What qualifies to be an "all purpose flour"?
Best Answer
Of those two, Maida flour is the closest to 'Western' all-purpose flour (which is an American term. It is called plain flour in Britain). Atta flour is made from durum wheat, which is used for things like pasta (and of course Indian breads like chapatis).
Maida flour is made with 'regular' wheat, but it also has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour (8-10% as opposed to 9-12%). The impact of this lower protein level will depend on what you're cooking. Maida flour should be good for making cakes, for example.
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Which flour is all-purpose flour?
All-purpose flour is a versatile and general-use wheat flour. It is milled from hard red wheat or a blend of hard and soft wheats, typically at a 80:20 ratio. As the name suggests, all-purpose flour is suitable for all types of baked goods, such as bread, biscuits, pizza, cookies, muffins, etc.What is the meaning of all-purpose flour?
Definition of all-purpose flour : flour made from a blend of hard or soft wheats suitable for all cookery except the finest cakes.Is self-raising flour all-purpose flour?
Self-rising flour and all-purpose flour have similar properties with two key differences: ingredients and uses. Ingredient-wise, self-rising flour contains all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder, while all-purpose flour only contains ground endosperm.Know Your Flour Quality with the Alveograph | Ask Dr. Lin Episode 40 | BAKERpedia
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Answer 2
All purpose flour (sometimes abbreviated to just AP) has a protein level in the middle of the range for wheat flour. Flour with high protein level is known as 'bread flour', and flour with low protein level is 'cake flour'. Flour containing more protein will develop more gluten, making for a stronger, stretchier, chewier dough. That's great for bread, particularly breads that you want to have a chewier texture and firmer crust such as baguettes, sourdough, rustic breads, and so on. Lower protein flour is used for softer products such as cakes, muffins, and biscuits (in the American sense, meaning chemically leavened dinner rolls, not the British sense of cracker or cookie). With its medium protein level, AP can be used for either breads or cakes and will give a product that's neither very chewy nor very soft.
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