Flour is a common ingredient used to make many recipes, but not all flour is made the same. Certain recipes will call for specific types of flour, such as high-grade flour.
If you have never heard of high-grade flour before, you may be wondering what high-grade flour is. I did the research, and this is what I learned!
What Is High-Grade Flour?
High-grade flour is a type of high gluten flour that can be made from hard spring wheat or semi-hard wheat. High-grade flour may also be called bread flour, high gluten flour, high protein flour, and more. Normally, high-grade flour is used to create recipes that need to rise, be stable, and have a firm texture.
Do you want to learn if high-grade flour is good for cakes, how to turn plain flour into high-grade flour, and what you can substitute for high-grade flour? Keep reading!
What Is High-Grade Flour Made Of?
Generally, high-grade flour is made of semi-hard wheat or hard spring wheat, which normally has higher protein contents than other types of wheat.
What Is High-Grade Flour Used For?
Typically, high-grade flour is best for recipes that need strength and stability or for yeast-raised baking, such as bread loaf recipes.
Normally, high-grade flour is an ideal flour to use for recipes that need gluten to rise and be stable because high-grade flour is high in protein, which is gluten.
When you knead or mix dough continuously that contains gluten, the dough will develop more gluten, which will result in dishes that will rise upward and stay stable after baking.
Moreover, high-grade flour is excellent if you want to create a recipe with a dense texture since gluten hardens when heated, creating firmer results in your recipes.
Is High-Grade Flour Good For Bread?
High-grade flour is good for most bread recipes because many bread recipes require flour that is high in gluten.
For instance, a traditional bread load recipe often rises upward and has a firm texture, which is why high-grade flour’s gluten content is excellent for a bread loaf.
However, high-grade flour may not be good for every bread recipe since high-grade flour usually creates dense textures.
For example, some bread recipes will need a lighter, airier texture, which would require low gluten flour, such as cake flour or all-purpose flour.
Can I Use High-Grade Flour For Cakes?
Generally, high-grade flour is not an ideal flour for cakes because high-grade flour will have too much gluten for cakes, which will make the cake rise more than cakes should.
Moreover, most cakes have a light texture, so using high-grade flour will make your cake too heavy.
Although high-grade flour may be an acceptable choice for a cake recipe if your cake needs to be dense.
Is High-Grade Flour The Same As All-Purpose Flour?
High-grade flour is not the same as all-purpose flour because they are made from different types of wheat to have different textures and gluten contents.
All-purpose flour is made from a mix of soft and hard wheat to have 8-11% gluten while high-grade flour is made from hard spring wheat or semi-hard wheat to achieve 14% gluten.
Therefore, you will get different textures depending on what flour you use. High-grade flour creates firm textures while all-purpose flour creates medium to somewhat soft textures.
For example, all-purpose flour is a good choice for creating pancakes and cakes while high-grade flour is better for pizza crusts and bread loaves.
Is High-Grade Flour The Same As Strong Flour?
Technically, high-grade flour is the same as strong flour since strong flour refers to any flour created from hard wheat kernels with a high protein content, which is what high-grade flour has.
Generally, most products and recipes will use the terms high-grade flour and strong flour interchangeably.
Is High-Grade Flour The Same As Bread Flour?
Bread flour and high-grade flour can be considered the same thing since they are both flours that have a lot of gluten and are made from hard wheat kernels.
However, each manufacturer may view bread flour and high-grade flour differently. Therefore, some high-grade flour products may have lower gluten levels than bread flour.
Is High-Grade Flour The Same As High Gluten Flour?
High-grade flour and high gluten flour can be considered the same type of flour because high-grade flour is flour high in gluten, which is what high gluten flour is.
Moreover, high-grade flour and high gluten flour are both made from hard wheat since hard wheat contains a lot of gluten.
How Do I Convert Plain Flour To High-Grade Flour?
An easy way to turn plain flour into high-grade flour is by adding vital wheat gluten into plain flour.
Vital wheat gluten is a type of flour that functions as a supplement that is extremely high in gluten with very little starch, which can add more gluten to your plain flour to mimic high-grade flour.
To create high-grade flour, take one cup of all-purpose flour and remove 1 ½ teaspoon of the flour then add 1 ½ teaspoon of vital wheat gluten.
Keep in mind that this will not perfectly replace high-grade flour, but it can work in a pinch.
What Can I Substitute For High-Grade Flour?
Adding vital wheat gluten to plain flour is a decent method to substitute high-grade flour for most recipes.
However, you can use flour labeled strong flour, high gluten flour, and bread flour instead of high-grade flour because they are almost the same types of flour.
Additionally, all-purpose flour can sometimes replace high-grade flour, but you will get a much softer and lighter texture when you use all-purpose flour.
Have a look at our related articles to learn what hard flour is, what gram flour is, and what graham flour is.
Conclusion
High-grade flour is a high gluten flour that is made from hard spring wheat or semi-hard wheat, which creates 14% gluten.
Normally, high-grade flour is excellent for creating baking recipes that have yeast or need to be stable, firm, and rise, such as bread loaves.