Pastry flour feels smooth and fine, like cake flour, and can also be squeezed into a lump. However, it has the creamy color of bread flour, not the pure white color of cake flour.
If bread is made from pastry flour, it will not look or taste the same as bread made from bread flour. Dough will be softer, even dough less water is required in the mixing. It will readily break and tear and be over mixed more easily.
The major advantage of using commercial pastry flour, is that its protein content of 9.2 grams per cup is fairly standard from batch to batch. It is particularly useful for making pie crusts.
Pastry flour is derived from soft wheat with shirt to medium patents. It is preferred by commercial and professional bakers for preparing pastries, some cookies, sweet yeast dough, biscuits and muffins, but it is not commonly available to home bakers.
Pastry flour
