A minimal pantry makes sense for most families, but for those who want to get the most out of their cooking, the more ingredients the better.
This is especially true for flours. Beyond the typical all-purpose flour you already have on your shelf, you’ll often get the best results when you use very specific blends that are purpose-built for the job. They add flavor, texture, and interest to your baked goods, turning them from just another batch of muffins to the kind of delicacy you’d find at the corner store.
So if you’ve ever pulled a delicious-smelling loaf out of the oven only to find the first slice disappointing, it might not be your technique. A good place to start is getting flour that’s designed specifically for the job, such as:
- High-protein flours
- Pasta/pizza flours
- High-gluten flours
- Cake/pastry flours
And then there are flours that are made for dietary restrictions and overall healthy living, such as gluten-free and whole-grain flours.
So regardless of your needs, you’ll find a few options on this list to level up your baking results from good to great with flours that are made for the job.
High-Protein Bread Flours
Bread flour is high in protein, fueling better gluten development and resulting in a sturdy loaf with an airy rise. Most bread flours range from 12 to 14% protein, compared to 10% for all-purpose. We recommend Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour, which ranges from 12.5 to 13.5% protein. It also includes malted barley, which helps convert starch into sugar and gives yeast a kickstart.
High-gluten flour has the highest gluten (13 to 16%) of all flours and is designed to give artisanal breads and bagels a higher rise and deeper chew. Try King Arthur High-Gluten Flour, made from 100% hard red spring wheat with gluten levels that hit 14.2%, making it ideal for long-fermented, whole-grain, and no-knead breads.
Pizza and Pasta Flours
00 flours are capable of meeting several specific needs. These are finely-milled, relatively high in protein (11 to 12%) and create doughs that are both elastic and tender, making them ideal for stretching into both pizza crusts and sheets of pasta. They can also be used for lighter applications, like cakes and bakery goods.
In Italy, the “00” is a designation of grind and purity: a finely milled, high-quality grain with no germ or additives. In the U.S., “00” refers to the grind only: flours that are super-milled to a silky flour that is easy to hydrate. We like King Arthur 00 Flour here, which is a combination of hard and soft wheat that’s ground powder-fine, providing elasticity to thin-crust pizza and a nice chew to pastas and bread.
Semolina flour, which is made from 100% durum wheat, serves a similar purpose with its high protein content and golden color. This gives both pizza and pasta a sweet, nutty taste and a perfect, toothy bite. Typical semolina can be coarse and gritty, but both Caputo and Bob’s Red Mill make a fine-grind semolina flour with a soft, silky texture.
Cake and Pastry Flours
Cake flour creates a tender crumb in lighter baked goods. It’s low-protein (10% or less), finely milled, and often includes a wheat enzyme to improve yeast performance. While recipes recommend making a DIY cake flour by just adding cornstarch to all-purpose flour, it’s simply not the same product.
We like Bob’s Red Mill Super-Fine Cake Flour, which is made from low-protein, soft wheat that’s finely milled for a silky texture. It includes a wheat starch enzyme for rise and softness.
Pastry flour is similarly finely-ground and low protein, but without the enzyme yeast boosters (since pastry doesn’t need the rise). Try King Arthur Pastry Flour, which is made from soft wheat with a silky, fine grind.
Whole-Grain Flours
Whole-grain flours can be used across the baking spectrum to add texture, flavor, and fiber to breads, cookies, rolls, and quickbreads. They produce earthy loaves that require extra hydration (as they absorb a lot of liquid), creating a heavier dough. However, mixing with all-purpose flour can deliver the best of both worlds.
Whole wheat flour is a great place to start. It provides high-protein and is often used in sourdough starters for this reason; the extra protein gives starters a strong structure to support a big, airy rise. Bob’s Red Mill’s Organic Whole Wheat Flour is our top pick for this — it’s made of organic hard red wheat and goes through a stone-ground milling process that keeps the germ and bran intact. It provides 13–15% protein and gives breads, rolls, pretzels, bagels, and flatbreads a rustic texture and great structure.
Buckwheat flour is another strong pick thanks to its whole-grain goodness and distinctive flavor — a must for blinis, crepes, and soba noodles. It’s also a nutritional powerhouse, providing a complete protein, fiber, antioxidants, and magnesium. Our top choice is Bob’s Red Mill Organic Buckwheat Flour, which can be added to any bake to add flavor and nutrition.
Heirloom wheat flours, grown from the kind of wheat you’d see before it was hybridized in the 1950s, made our list for their nutty flavors and whole-grain texture. These flours tend to be healthier than their modern counterparts, being richer in protein, fiber, micronutrients, and antioxidants.
Some grains have a softer gluten structure, which might be more digestible for people with gluten sensitivity. We like Farm2Flour Einkorn Flour here, as well as several of their heritage grain blends. Janie’s Mill offers a Red Fife flour for this; it’s ideal for hearty, artisanal breads and can be blended with low-gluten flours like rye to add structure.
Spelt flour was another common, pre-hybridization wheat grain, and it’s gaining popularity again for its added fiber, lighter texture, and nutty flavor. Bob’s Red Mill Spelt Flour is a great option and can be used in place of all-purpose or bread flour. You can also experiment by replacing a quarter (or more) of your wheat flour with spelt in your favorite recipe to create a more tender and flavorful product.
Gluten-Free Flours
Gluten-free baking is popular for a variety of reasons that go beyond simple gluten sensitivity. These are made from wheat-alternative grains, nuts, and legumes, and they’re a healthy way to support a more varied diet.
Cup-for-Cup All-Purpose Substitutes
We recommend stocking a gluten-free flour that can be substituted cup-for-cup for all-purpose flour. It’s not only the most reliable way to eliminate gluten and maintain a good bake, but we’ve found that quick breads and tea cakes made with gluten-free flour often have a more moist and tender crumb and stay fresh longer.
That’s because gluten-free flours — which usually combine rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca flour, sorghum flour, and Xanthan gum — absorb more moisture since the gluten isn’t there to provide an airy structure.
Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour can be substituted cup-for-cup for all-purpose flour in most baking recipes that rely on baking powder or soda. For yeasted bakes, Caputo Gluten-Free Flour is another cup-for-cup substitute that can be used for pizzas, breads, and other yeasted baking.
Rice Flour
Rice flour brings crispness and a light texture to baking and cooking, making it one of our top specialty flours that’s also gluten-free. We recommend using it on its own for batters like pancakes and crepes, or as a coating for fried foods.
Bob’s Red Mill White Rice Flour made our list for its stone-ground texture that can be used on its own or blended with other flours in baked goods. You can also try Bob’s Red Mill Organic Brown Rice Flour for a whole-grain, nuttier taste.
Nut Flours
Almond flour is one of our favorite specialty flours that’s been used in French patisserie and Italian desserts for decades. Its nutty flavor and moist texture are the defining elements in tortes, macarons, and cakes.
Try substituting a percentage of almond flour for all-purpose or cake flour to give baked goods a little healthy fat and extra protein. We like King Arthur Almond Flour for this; it’s finely milled from whole blanched almonds and certified gluten-free. Alternatively, Bob’s Red Mill Superfine Almond Flour has a silky texture and adds rich flavor and moisture to your baking.
Expanding Your Flour Inventory for Better Baking
Using speciality flours is a great way to experiment with your cooking and produce better results. You’ll be surprised at how much the individual characteristics of different grains can have an impact on the texture, flavors, and structure of your bakes — plus, you’ll expand your diet and palate with new food groups that are tasty and good for you.
