All Purpose Flour

All-purpose or artisan flour: For most artisan white breads,  bakers generally prefer all-purpose (AP) or so-called artisan flour. These flours typically have a protein percentage of 10.5% to 11.5% or so. King Arthur Flour’s regular AP flour is about 11.7%, so it’s on the very high end, while General Mill’s AP flours are about 10.5%. Most Southern brands of AP flours like White Lily are not good for making bread, because they have a low protein percentage and are also bleached, but are better suited to cakes and biscuits.

Bleached flour will produce bread if it has a high enough protein percentage, but it will not have the same golden color or rich flavor of unbleached flour.

King Arthur Flour’s Organic Artisan Flour and Giusto’s Baker’s Choice are  favorites among amateur artisan bakers. They’re about 11.3% protein and perform beautifully, striking a nice balance between rise and flavor. However, these preferences aside, one can bake very good bread from basically any unbleached all-purpose flour one can buy at the grocery store.