What You Need to Know About Flours? Part 1

A Guide to Flours: What Does BL55 Mean?

Have you ever stood in front of the store shelf wondering what the difference is between all-purpose flour, strudel flour, and BL80, and does it really matter which one you take home? It does matter. The wrong flour can make your cake dense, your strudel tear, and your dumplings lumpy. The good news is that the letters and numbers on the bag reveal everything; you just need to know how to read them.

What Do the Letters Mean?

The labeling of Hungarian flours follows a simple code system. The first letter indicates the grain, and the next indicates the grain size:

• B – wheat, T – spelt, R – rye, D – durum wheat
• L – flour, meaning fine, powdery ground grain
• F – rough, slightly larger, gritty grain
• FF – double rough, even grittier

So, BL means wheat flour, and BFF means double rough wheat flour.

And What About the Numbers?

The number indicates the ash content of the flour, multiplied by one hundred. The BL55 has an ash content of 0.55%. This shows how much bran remains in the flour. The higher the number, the darker, more fibrous, and tastier the flour is, and the more vitamins and minerals it contains.

The Most Common Flours at a Glance

Label	Common Name	What Is It?	What Is It Good For?
BL55	all-purpose	flourwhite, fine	smoothcakes, pancakes, roux, thickening, sponge cake
BFF55	strudel flour, rough or semolina flourwhite	gritty texture	strudel, dumplings, cake, yeast doughs
BL80	white bread flours	slightly darker, more bran	homemade bread, scones, pizza
BL112	half-brown bread flour	darker, more characterful flavor	rustic breads, sourdough baking
BGL	Graham flour	whole grain, coarser	whole grain bread, rolls

Flour, Semolina, Grit: Grain Size Matters

The second letter is at least as important as the first because the grain size determines how the flour behaves in the dough.

• All-purpose flour (L): powdery, clumps together when pressed. Absorbs liquid quickly, so it disperses smoothly in sauces and yields a soft, even dough.
• Rough or semolina flour (F, FF): gritty between your fingers, crumbles when pressed. Absorbs water more slowly, so the dough doesn’t stick, is more stretchable, and the dumplings won’t be gummy.
• Semolina (D in the second position): even larger grain, this is not really flour. Domestic semolina is made from common wheat, used for semolina pudding, semolina dumplings, and semolina pasta.

This is where most misunderstandings arise. Store-bought semolina and the semola mentioned in Italian recipes are not the same. Semola is made from durum wheat, is yellowish, harder, and richer in protein. If an Italian pasta recipe calls for semola, the semolina used for pudding will not yield the same results. We will discuss semola in detail in Part 2 of this series.

Why Does It Matter? The Secret of Gluten

Flour Types and Their Characteristics

The proteins in wheat flour form gluten when mixed with water and kneaded. This is the elastic network that holds the gases produced during fermentation, making the dough stretchable. If there is a lot of strong gluten, the dough rises well and stretches beautifully. That’s why strudel and cake require rough flour. However, for a crumbly linzer, less gluten is better, so stick to all-purpose flour.

Quick Decision-Making Help

• For roux, thickening, sauces: BL55. Disperses smoothly, doesn’t clump.
• For sponge cake, crumbly dough, linzer: BL55, sifted. Due to the low gluten, it remains crumbly and light.
• For pancakes, waffles: BL55. If the batter is lumpy, rough flour mixes in faster, but all-purpose flour is silkier.
• For dumplings, gnocchi: BFF55. The rough grain prevents stickiness.
• For strudel: only strudel flour. There’s no negotiation; with all-purpose flour, the dough will tear.
• For cake, fluffy yeast dough: BFF55 or BL80. Both can withstand longer kneading.
• For scones: for crumbly, buttery versions use BL55, for yeast, fluffy versions use BL80.
• For homemade bread: BL80, for a more characterful flavor mix in 20–30% BL112 or whole grain.
• For breading: BL55. It will be crispier if you replace part of it with rice flour or starch.
• For pizza: starting at home, BL80 or BFF55 will work, but for pizzeria results, stronger flour is needed. This will be discussed in Part 3 of the series.

The Most Common Flour Mistakes

• You measure with a cup. A cup of flour loosely sprinkled and packed can differ by 30–40 grams. When baking, a kitchen scale is your best friend.
• You skip sifting. For sponge cakes and muffins, sifting adds air to the flour and removes lumps. It’s not mandatory for yeast dough.
• You substitute flour one-for-one. Whole grain and darker flours absorb more water. If you use BL112 instead of BL55, account for an additional 5–10% liquid.
• You over-knead crumbly dough. The longer you knead, the more gluten develops, turning linzer into chewy cookies. Only work crumbly dough until it comes together.

How to Store Flour?

Flour prefers a dry, cool, dark place in a well-sealed container. White flour is good for about a year, while whole grain flour goes rancid faster due to its germ oil content; use it within a few months. If flour moths frequently appear in your pantry, put the new bag in the freezer for 2–3 days before transferring it to the container.

In the next part, we will cross the Alps: we will look at what 00 Italian flour means and the mysterious W-value, what semola is, and when to reach for spelt or rice flour. In Part 3, we will show which flour makes the best dough for different pizza styles.

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