I haven't baked in 7 years, back this week finally! I made an Olive Focaccia with Bob's red mill APF and a Bun with King Arthur APF. Both came out ok, need more practice:)
On to question:
I do use a formula, but always adjust water by feel in the end. Bob's red mill absolutely had the chewy bread-y focaccia texture/feel. It feels like KAF absorbs quite a bit less water, and the bun was much softer and less chewy. To be fair, the bun had 10% sugar and 10% butter so I expect it to be softer. However, it felt way softer. I plan to repeat both by flipping flours and see what happens one day. Does the above sound right? Is bob's red mill harder/more-protein wheat flour?
Thanks!
I believe the KA AP flour is listed at 11.7% protein and Bob's Red Mill has a range of 10-12%. Red Mill does the same thing with their bread flour, a range of 12-14%. I'm sure they all vary a little.
I think you're on the right track to do a comparison. I haven't heard of any issues With Red Mill flour and I use their Artisan Bread flour and bake with it several times a week.
Please post any results and impressions you have once you do your next bake.
Dave
Personally, I really don't like what anything I bake with Bob's tastes like. I'm spoiled from using King Arthur or a mix of it and fresh-milled flour from wheat berries.
For some reason, Bob's flour is now way cheaper than King Arthur. Maybe they did something to make it cheaper? So I've bought it 3x because money is so tight right now.
But blech. Even pancakes are pale and tasteless. Cakes are gooey even when baked as long as I always do and test as done. I'd rather do without flour than have to eat Bob's instead of King Arthur or fresh milled.
Bob's All-Purpose flour is enriched and contains malted barley flour. Their organic AP is not enriched and contains no malted barley flour. In addition the ingredient list for the organic version says it's from hard red wheat but the non-organic version doesn't say that. Though I haven't baked with either, they might be somewhat different
Thanks, will post back. I did not realize the difference in organic vs not & malting. That's a big difference, I'll watch out for ingredients more carefully next time. Thanks.