Both types are then milled, which is a process that involves grinding grains , such as wheat, into a fine powder. Next, bleached flour is treated with chemical agents like benzoyl peroxide, potassium bromate, or chlorine, which helps speed up the aging of the flour. Flour is aged to improve certain qualities for baking. This chemical process significantly changes the taste, texture, and appearance of the final product, as well as its nutritional profile and potential uses in baking.
On the other hand, unbleached flour is aged naturally after the milling process is completed. Natural aging takes significantly longer than the bleaching process, which is why bleached flour was created. Both varieties are sometimes enriched, which is the process of adding certain nutrients back into the flour 1. The chemicals used to speed up the aging process in bleached flour cause it to have a whiter color, finer grain, and softer texture.
Though there are minimal differences in taste between the two varieties, people with a very sensitive palate may notice a slightly bitter taste in bleached flour. Bleached flour has a whiter color, finer grain, and softer texture, while unbleached flour has a denser grain and tougher texture. Bleached flour is treated with chemical agents to speed up the aging process. Both varieties contain the same number of calories and amounts of protein, fat, carbs, and fiber per cup grams.
However, unbleached, unrefined, whole-wheat varieties may be richer in several important nutrients. In particular, whole-wheat flour packs more fiber, vitamin E, manganese, copper, and antioxidants 4. Both bleached and unbleached flours are also often enriched with B vitamins like folate, niacin, vitamin B6, and thiamine 1.
Bleached and unbleached white flours are nearly identical in terms of nutrition. Other varieties of unbleached flour, such as whole-wheat flour, may contain more fiber, vitamin E, manganese, copper, and antioxidants. For example, potassium bromate, which is a common additive used in bread-making, has been linked to kidney damage and cancer in some animal studies 5 , 6 , 7 , 8.
Benzoyl peroxide is another common food additive that is generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration FDA 9. Still, some test-tube and animal studies have found that it may harm your antioxidant status and break down certain nutrients in foods, including essential fatty acids 10 , Keep in mind that most current research is limited to animal and test-tube studies using very high doses of these chemical compounds.
Jump to navigation. They bake differently, they look different, and to some, they even taste different. Which one you use in your kitchen might play a subtle role in the way your breads rise, and even the nutritional content of the flour you use. Benzoyl peroxide and chlorine gas, to name a few, are used to bleach the flour, refining the texture to a lighter flour, and removing the natural yellowish tone. The result is an ultra-white, ultra-fine flour that can rise faster in breads, and maintain a sharper color in baked goods.
On the other hand, unbleached flour is still naturally bleached, simply because it is exposed to oxygen. Enriched flours like most all purpose flours have simply had the vitamins and minerals that were lost in the bran and germ added back in. This is similar to milk being fortified with vitamins A and D. All flour is cured before it gets packaged and sent to the grocery store.
During the curing process, the glutenin and gliadin proteins two proteins that later combine to form gluten are oxidized. This oxidization helps glutenin and gliadin to form stronger gluten proteins later on.
Oxidization also turns flour that starts off as a little yellow to a white color. Oxidization happens without any help, but it can take a few weeks to happen. Treating flour with a bleaching agent helps to speed up the oxidization process. Bleached flour has been treated with a chemical some examples of bleaching chemicals are hydrogen peroxide, benzoyl peroxide, calcium peroxide, or azodicarbonamide to speed up the oxidization process.
Unbleached flours have not been treated, and have oxidized and turned white naturally. Here is some more information about bleaching from King Arthur. There are so many flour options! If you have any questions about a different type of flour, leave me a comment below.
All Purpose Flour is just that. Hard wheats tend to have a higher gluten content, while soft wheats tend to have a lower gluten content. This all purpose flour has been both enriched and bleached. Unbleached All Purpose Flour is processed in the same way as all purpose flour, until the curing step. The endosperm is separated from the bran and germ, and the endosperm is used to make the flour.
This flour has been enriched to add back vitamins and minerals that were lost with the bran and germ. Unbleached flour may have a little more gluten than bleached flour.
Bread Flour has a higher gluten content than all purpose flour. These big bubbles leave big air spaces in bread as it bakes. It also makes a chewier bread, with a crust that will nicely brown during baking. Some whole wheat flours are made with the entire wheat berry the germ, bran, and endosperm. Other whole wheat flours are made with the separated components of the wheat berry — it starts with the endosperm like all purpose flour , and the bran and germ are added back in.
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