Easy Bread Flour Substitute

If you're working on a recipe that calls for bread flour and you don't have any on hand, save yourself a trip to the store and a few bucks by using an equal amount of all-purpose flour as a substitute. Understandably, people are often hesitant to make baking substitutions, fearful that the end result won't be the same. But the differences are usually not earth shattering. You can be pretty confident that things will come out as they should.

The 7 Best Flour Sifters, Tested and Reviewed

So, why spend money on a "special" ingredient if you don't have to?

Bread Flour Substitute: AP Flour 

All you'll need is some all-purpose flour. Simply replace the bread flour called for in your recipe with an equal amount of all-purpose flour, and proceed as usual. If this seems too easy to be true, you are probably wondering about the different qualities of bread flour vs. all-purpose flour.

The Difference Between Bread Flour and All-Purpose Flour

It's all about the protein. All-purpose flour has between eight and 11 percent protein, while bread flour contains between 12 and 14 percent protein. That extra protein in bread flour results in a slightly higher rise, but you'll still get a good rise with all-purpose flour. Bread flour also produces more gluten. This makes bread just a bit denser and chewier.

If you're trying a recipe for the first time and you don't have the bread flour that's called for, save some money by making the recipe with all-purpose flour. If you decide that the recipe is a keeper, ​then you can decide if it's worth investing in some bread flour for future batches. Who knows? You might be perfectly happy with the way the recipe turns out with the all-purpose flour. Some brands of bread flour can cost a dollar plus more than all-purpose flour, so if you think you can get by without it, you may just want to skip it and save some money.

For a fair side-by-side comparison of bread flour and all-purpose flour, be sure to measure your flour properly. If you measure your flour the wrong way (as many people do), you could end up adding significantly more flour to the recipe than the author intended, and that'll give you dense, dry baked goods, no matter what type of flour you use.

The best way to measure flour for baking recipes is to use a scale, but if the recipe does not include ingredient weights use the spoon and level method: fluff up the flour in your container with a whisk, spoon the flour into the measuring cup, and use a straight edge (like a ruler or the spine of a knife) to scrape off excess flour so the cup is full but not overflowing.

Substitutes for Other Specialty Flours

Here are some substitutes for specialty flours that you might not have in your pantry (or that you may not be able to buy in your country):

• Cake Flour Substitute
• Pastry Flour Substitute
• Semolina Flour Substitute
• How to Make Self-Rising Flour

Don’t feel that you have to go to the trouble, and expense, of stocking 10 different types of flour just because you like to bake. If a recipe calls for a type of flour that you don’t have in your pantry, there’s probably a substitute for it. Die-hard bakers and professionals will probably tell you there’s absolutely no substitute for the particular type of flour called for in a recipe, but in reality, the difference between one type of flour and another is so subtle, most people can't even tell the difference. So, just use what you have, and enjoy the tasty results. You'll save yourself some pantry space, and the hassle of trying to use up all of those extra bags of flour before they go rancid or attract insects.