All-purpose flour is white flour milled from hard wheats or a blend of hard and softwheats. It gives the best results for many kinds of products, including some yeast breads, quick breads, cakes, cookies, pastries and noodles. All-purpose flour is usually enriched and may be bleached or unbleached.
Unbleached all-purpose flour is bleached by oxygen in the air during aging process and is off-white in color. Bleaching will not affect nutrient value.
While bleached all-purpose flour is exposed to chlorine gas or benzoyl peroxide to whiten and brighten flour color.
Carotenoid pigments are present in white flour in extremely low amounts (1 –4 ppm). They provide the creamy, off-white color to unbleached flour.
The advantage of using bleached flour rather than unbleached is that the chemicals used for bleaching act as a preservative so that the flour will not develop an off flavor or spoil after a short period. The chemicals also prevent dough from becoming discolored and provide more consistent results when baking.
Unbleached flour
