As anyone who reads my posts or bakes with me will know, I am a huge fan of King Arthur Baking and their products. I've found their flours, flavors, and baking accoutrements to be perfect additions to my kitchen. I may own a few pieces of apparel as well :) 

This weekend, I decided to test out my Saturday White Bread recipe as a head-to-head bake-off! In corner number 1, we have standard AP flour purchased in bulk from Costco. In corner number 2, we have King Arthur Baking Unbleached Bread Flour with a higher protein content than the standard AP flour. Will there be any noticeable differences? Let's find out! In all pictures below, the AP flour is on the left, and the King Arthur Flour is on the right.

1) Make the Dough

Not much to say here, they both mixed like dough! The KAF dough definitely absorbed the water more thoroughly, which makes sense given the higher protein content. From here, both doughs went into the stand mixer for 6 minutes, and I finished kneading both by hand to make sure they were ready to roll.

2) Rise!

Here are both doughs after their first 1-hour rise. They came up consistently and evenly after an hour at about 70 degrees F.

3) Shape!

KAF on top in this one, AP on bottom. Normally I prefer to bake these in a Dutch oven, but since I needed to bake both together, I shaped these into oval loaves. I like to keep some of the air from the rise in these, so I didn't knock them all the way back. You can see how sloppy they look - I'm far from a pro when it comes to shaping loaves :) Off to rise for another hour!

4) Rise (again)!

Orientation same as in step 3! They puffed up nicely! Time to go into the oven.

5) Bake

KAF on the right, AP on the left. Full disclosure, I baked these at my Mom's house :) I'm blaming the oven on the fact that these got a bit darker than I usually like. I baked with a hot tray below and added steam a handful of times in the first 10 minutes. I also clearly didn't shape tightly enough in step 3, as there wasn't enough of a "skin" to allow me to score these loaves cleanly. They look a bit messy, but that's why we do this! Every mistake is a chance to develop skill, learn something new, and become a better baker. And at the end of the day, the bread is (usually) still delicious!

6) Cut and Taste

Another couple of lessons learned here: 1) Don't let Randy near the camera, and 2) Make sure your focus is right before moving on! Either way, Here is a cut shot of the finished product after about 45 minutes of cooling. You can see the larger air bubbles in the KAF loaf on the right compared to the AP loaf on the left.

What you can't see in this picture, is the texture differences between the two loaves. The KAF loaf has a "snappier" texture and a great chewiness with a glossier interior. The AP loaf is actually still quite delicious, but tears more easily and is slightly less dense. The flavor in both is terrific.

Final Thoughts

At the end of this experiment, I'm convinced that anyone can make a delicious loaf of rustic white bread using AP flour. You do not need to have special flour on hand to make this worth your time. However, if you want to elevate your loaf, spring for the King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour. The bread you make will thank you :)