Understanding Flour Types for Bread Making

Walk down the baking aisle of any Australian supermarket and you'll encounter a bewildering array of flour options. Plain flour, self-raising flour, bread flour, baker's flour, wholemeal, spelt, rye—the choices can overwhelm even experienced bakers. Understanding these options is essential for bread maker success because flour is the foundation of every loaf you bake. Choose wrong, and no amount of technique can compensate. Choose right, and you're halfway to bread perfection.

The Science of Flour and Gluten

Before diving into specific flour types, understanding what makes flour behave differently is helpful. The key factor for bread making is protein content, specifically the proteins glutenin and gliadin. When mixed with water and kneaded, these proteins combine to form gluten—the elastic network that traps gas produced by yeast, allowing bread to rise and giving it structure.

Higher protein flour creates stronger gluten networks, resulting in bread with better rise and chewier texture. Lower protein flour produces more tender, crumbly results—perfect for cakes and pastries but problematic for bread. Australian flour typically contains less protein than North American varieties, which is important to remember when using recipes from overseas sources.

Common Flour Types for Bread Makers

Bread Flour / Baker's Flour

This is your go-to flour for bread making. In Australia, bread flour and baker's flour are essentially the same product, containing 11.5-13% protein. This higher protein content creates the strong gluten network essential for well-risen, properly structured bread. Major Australian brands like Laucke, Defiance, and Lighthouse all offer quality bread flour options available in most supermarkets.

Bread flour produces loaves with good volume, a chewy crumb, and a satisfying crust. For most bread maker recipes, this should be your default choice. It's specifically milled and treated for optimal bread performance.

Plain Flour (All-Purpose Flour)

Plain flour contains lower protein (9-10% in Australia) than bread flour. While you can technically make bread with plain flour, the results will be denser, with less rise and a tighter crumb. The lower protein content simply can't develop the same gluten strength as bread flour.

That said, plain flour has its place in bread making. Some recipes deliberately use a portion of plain flour to create softer, more tender loaves. Sandwich breads, for instance, sometimes incorporate plain flour for a lighter texture. If you're out of bread flour, plain flour works in a pinch—just expect slightly different results.

Wholemeal Flour

Wholemeal flour is milled from the entire wheat kernel, including the bran and germ that are removed from white flour. This gives it higher fibre content and a nuttier flavour, but the bran particles actually cut through gluten strands during kneading, resulting in denser, heavier loaves.

For this reason, most bread makers recommend using wholemeal flour as only 25-50% of the total flour in a recipe, with bread flour making up the remainder. A typical ratio might be 200g wholemeal flour to 250g bread flour. This provides whole grain flavour and nutrition while maintaining adequate rise and texture.

Self-Raising Flour

Self-raising flour is plain flour with baking powder already added. It should generally be avoided for bread making. The chemical leavening agents will interfere with yeast activity and create unpredictable results. Stick to bread flour or plain flour, adding only the leavening your recipe specifies.

Specialty Flours

Spelt Flour

Spelt is an ancient wheat variety that's gained popularity among health-conscious bakers. It contains gluten but with a different structure than modern wheat, often making it easier to digest for those with mild wheat sensitivities (though not suitable for coeliac disease). Spelt flour can replace wheat flour in bread recipes but produces a slightly denser loaf with a distinctive nutty flavour.

When using spelt flour in your bread maker, reduce kneading time if possible, as spelt gluten is more fragile than wheat gluten and can be overworked. Many bakers also reduce liquid slightly, as spelt absorbs less moisture than wheat flour.

Rye Flour

Rye flour contains different proteins than wheat and develops very little gluten. Pure rye breads are extremely dense and heavy—traditional European style. For bread maker use, rye flour works best in combination with bread flour, typically at ratios of 20-40% rye to 60-80% wheat. This produces flavourful, slightly dense loaves with characteristic rye taste without sacrificing too much rise.

Dark rye flour has more bran and stronger flavour than light rye. Start with light rye if you're new to rye baking, as its milder flavour and lighter colour are more approachable.

Gluten-Free Flours

For those with coeliac disease or gluten intolerance, gluten-free bread making requires completely different flours. Rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, and sorghum flour are common bases, but they behave nothing like wheat flour. Successful gluten-free bread requires specific recipes designed for these flours, plus additives like xanthan gum to provide structure in the absence of gluten.

Many Australian supermarkets stock pre-mixed gluten-free bread mixes from brands like Orgran and Laucke that are formulated for bread makers. These take the guesswork out of gluten-free baking and produce reasonably good results. See our complete guide to gluten-free bread making for detailed information.

Flour Storage and Freshness

Flour freshness significantly impacts bread quality. Whole grain flours (wholemeal, rye, spelt) contain oils from the germ that can become rancid over time. Store these in airtight containers in the refrigerator or freezer, especially in warm Australian climates. They'll keep for several months frozen versus just weeks at room temperature.

White bread flour keeps longer—up to a year in a cool, dry pantry when stored in an airtight container. Keep it away from moisture, which causes clumping and can encourage mould growth. If your flour develops an off smell or visible discolouration, discard it.

Australian Flour Brands Worth Knowing

Australia has several excellent flour producers worth exploring:

• Laucke: A South Australian company offering a wide range including speciality bread flours and bread mixes. Their Wallaby brand is particularly popular.
• Defiance: Available in most supermarkets, their baker's flour is consistent and affordable.
• Lighthouse: Owned by Allied Mills, available widely with good bread flour options.
• Kialla Pure: Organic flour producer with excellent whole grain options.
• Four Leaf Milling: Small-scale miller producing stone-ground flours with exceptional flavour.

Practical Tips for Flour Selection

If you're just starting with bread making, begin with a quality bread flour from a major brand. Master basic white bread before experimenting with specialty flours—it's easier to learn the fundamentals with predictable flour that behaves consistently.

When you're ready to experiment, make changes gradually. Replace 20% of your bread flour with wholemeal or rye rather than jumping to 50%. This lets you learn how different flours affect your specific machine and local conditions without risking complete failures.

Keep notes on what works. The same flour can behave differently depending on humidity, water quality, and even the batch of flour itself. What works brilliantly in winter might need adjustment in summer. A simple notebook tracking flour type, quantities, and results helps you refine your approach over time.

Finally, don't be afraid of failure. Some of the best bread bakers got there through countless imperfect loaves. Each less-than-ideal result teaches you something about how flour, water, yeast, and your machine interact. Embrace the learning process, and you'll develop an intuitive understanding of flour that no guide can fully convey.