What Is Durum Flour? (What It Is, What It’s For, Substitutes + More)

Typically, most grocery stores stock up on wheat flour because wheat flour is a common ingredient. However, more types of flour are becoming readily available since each kind of flour can offer unique uses, such as durum flour.

If you have heard about durum flour, you may be wondering what durum flour is and how durum flour differs from wheat flour. I did the research, and here is what I found!

What is Durum Flour?

Durum flour is flour created from the endosperm of durum wheat, which is a specific variant of wheat that is not the same as common whole wheat. Durum flour contains a lot of gluten, which is why durum flour is best used for recipes like bread loaves, pizza crust, and pasta.

Do you want to learn how durum flour differs from regular wheat flour and what you can substitute for durum flour? Keep reading!

What Is Durum Flour Made Of?

Durum flour is made from a specific type of wheat called durum wheat, which is not the same as whole wheat normally used to make flour.

Typically, durum wheat is much “harder” than other types of flour, meaning that durum wheat has a lot of gluten or protein.

How Is Durum Flour Made?

Generally, durum flour is made by grinding durum wheat’s endosperm until it becomes a fine powder.

What Is Durum Flour Used For?

Normally, durum flour is used for recipes that require a lot of gluten since durum flour has 13% or more gluten.

For instance, durum flour is excellent for making pasta because durum flour’s high gluten content gives noodles a slightly rough texture and helps hold the noodle’s shape.

Additionally, durum flour is ideal for making yeast bread recipes or bread recipes that require volume and structure.

Since durum flour has a lot of gluten, gluten can trap carbon dioxide, which helps the dough rise and increase in volume.

Is Durum Flour And Semolina Flour The Same?

Durum flour and semolina flour are not the same because they are ground differently, but they are both made from durum wheat.

For instance, semolina flour is ground coarsely whereas durum flour is finely ground to mimic traditional flour.

However, semolina flour and durum flour have very similar gluten levels. Therefore, you will get similar volumes but different textures.

Normally, durum flour is used for bread recipes because durum flour adds a finer texture while semolina flour is better for pasta thanks to its coarseness.

Occasionally, some people call durum flour a by-product of making semolina flour because semolina flour gets ground coarsely, but any finely ground flour can be turned into durum flour.

How Is Durum Flour Different From Regular Wheat Flour?

Firstly, durum flour is different from regular wheat flour because durum flour is made from durum wheat and regular wheat flour is made from common wheat.

As such, durum flour is “harder” than common wheat flour, which gives durum flour higher gluten levels.

Therefore, if you were to use regular wheat flour instead of durum flour for a bread recipe, you will have a very soft bread loaf that lacks volume and structure.

On the other hand, if you tried to use durum flour instead of regular wheat flour for a cookie recipe, you would find that your cookies would be extremely dense with too much volume.

Is Durum Flour The Same As Bread Flour?

Technically, durum flour is not the same as bread flour because durum flour usually has more gluten than bread flour.

Moreover, bread flour is usually made from common wheat, which is a different species of wheat from durum flour.

However, durum flour can be good for bread depending on the kind of bread recipe you are making.

For instance, if you want to make a dense bread loaf, durum flour could be a great choice.

However, recipes like a quick bread and banana bread would not fare well with durum flour.

Does Durum Flour Have Gluten?

Durum flour has gluten because durum flour is made from durum wheat. Plus, durum wheat contains more gluten than common wheat.

Can I Use All-Purpose Flour Instead Of Durum Flour?

Generally, it is not advisable to use all-purpose flour instead of durum flour because all-purpose flour has 8-11% gluten while durum flour has 12% or more gluten.

Therefore, trying to use all-purpose flour instead of durum flour will leave you will overly soft and airy results.

What Can I Substitute For Durum Flour?

One of the best substitutes for durum flour is semolina flour because they are both made from durum wheat.

Generally, semolina flour is coarser than durum flour, but you will have the same gluten content as durum flour.

Moreover, semolina flour may be better to use than durum flour if you are making pasta since semolina flour’s coarseness will give your pasta a delightfully rough texture that lets sauce stick to the noodles better.

If you want to make a bread recipe, you can easily use bread made from common wheat instead of durum flour.

Normally, most common wheat bread flour will have at least 12-14% gluten, which can match the gluten content of durum flour.

If you want to learn what high-grade flour is, what hard flour is, and what gram flour is, read our related articles.

Conclusion

Durum flour is a type of flour that is made from durum wheat and durum wheat is not the same as common wheat used to make most types of flour.

Normally, durum flour has more gluten than other types of wheat flour, so durum flour works best for most bread recipes, pizza crust, and pasta.