluten. You want them to be tender and light. That’s where low gluten flour comes in. It usually has a protein content of around 7-9%.
So, What Did I Find Out?
- Cake flour IS a low gluten flour! The store employee was right. It’s milled super fine, which also helps create a delicate crumb.
- Pastry flour is another option. It has a slightly higher protein content than cake flour, but still less than all-purpose.
- You can even make your own low gluten flour by mixing all-purpose flour with cornstarch! The cornstarch dilutes the protein, lowering the overall gluten development. I found a bunch of different ratios online, so I’m going to experiment with that.
I ended up baking a simple vanilla cake using the cake flour I bought. I followed the recipe carefully, making sure not to overmix the batter (overmixing = more gluten!).
The result? It worked! The cake was noticeably more tender and delicate than when I use all-purpose flour. I’m definitely a convert. Now I’m excited to try out pastry flour and even my own homemade low gluten blend. This whole flour thing is way more interesting than I thought!
