Different brands of flour?

[HarrySnotter]

Have noticed that there seem to be lots of different brands of flour. Can any of you seasoned bakers tell me if you see a hugh difference in using a mid range brand to one of the more expensive ones, and why?

I use the cheap stuff. Maybe I'm a pleb but it seems ok to me!

Never noticed ANY difference between cheap and expensive. Don't understand it myself ...

Was hoping you would say that thank you!

Only on your pocket.

I have not notice any difference.

Nope, been "forced" to upbrand recently due to unavailability for weeks of basics flour, and really can't tell any difference apart from the price.

Having a friend who worked as a flour scientist for many years, yes there's a difference in quality, but for the occasional home baker it's unlikely be much of an issue. She reckons the difference is often in the perfomance consistency rather than taste. Premium blends have stricter moisture & absorbancy tolerances and perform more reliably, economy blends are more variable (often surprisingly so she reckons). So for a cake business you might well want to stick to a particular brand, for occasional home baking, meh, non-value mid-range own brand will be fine. Though given that I can get McDougalls from Iceland for £1 for 1.5kg I tend to use that. For preference she usually buys McDougalls or Homepride, and for bread she reckons definitely premium every time because of the protein contents.

Thanks for that Sparkle that's really interesting. I'm off to Iceland, that's a fab price!

According to Dan Lepard, for white bread flour, any old brand is fine, not much difference between them, but or whole grain, spend a bit more, as that is where it makes a difference.