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Flour is one of the most common ingredients in the kitchen. Flour has many uses such as coating for frying, thickening sauces, and most commonly, baking. What can you bake with flour that's delicious? Follow Mytour's article below to discover the recipes!
1. Differentiating types of flour
Flour is a generic term for the powder made from wheat, commonly used in baking. Flour is divided into different types based on color (black flour & white flour) or protein content (which determines suitability for various types of baked goods).
All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour has a gluten content of about 9 – 11.5%. This type of flour is commonly used to make various types of baked goods.
Bread flour: Bread flour, also known as flour number 11, has a high gluten content, ranging from 11.5 – 13%. Therefore, this flour is used for baked goods requiring a chewy texture such as sandwiches, tarts, and donuts. Its relative is High-Gluten Flour (with 14% gluten), specifically used for bread with a hard, crispy crust such as bagels and pizza crusts.
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Flour number 8: Flour number 8 has a relatively low gluten content, around 8 – 9%. This flour also has high moisture content, resulting in softer, fluffier baked goods compared to other types of flour. It is commonly used in sponge cakes, pancakes, angel food cakes, muffins, etc.
Flour number 13: With a high protein content of over 13%, and a water absorption rate of 65 – 67%, this flour ensures a chewy, firm texture and a crispy crust. Ideal for making twisted pretzels, artisan breads, and more.
Pastry Flour: Pastry flour has a lower protein content than flour number 8 but higher than that of cake flour. It's suitable for cookies, cupcakes, and other pastry items.
2. What are the best uses for flour in baking?
Flour can be used to make a wide variety of baked goods, including cakes, bread, cookies, and more, with recipes ranging from simple to complex.
Sandwich bread
Pillow bread
This is an incredibly popular type of bread that can be combined with various ingredients to create different kinds of bread such as grape pillow bread, matcha pillow bread, chocolate, etc.
Sandwich bread is also one of the bread types in the list of what flour is used for in baking with a simple and easy recipe, without complex steps or requiring advanced techniques. So you can confidently make this bread even if you're a newbie.
With just the main ingredients of flour, eggs, butter, and sugar, you can easily make some incredibly fragrant and delicious pillow bread rolls.
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Sweet butter bread
Sweet butter bread is a favorite in the list of what flour is used for in baking. The bread can be shaped in various forms (depending on how the dough is handled). It consists of basic ingredients like flour, fresh milk, sugar, eggs, etc. A delightful, easy-to-eat, and convenient bread option.
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Vietnamese bread
Vietnamese bread is a variation of the Baguette. It is smaller and less dense. The bread is often served with pate, cold cuts, and pickled vegetables. It can last for 3 – 5 days, but it's best used within the first 1 – 2 days to maintain its crispiness. If you want to restore its crispiness, you can put it in the oven or an air fryer. The bread uses bread flour.
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Daisy bread
Daisy bread is a type of bread that always appears in the list of what can be made with flour. Everyone wants to enjoy and make it themselves. Daisy bread is most notable for its distinctive scent of orange blossom. With just the right amount of eggs and butter, the bread is both fragrant and soft without being overly rich. Daisy bread has a soft, chewy texture, making it perfect to pair with milk for breakfast or as a snack for the whole family.
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See more: How to make daisy bread at home super simple
Hokkaido milk bread
This is a quite popular type of bread in Japan. The bread has a distinctive aroma from the whipping cream, and especially when torn apart, you'll see each piece of bread is both chewy and soft. The bread has just the right amount of sweetness, suitable for all ages. It uses Bread flour and Cake flour, or you can entirely substitute it with all-purpose flour.
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Garlic cheese bread
Garlic butter bread with its ever-hot status never cools down, always being on the list of what can you make with flour? The bread part features a crispy crust, garlic butter sauce, and fragrant parsley leaves.Bite into a piece of bread and savor the delicious aroma, crispiness of the crust, and saltiness from the garlic butter sauce. The most impressive part is the creamy cheese hidden inside each piece of bread. It's exactly the kind of bread that 'knocks out' all senses.
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Check out: [Latest] How to make authentic Korean garlic cheese bread
Bagels
Bagel is a distinctive dish of Jewish people. Its round shape symbolizes eternal life and brings luck. Apart from such beautiful meanings, people also love bagels for their deliciousness.
The dough is hand-kneaded, boiled briefly in water, and then baked. Bagels have a dense texture, a crispy dry crust, and a deliciously chewy interior. Bagels can be used as hamburger buns – versatile for both savory and sweet dishes.
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A common way to eat is to slice the bagel in half and spread cream cheese on it. The crispiness of the bagel, the creamy richness of the cream cheese will make it hard for you to resist.
Savory Sandwiches
In addition to sweet bread, savory sandwiches are also a favorite in the What to Make with Flour list. Savory sandwiches with a variety of toppings, both visually appealing and delicious, will make your stomach rumble.
Whether it's cheese and shredded pork sandwiches, beef and cheese rolls, or buttered pork floss sandwiches... They're all perfect for breakfast!
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Steamed Buns
When talking about What to Make with Flour, you can't overlook steamed buns. Soft, fluffy white dough, fragrant with the smell of flour and milk.
Sweet steamed buns are chewy and fragrant, with the sweet aroma of red bean or mung bean fillings. Savory steamed buns are even more enticing with fillings like BBQ pork, mixed egg, or stringy cheese and meat.
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Explore more:
- 2 Ways to Make Fluffy, Fragrant Meat-Filled Buns
- How to Make Hot and Fragrant Mung Bean Filled Buns
- ‘Must-Try’ 2 Methods to Make Delicious Flowing Salted Egg Yolk Buns
Sponge Cake
Swiss Roll Sponge Cake
Sponge roll cake is a simple and familiar dessert for many. It's a popular choice for breakfast or a quick snack. Making a sponge roll cake is straightforward and requires few ingredients.
Roll cakes can be transformed into various types, most commonly sweet and savory. For example, chocolate/green tea roll cakes, fruit cream roll cakes, strawberry/blueberry cream roll cakes,... or savory options like pork floss roll cakes,...
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Chiffon Sponge Cake
Chiffon cake is another familiar name on the list of What Can You Make with Flour. Chiffon is a type of sponge cake but created using the method of separating eggs and incorporating more liquid. Thus, the cake's texture is soft, light, moist, and has a bit of bounce.
When combined with different ingredients, chiffon cake can create various flavors such as coconut chiffon, coffee chiffon, lemon chiffon,... giving you incredibly unique tastes.
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Japanese Cheese Chiffon Cake
When it comes to what to make with flour, one cannot overlook Japanese Cheesecake. Described as 'light as a cloud - soft as cotton', this dessert is a perfect fusion of sponge cake and cream cheese.
The cake boasts a round, fluffy appearance that is extremely appealing. Its texture is both light and airy, with a smooth, creamy flavor from the milk and cheese, melting on the tongue instantly.
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Taiwanese Fresh Cheese Cake (Castella)
Castella is the ideal choice for those who love Japanese cheesecake but prefer something less rich or dislike cream cheese. Without cream cheese, the cake is light, fluffy, not overly dense, and has a more subtle cheese flavor.
In terms of softness and melt-in-your-mouth texture, Castella is on par with Japanese Cotton Cheesecake. It's simpler to make than JCC, uses cheaper ingredients, and is easier to find, so don't hesitate to give it a try.
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Salted Egg Sponge Cake
Salted egg sponge cake is no longer unfamiliar to many. With a basic sponge cake base (genoise) mixed with chopped salted eggs (and perhaps dried beef or shredded chicken), topped with a rich cheese or buttery salted egg sauce, it's sure to make you drool.
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Croissant
Croissant is a pastry that has made French cuisine famous worldwide. Baked to golden perfection, its buttery exterior gleams invitingly, tempting you at first glance. With its crispy crust, airy interior, and rich buttery flavor, it's sure to captivate you.
Cornbread can be eaten plain, with jam, or served as a savory dish with cold cuts and cheese slices.
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Pancake
Pancakes, or griddlecakes, are a familiar pastry in the list of what to make with flour. The batter is simple, made with flour, leavening agent, sugar, eggs, and milk. They are quick to prepare and do not require an oven. Pancakes are rather plain on their own, so they are often served with honey or various syrups, fruit, and whipped cream.
Furthermore, you can also experiment with different flavors for pancakes such as pumpkin pancakes, sweet potato pancakes, chocolate pancakes, etc.
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Waffle
Another pastry in the list of what to make with flour is waffle. This dish shares similarities with pancakes in terms of ingredients and serving style (with syrup, fruits, and whipped cream). The notable difference of waffles lies in their round/square shape and small square grids (and they must be made using a dedicated waffle iron), and waffles also have a crispier texture.
In addition to pairing with sweet treats, cupcakes are also enjoyed with bacon or fried chicken drizzled with honey.
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See more: How to make delicious and easy waffles
Cupcake
Another popular pastry on the list of What to Make with Flour. These adorable cupcakes with creamy, smooth frosting and soft, fragrant cake base are perfect for parties or afternoon tea.
Moreover, cupcakes can be easily customized from the cake base to the frosting, resulting in unique flavors. Chocolate cupcakes, matcha cupcakes, strawberry yogurt cupcakes, and more.
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Muffin
Muffins and cupcakes are often likened to siblings because they look quite similar. However, cupcakes represent a mini version of cake while muffins are a downsized version of bread.
Muffins have a denser cake base and are less decorated with frosting compared to cupcakes. Moreover, the special feature of muffins is the incorporation of juicy fruits into the batter such as blueberries, raspberries. Muffins come in both sweet and savory versions (combined with ham, sausage, tuna, corn, broccoli, etc.)
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Baked cheesecake
Basque Burnt Cheese Cake is a dessert beloved by many for its incredibly impressive flavor. Thanks to the 'burnt' edges, the cake has a beautiful dark brown color. Each piece of cake is soft and smooth, almost melting in the mouth. The aroma of caramel, combined with a hint of bitterness and the creamy richness of cream cheese, makes it irresistible to anyone.
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See more: Reveal 2 ways to make irresistibly aromatic baked cheesecake
Brownie cake
Brownie is essentially similar to sponge cake but denser and moister. The cake has a dark brown color and a fragrant chocolate scent due to the use of plenty of cocoa powder. Brownies are easy and quick to make, and can be stored in the refrigerator for about 1 week (they will become drier). The cake uses all-purpose flour.
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Macaroon cake
Macaron is one of the great creations of baking art. Macaroon cake is a type of cake that requires high precision and meticulousness in every step. The cake has 2 layers: a soft and crispy outer shell and a soft and chewy filling. This type of cake is particularly creative with many flavors such as chocolate, strawberry, lemon, almond,… or a mix of different flavors between the shell and the cream filling.
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Explore more: Discover 3 authentic French Macaron recipes
Egg tart
This dessert must definitely be on your list of what to make with flour. Egg tart with its layered crust is crispy and fluffy, combined with smooth and creamy egg custard that melts on the tongue. Each little tart will make you want to eat more and more.
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Apple pie
Apple pie is one of the traditional and famous desserts in America. It typically has a thin, crispy crust with a golden-brown surface, topped with slices of apple and the aroma of cinnamon.
The filling is made from fresh apples mixed with cinnamon powder, nutmeg, sugar, salt, lemon juice, then baked until just right. It creates a soft and slightly chewy filling, not mushy, with a balanced sweet and sour taste. Especially, the sauce from apples and cranberry jam makes the pie moist, soft, and irresistibly sweet. The pie uses all-purpose flour.
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Taiwanese pineapple cake
Taiwanese pineapple cake is shaped incredibly cute, resembling a mini pineapple. The cake has a beautiful yellow color, a soft crust, and the pineapple filling is chewy, fragrant with honey and cinnamon powder. The cake has a moderate sweetness, tempting you to have one more bite after another.
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See more: 4 Ways to make 'unbeatable' pineapple cakes that anyone can make
Taiwanese lava egg cake
One of Taiwan's other hot hit cakes that mesmerizes anyone. This cake has a crispy crust, and inside is a salted egg filling but in a gelatinous form. When the cake is cut, the salted egg part will ooze out, very enticing.
Compared to traditional Vietnamese mooncake-making methods, this thousand-layer Taiwanese lava egg cake is much simpler, without having to prepare sugar syrup or make sugar fat for the filling beforehand. The cake requires flour No. 11 and flour No. 8.
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Churros
Churros is another oven-free cake type, part of the list of what to make with flour that you shouldn't overlook. Churros are a traditional Spanish pastry, a dough mixture squeezed through a nozzle, then fried until golden. The cake is crispy, fragrant with sweet cinnamon and smooth sugar aroma; the dough part is fragrant, soft, slightly chewy, and the highlight is dipping it in sweet chocolate sauce.
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Mexican Coffee Buns (Paparoti)
Paparoti had its heyday, everyone was enjoying paparoti. This is perhaps evident because hardly anyone can resist the round bun with a brown butter layer and a irresistible coffee aroma.
The soft, fragrant filling is buttery. In addition, paparoti can also be made with chocolate, matcha, etc. Paparoti is suitable for breakfast, afternoon tea, or snacks. The buns can be baked or air-fried.
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What Can You Make with Flour? – Savory Baked Goods
Not only sweet treats, but there are also plenty of savory delights in the Flour Recipe Collection, bursting with deliciousness and flavor.
Pateso Cake
The pateso cake leaves a mark with its French-Vietnamese culinary fusion. Typically round, its flaky layers boast a golden, crispy exterior exuding a tantalizing aroma of butter. Pateso features the distinctive taste of pâté along with minced meat, wood ear mushrooms, dried shallots, and various spices.
The best way to enjoy this cake is when it's hot. You can make a large batch and store it in the fridge. Before eating, reheat it in the microwave or bake it in an air fryer. It's perfect for breakfast or as a light meal.
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See Also: How to Make Pateso Cake Using an Air Fryer
Korean Crispy Fried Onion Cake
Korean Green Onion Pancake (Pajeon) is a widely beloved dish in Korea. This popular street food is irresistibly fragrant and comes in various versions. It can be simple, made with just flour, eggs, and green onions, or more elaborate with additions like squid, pork, or kimchi.
The pancake is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with a delightful aroma of green onions and eggs. It's best enjoyed with a flavorful dipping sauce made of soy sauce, garlic, and chili.
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Japanese Curry Bread Bun (Kare Pan)
Kare Pan is a type of bread from Japan and is one of the stars in the list of what can be made with flour without needing an oven. This bread doesn't require baking or air frying; instead, it's cooked by frying in oil. The crust is crispy on the outside, while the inside is soft and fluffy, filled with a fragrant and rich curry filling (including meat and onions).
The bread is best enjoyed fresh off the fryer when it's still hot and crispy. Alternatively, letting it cool slightly until the filling is warm also makes for a delicious treat. It's not just for snacks; you can also enjoy this bread as a main dish, paired with rice or salad, or with other meals.
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Vietnamese Pillow Cake (Banh Goi)
Pillow Cake or Folded Cake (in the Southern region) is a type of cake similar to Chinese fried dumplings. Pillow Cake has a crispy golden crust, a flavorful pork filling, served with sweet and sour fish sauce and eaten with fresh vegetables.
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Above are over 30 recipes for What Can You Make with Flour? - There are also many other baking recipes on Mytour Blog, so don't forget to check them out! Wishing you success!
See more:
- What Can You Make with Brown Rice Flour? 8 Delicious and Easy-to-Make Cakes
- What Can You Make with Glutinous Rice Flour? 9 Amazing and Easy-to-Make Recipes
