Plain flour versus Bread flour – Bread flour or Bakers flour is a high-gluten flour that has very small amounts of malted barley flour and vitamin C or potassium bromate added. The barley flour helps the yeast work, and the other additive increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises and bakes. Bread flour is called for in many bread and pizza crust recipes where you want the loftiness or chewiness that the extra gluten provides. It is especially useful as a component in rye, barley and other mixed-grain breads, where the added lift of the bread flour is necessary to boost the other grains.

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All Purpose flour

All-purpose flour is made from a blend of high- and low-gluten wheat's, and has a bit less protein than bread flour — 11% or 12% vs. 13% or 14%. You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour, although your results may not be as glorious as you had hoped. There are many recipes, however, where the use of bread flour in place of all-purpose will produce a tough, chewy, disappointing result. Cakes, for instance, are often made with all-purpose flour, but would not be nearly as good made with bread flour.

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Storage – It is always best to store your flour in a sealed container directly away from sunlight and heat. You can also store your flour in the fridge or freezer ideal for keeping your flour fresher longer, however always bring your flour back to room temperature before using. You can also put a bay leaf in your container which will help prevent weavel’s hatching.

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Wholemeal Flour – This flour is much higher in fibre than white flour. Wholemeal flour rises less and will create a much denser loaf than white bread. For better results try 50% Wholemeal and 50% white. Always add 1 Tablespoon 20mls of water for each cup of Wholemeal used as the bran absorbs more water.

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Gluten Free Flour – Gluten is a collective term for the dough forming proteins of wheat. It is the gluten that gives bread it’s strength and most importantly elasticity. The Gluten flour that we use is prepared by washing the starch out of the dough, then drying and grinding the sticky mass of protein left behind. Other than the Amazing Gluten Free bread mix, all other mixes require rising and baking outside your bread machine.

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Order of ingredients – Most bread makers will have an instruction book and the order of ingredients listed, we however have tested a lot of machines and have found that the best results overall can be obtained by placing water or liquid in first, followed by flour, make a well in the flour and add the yeast. It is important to keep the yeast away from the liquid so it does not start to activate too early in the process, this is particularly important if you a using a timer on your machine. REMEMBER TO USE QUALITY INGREDIENTS AND CAREFULLY MEASURE THEM (WEIGHING IS THE BEST OPTION). Water can also be weighed for greater accuracy 200 mls of water weighs 200 grams.

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Keeping your bread – Your bread should stay fresh 2 – 3 days. Bread kept in paper bags, the crust will stay hard but after a couple of days so will the bread. Bread kept in plastic bags will start to mould after around three days. If you do not plan to use your bread within 2 days the best option would be to freeze your bread once cooled.

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