What's the difference between Bread Flour and Organic Bread Flour?

Bread Flour: 12.00-13.50% protein, absorption 1.000×, hydration 65-78%. Organic Bread Flour: 11.50-13.00% protein, absorption 0.990×, hydration 64-77%.

Can I substitute Bread Flour for Organic Bread Flour 1:1?

Yes — absorption is close enough that a 1:1 swap works with minor tweaks.

Which is better for open-crumb sourdough?

Bread Flour supports higher hydration (up to 78%), making it better suited to open-crumb hearth loaves than Organic Bread Flour (max 77%).

Side-by-side comparison

Bread Flour vs Organic Bread Flour

	Bread Flour	Organic Bread Flour
Protein	12.00–13.50%	11.50–13.00%
Absorption (× bread flour)	1.000	0.990
Hydration range	65–78%	64–77%
Category	refined-wheat	refined-wheat
Ash %	0.50	0.52

Bread Flour

Bread flour is the workhorse of hearth-style sourdough. Milled from hard red winter or hard red spring wheat, it provides the 12-13.5% protein content needed to develop the robust gluten structure that supports open crumb and high hydration doughs. The absorption multiplier is the industry baseline (1.000) — all other flour hydration behaviors are measured relative to bread flour. King Arthur's classic unbleached bread flour and Central Milling's Artisan Bakers Craft are the reference specs for US bakers. Use it as 100% of the flour in baguettes and country loaves, or as the base (70-90%) in whole-grain blends. Bread flour tolerates extended autolyse, long bulk ferments, and retarded proofs without losing structure.

Organic Bread Flour

Organic bread flour varies more in spec than conventional bread flour due to varietal diversity in organic wheat sourcing. Protein ranges 11.5-13%, typically slightly lower than conventional bread flour (12-13.5%). Absorption is marginally less (~1% below baseline) reflecting the protein variance. King Arthur Organic Bread Flour, Central Milling Organic Artisan Bakers Craft, and Janie's Mill Organic Bread Flour are primary US references. Worth using when organic certification matters to you or the customer; performance is ~95% of conventional bread flour.

Substitution math

When substituting Bread Flour for Organic Bread Flour in a recipe, absorption is close enough that a direct swap works. Expect minor texture differences but similar handling.