Is whole wheat bread flour the same as whole wheat flour?

[jjf]

i'm attempting to make the crusty flax seed rolls tonight and the recipe calls for whole wheat flour - is that the same as whole wheat bread flour? thanks for your help,

jen

[lorilei]

Not exactly -- but you'll be perfectly safe using what you have. I do it all the time. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[jjf]

thanks!!

jen

[LGBurns]

My experience with whole wheat bread flour has not been good. I kept getting very heavy loaves when using it and couldn't understand why. A friend told me it's because bread flour requires extra kneading (she couldn't explain to me by bread flour would need extra kneading, but...) Anyway, I never use bread flour now.

[sneezles]

The reason bread flour requires more kneading is the gluten content. Which is the main reason it makes better bread than all-purpose flour.

[cindyluwho]

One thing you can do is go through the "dough" setting once, and reset the machine to go through the "bread/bake" setting afterwards. This gives you additional kneading

[Ralph]

Originally posted by sneezles:
The reason bread flour requires more kneading is the gluten content. Which is the main reason it makes better bread than all-purpose flour.

Sneezles, you're exactly right. Bread flour has a higher gluten content to make a denser bread.