Bread Recipes Plain Flour

Learn how to make incredible sourdough bread with just all-purpose flour and your starter! The rise is that of any loaf made with bread flour, and the crumb is super fluffy, the crust crisp and flaky.

If you want to start your own sourdough journey, you canBUY MY SOURDOUGH STARTER HERE! – and I will ship it you in the mail, with instructions for feeding and maintaining it so you can bake all the amazing bread you dream of. Cost is $12.

We’re all trying to bake sourdough right now, but finding bread flour right now is almost impossible! Unless you have access to a local mill.

Banana Bread Recipe

Many of you told me that you’ve had to use all-purpose flour for sourdough recipes, because that’s all you can find, but the results have not been great. Which makes sense, because all-purpose flour and bread flour are not interchangeable.

All-purpose flour has a lower protein percentage than bread flour (AP usually around 11.8% and bread flour around 13.2%), simply meaning it’s NOT as strong. So your loaves have fallen flatter than you’d like, and don’t have the oven spring you’re used to.

This led me to testing different methods, hydration levels, and brands of flours over the last few weeks, to develop a simple sourdough bread recipe for you, that uses 100% all-purpose flour.

What Is Bread Flour?

With a lower protein percentage in the flour, using the right amount of water is critical for success. If you use the same amount of water that a recipe for bread flour calls for, the dough will be extremely wet and sticky, because it cannot absorb water the same way.

I played with different amounts of water, and really found the sweet spot to be between 275 and 290 grams water to 400 grams flour, depending on the brand of flour you’re using.

If you look at the nutrition label of the unbleached all-purpose flour you have on hand, you’ll notice that the ingredient list is either:

Classic Italian Bread Recipe

Hard Wheat Flour PLUS, Malted Barley Flour. And if enriched, will have Niacin (vitamin B3), Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (vitamin B1), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Folic Acid) added.

The vitamins/minerals are added to “enrich” the flour with nutrients. They do not affect the bread’s outcome. The really important ingredient that just change the outcome is Malted Barley Flour.

Malted barley flour aids in a more golden brown end result, and because of its lower gluten, it causes the dough to be softer, more relaxed and gives a softer crumb texture.

Easy Coconut Flour Bread

A basic sourdough bread recipe made with 100% all-purpose flour, naturally leavened with sourdough starter. It has a soft and light crumb, with golden crust. Perfect recipe for when you don't have bread flour.

*Look at the ingredient list on the back of your bag of all-purpose flour to see if yours is just one ingredient, hard wheat, or if it has malted barley flour added.

I'm Amanda, founder and creator of Heartbeet Kitchen. I'm a home cook, just like you, who particularly loves baking sourdough bread and dishing up modern, gluten-free food.

Whole Wheat Bread

Hard Wheat Flour PLUS, Malted Barley Flour. And if enriched, will have Niacin (vitamin B3), Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (vitamin B1), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Folic Acid) added.

The vitamins/minerals are added to “enrich” the flour with nutrients. They do not affect the bread’s outcome. The really important ingredient that just change the outcome is Malted Barley Flour.

Malted barley flour aids in a more golden brown end result, and because of its lower gluten, it causes the dough to be softer, more relaxed and gives a softer crumb texture.

Easy Coconut Flour Bread

A basic sourdough bread recipe made with 100% all-purpose flour, naturally leavened with sourdough starter. It has a soft and light crumb, with golden crust. Perfect recipe for when you don't have bread flour.

*Look at the ingredient list on the back of your bag of all-purpose flour to see if yours is just one ingredient, hard wheat, or if it has malted barley flour added.

I'm Amanda, founder and creator of Heartbeet Kitchen. I'm a home cook, just like you, who particularly loves baking sourdough bread and dishing up modern, gluten-free food.

Whole Wheat Bread