Sorry, wasn't clear - these are all bread flours, just one is branded and the other two supermarket own brands.
I use bread flour for choux pastry but I think that's about it otherwise - plain flour all the way, very rarely use self-raising. Not tried cake flour but I think UK flour is already pretty good for cakes, isn't it?
Flour is not a standardized ingredient like baking soda. The labels “bread” “all purpose” “plain” and “cake” and “pastry” flour have no real meaning since there are no industry standards for any of those terms. They are just marketing terms used to sell sacks of flour to the home baker.
Take any two brands of flour in any category, and compare the specs, you will find differences, some have significant differences.
Learn about the flour brands and specs, then match your flours to your baking projects.
The flour YOU select will make a huge difference in your finished product.
You mentioned pate a choux. Pate a choux needs a flour with a 10% - 11% protein; ash 56% - 60%; and extraction around 73%.
The reason you don’t want too high a protein is pate a choux is an outlier in pastry in that it is twice cooked and gluten is deliberately developed in the dough. Since gluten is developed in the dough in the beating stage, the pate a choux will be tough if a high protein flour is used.
Flour has to be selected for specifications, rather than a generic term like “bread” flour; if you look at the flour specifications on Central Milling’s site or learn about flours, you will see the specs are vastly different for the various flours.
What King Arther Flour sells as “bread flour” has a protein content of 12.7% protein. Too high for pata a choux.
Canadian Strong flour has 14.9% protein. Too high for pate a choux
Canadian All purpose flour has 13% protein—higher than American so called “bread flour”. Too high for pate a choux.
UK plain flour is a low 9% protein. Too low for pate a choux
Organic High Mountain
Protein 13.5% - too high for pate a choux
Ash 0.60%
Blend Organic Dark Northern Spring Wheat
Flour Treatment: None
Organic Beehive
Protein 10% - 10.5% - this flour is good for pate a choux
Ash 0.56%
Blend Organic Hard Red Winter Wheat
Flour Treatment: Malted with Organic Malted Barley Flour
Organic Artisan Baker’s Craft
Protein 11.5% this flour is good for pate a choux
Ash 0.60%
Blend Organic Hard Red Winter Wheat
Flour Treatment: None
Some times other factors come into play. My biscotti needs a flour with around 11% protein, 60% ash. But Central Millings Artisan Craft and Craft Plus just don’t work even though both flours have the right protein, ash and extraction specs. Biscotti made with these flours are very slow to dry out in the second bake. So they over bake. I believe it is the variety of wheat in the flour: yecora rojo. While this variety of wheat is prized by bread bakers for its flavor and dough quality (it doesn’t get bucky), there is something about the moisture content that does not work in my biscotti formula. I use these flours in a number of other cookies, just not my biscotti.
Drop cookies like chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter, etc are best with 10% - 11.5% protein and up to 60% ash.
These are examples of matching your flour to your baking project instead of just buying whatever is on the shelf.
My biscotti 11.7% protein unbleached malted flour King Arthur all purpose flour
morning bun enriched dough 10.5% protein unbleached malted flour Central Milling Beehive flour
fruit hand pie 10.5% protein unbleached malted flour Central Milling Beehive flour; I will use 11.5% protein unbleached malted and unmalted flour in a pinch, but only Central Milling Artisan Baker’s Craft, never King Arthur brand
Gluten free vegetable tart: my blend of brown and white rice flours, sorghum flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, arrowroot
unglazed eclairs and puff w/ craquelin topping 10.5% protein unbleached malted flour Central Milling Beehive flour
chiffon cake 8% protein bleached flour no treatment SoftaSilk brand cake flour
Chocolate chunk cookie 11.5% protein unbleached malted flour Central Milling Artisan Baker’s Craft Plus
