Can i use pastry flour instead of cake flour

Pie crust is a pastry. The texture becomes more like shortbread, or, in the worst-case scenario, like a thick cracker. Pastry flours have a lower protein content. Pastry flour is also usually a white flour , which has additional effects on the flour.

In flour terms, low protein means that a pastry flour is a very soft flour. Hard flours have higher protein content, which results in firmer or harder finished goods. Just like with texture, the difference between pastry flour and cake flour is that cake flour has even less protein than pastry flour.

This is why a batter made with cake flour and the same batter made with pastry flour will result in two different textures of cake. Both will still be cake, but the one made from cake flour will probably be noticeably lighter, with more air pockets. Take the same basic batter made with cake flour and made with bread flour.

Baked in muffin tins, one will probably be very identifiably cupcakes, while the other batter with probably feel more textured like a muffin, even if the taste is the same. Those protein chains are the basic building block of bread texture. The difference between whole wheat cake flour and white cake flour, for instance, has a significant impact on your finished product.

The same applies to pastry flour. Every type of wheat is composed of three parts: the endosperm, the bran, and the germ. Whole wheat flour is just flour that has been made from all three.

White flour is made using only the endosperm. These two flours hold moisture differently, react in batters and doughs slightly differently, and taste different even when they are made from the same cultivar of wheat. While bleached flours are usually lighter colored than unbleached, the bleaching process is more about the other properties of the flour than the color. Bleaching refers to treating the flour with chlorine or benzoyl peroxide, and occasionally other chemicals.

The treatment damages starches and proteins in the flour. In general, that process makes bleached flours easier to work with. Bleached flours are treated with chemicals like chlorine or benzoyl peroxide, that damages the starch and protein content.

It is generally easier to work with, absorbs more liquid, and rises better than unbleached flour. Most types of white flour are available bleached or unbleached. Bread Flour vs. Pastry Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour vs. How is cake flour different from pastry flour? What makes bread flour and all-purpose flour distinct? Can you substitute one type of flour for another? If so, how? We sifted through the details to find out the answers to these questions and more.

Protein content determines how much gluten the flour will form, which in turn affects the textural quality of your baked good. Less gluten.