Chemically bleaching flour currently is banned in Australia, the European Union, and many other countries across the globe due to the carcinogenic properties of the chemicals used. These facts aside, the bleaching process can also impart a bitter aftertaste and off odors.
US bleached flours may have been treated with various chemicals to whiten them, including bromine compounds that are said to improve some handling characteristics. Bromine treatment is illegal in EU countries because it leaves chemical traces that are thought to be cancer-causing.
White flour is unhealthy, it doesn't matter whether it is bleached or not. In the process of making white flour, they remove a lot of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Removing fiber makes it high on glycemic index, so it raises your blood sugar a lot when you eat it.
Flour is bleached to improve its baking qualities and to achieve a whiter color. Here are the main reasons for bleaching flour: Improved Baking Performance: Bleaching alters the protein structure in flour, which can enhance the flour's ability to rise and create a better texture in baked goods.
Fact: American wheat is covered in glyphosate.
In Europe, this practice isn't as prominent, and it's even banned or heavily restricted in some countries. Unfortunately glyphosate can disrupt or kill the bacteria in our guts disrupting our immune system and microbiome.
HRW wheat is the main type of wheat used in the U.S. HRW and HRS wheat are both rich in protein. This indicates that they both have a higher amount of gluten, especially when compared to the soft wheat used more often in Europe.
Bleached and unbleached flour can be used interchangeably. Some believe that bleached flour is better when you want your baked good to have a really bright white color, like when you make a white cake; or a lighter, fluffier texture, like when you want to make extra fluffy pancakes.
Bleached and unbleached flours can both be used interchangeably in any recipe without a major discernable difference.
Never bleached, never bromated, and non-GMO
This is unbleached flour, and it's how King Arthur makes all of our white flours.
Our All-Purpose Flour is unbleached, unbromated, enriched baking flour milled from the highest quality North American wheat.
All milled flour will bleach, or turn white when exposed to air (unbleached flour). Because this takes time, bleaching agents such as chlorine dioxide and benzoyl peroxide are added to the flour. The resulting bleached flour is whiter and has a slightly softer texture.
That means our flour is never bleached, never bromated, and non-GMO. We also set strict standards for variables like protein percentage, ash content, moisture levels, wheat quality, and more, and constantly test to ensure our flour is meeting these specifications.
By contrast, traditional Italian flours (like Tipo 00 and Tipo 0) are often minimally processed. The flour retains much of the wheat germ, fiber, and other natural components. It's produced without harsh chemicals, synthetic nutrients, or bleaching agents.
King Arthur's regular bread flour was tested for the Center for Environmental Health 8-18 and it had 1386 ppb glyphosate. Many organic food products are found to contain glyphosate when tested.
Wheat Thins are a staple in many households but are banned in the UK, Japan, and parts of Europe. Wheat Thins contain BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), which some believe can have harmful side effects on the consumer.
Loss of Nutrients: When flour is bleached, especially with chlorine, it can lose some of its natural nutrients. But this loss isn't usually a big deal, and you can find enriched bleached flours with nutrients added back in.
Not using enough flour, though, results in a more caramelized-looking loaf. The difference between using too much and using too little flour is drastic. The outside turned a dark-brown color and looked almost caramelized.
While bread flour is the best option, it can sometimes be used if you don't have bread flour. “Check the protein content,” advises Chef Jürgen, since it can vary from brand to brand, and an all-purpose flour that contains protein on the higher end of the range, 12 to 13 percent, will produce a better outcome.
Because it hasn't been put through the same chemical treatments, unbleached flour can have a more dense grain. Since it also takes longer for unbleached flour to be produced (the waiting time and storage add costs for the manufacturer), it often is more expensive than its bleached counterpart.
To thicken sauces or dredge chicken breasts and the like, it's fine to use either one.
Grano duro is slightly yellow, more granular, and more commonly used for pasta and some breads in the south of Italy. It's also knows as durum wheat flour. Grano tenero is generally what we think of as white flour, and is more broadly used in bread, pizza, and pastry, and northern pasta doughs.
The fact that sourdough fermentation improves the accessibility of minerals and that higher whole-grain consumption is known to be associated with a reduced incidence of several chronic diseases [73] makes whole-grain sourdough-fermented bread a nutrient-dense food with potential functional properties on health.
Whole wheat: Replacing white flour with whole-wheat in your recipes will increase your nutrient intake and potentially lower inflammation.