Never knew bread flour had that much protein difference

I was reading an old baking book from 1975 I found at a thrift store and it said all-purpose flour back then had like 12-13% protein, same as most bread flours today. Now all-purpose is around 10-11% and bread flour is 12-14% which is a bigger gap than I thought. Has anyone else noticed recipes from older cookbooks turning out different because of this?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher90316d ago

Totally blew my mind when I tried my grandma's bread recipe and it came out way denser with modern flour.

abby_kim5516d ago

Start by weighing your flour instead of measuring by cups. A kitchen scale fixed most of my grandma's recipes since older cookbooks assumed denser all-purpose flour. It takes a couple tries but once you get the hydration right the bread comes out just like hers.