I recently discovered that Cook's Illustrated had done a tasting test on supermarket AP flours to discover the one for the home cook. However, it's only available to subscribers and people who sign up for a 14 day trial. But I frequently forget to cancel those trials before they stop being free so truthfully, I don't want to risk screwing up my credit score. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here knew how they ranked the flours, or if there's anyone who subscribes to CI and can look it up. I know they rated Hodgson's Mill flour very high, but it's not available where I live, so what are the other well-rated flours?
But people seem to regard King Arthur Very highly. I'd be maybe a tad hesitant though, because my understanding is that it has almost as much protein as many "bread" flours, so it might not be ideal for some purposes. I just have been using Hy Vee's house brand AP flour, and can't complain. I've used it for brioche, pancakes, and popovers in the last week, and all turned out great
these are results are from 1999. This was the only comparison trial I could find on the site.
Highly recommended :
KA unbleached AP
Pillsbury unbleached AP
Recommended :
Gold Medal bleached AP
Gold Medal unbleached AP
Hecker's unbleached AP
Hodgeson Mills unbleached AP
Martha White bleached AP
Pillsbury bleached AP
White Lily bleached AP
Betty
So bleached Gold Medal was higher up than Hodgson Mills? Oh well. Pillsbury it is then since KA is so darn expensive.
this is listing them in a group of equal flours not one better than the other. Just thought I'd point that out.
Jennifer
When I looked at that list, I assumed they were ordered by preference.
Thank you for pointing that out!
Johnster
Interestengly enough, most brands on this list belong to General Mills. Seiously though, I would not worry to much about brands, generic store flour is still most likely milled somewhere in Kansas by a huge mill that makes flour for one of the big brands.
I use King Arthur and Hodgson's Mill. Both have given me great results. My bread and AP flours are both King Arthur, and my whole wheat and rye flours are Hodgson's.
This is a great bread flour. Actually, I have used their all purpose flour with good results.
On the other hand, I have had horrible results with Roundy's brand AP flour so I avoid all store brands now.
Wegman's is making a push in our area, and they put their unbleached, unbromated AP on sale. It worked fine for me.
Roundy's (big store in the midwest USA) AP flour is not good for making bread. That is the only flour I ever had a problem with. I think it just does not have as much gluten as it needs to have. It's better for cakes and cookies.