On different types of flour brands in ciabatta/sourdough?
I've always used Pillsbury bread flour in bread baking, but I see that there's no protein content listed on the bag. I've also heard that Pillsbury can vary on its protein content bag to bag. (People I've talked to have said 2-3 percent protein variance per bag. Also maybe more nutrient stripping/bleaching.)
King Arthur flour has 12.7 percent protein per bag. I haven't heard of any variance.
I'm wondering if people have used both and know if using the cheaper (cost is half) Pillsbury flour in ciabatta/sourdough will have any negative affect on the dough and the end product. Will it ruin the dough?
I'm totally fine spending more if it makes a superior product, but I don't really want to spend double if it won't make that much of a difference.
On another note/question: I know Pillsbury bleaches their flour. King Arthur doesn't. Will this make a difference in preferment/starter or end product of sourdough/ciabatta?
Pillsbury has bleached and unbleached all purpose flours. Bleaching may not make too much of difference but bleached US flours are usually bromated as well, and the bromate treatment is said to affect the handling and extensibility properties of dough (the Pillsbury product labels don't say they are bromated). Looking at the product page for Pillsbury bread flour, I don't see that it says bleached, though it also doesn't say unbleached. I believe that in the US bleached flours have to be labeled as bleached.
https://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/pillsbury-best-flour/bread
I don't think that the difference in protein between KA and Pillsbury bread flours is going to make or break your ciabatta. The amount of liquid to use will probably be a little different between them, with the KA most likely absorbing more because of its higher protein level. OTOH, some fine bakers on TFL think that Gold Medal all purpose tastes bland, and I think that Gold Medal and Pillsbury are much the same.
BTW, using the numbers on the nutrition label to estimate the protein level is not very accurate For example, for KA bread flour the nutrition label claims 4g protein / 30g flour, or 13.3%. But the bag separately says the protein level is 12.7%. In fact, that 4g protein is rounded to the nearest whole number of grams, so the protein label weigh could run anywhere between 3.5 and 4g, so it could be as low as 11.7% or as high as 13.3%. The actual value of 12.7% is right in that range, but you can see that the range can only give you a rough idea.
TomP