One winter I bought bread flour at either Costco or Sam's & every time I made artisan bread, it wasn't up to my usual quality. Not really bad but I wasn't satisfied with anything I baked for an entire winter. Not sure if it was me or the flour but I went back to KA & haven't noticed any particular problems since - with a few exceptions for screw-ups on my part! The Sams Club near me carries KA all purpose but I haven't seen any bread flour there.

Great information already posted... Here's an expanded version. Flour 101- -The more protein, the lighter the yeast bread - up to a point. Too much protein (gluten) will make bread tough, which is why commercial flour is a combination of protein levels so that it has an average amount correct for different baking needs. -There are two types of protein that make up the gluten group - glutenins and gliadins. This is what we generally call "gluten". Glutenins provide the elastic quality that allows bread dough to expand. Gliadins play a secondary roll by contributing to the viscosity and extensibility of bread dough. -Although durum wheat has the highest amount of protein of all wheat types, the main protein in durum wheat is gliadin, which makes it excellent for pasta, not bread, because of the viscosity and extensibility. This is the type of wheat I use for wholegrain pasta. -Bread flour is highest in the protein glutenins (great for yeast breads), milled from hard wheat varieties. -All-purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheat so that it fits a protein profile that suits "all-purposes" for general baking. A little too much protein for really fine cakes, a little less protein than needed for really good bread. A middle-of-the-road flour. (Source: CookWise by Shirley O. Corriher) Percentage of protein.... Durum wheat - 13-13.5% protein - used for pasta Bread flour - 11.5-12.5% - use for yeast breads, pasta, pizza Northern unbleached all-purpose flour (King Arthur) - 11.7% - use for yeast breads, cream puffs, puff pastry, pasta, pizza Northern all-purpose flour (Robin Hood, Hecker's)- 11.7% - 11-12% - use for yeast breads, cream puffs, puff pastry National brand unbleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) - 10-12% - yeast breads, cream puffs National brand bleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) - 9.5-12% - biscuits, quick breads, muffins Bleached Southern all-purpose flour (White Lily, Martha White, Gladiola, Red Band) - 7.5-9.5% - Pie crusts, biscuits, quick breads, muffins Cake flour - 7.5-8.5% - Cakes, quick breads, muffins, pancakes ------------------------ Whole grain flour can have as much or more gluten than commercial flours. I'm using hard white winter wheat that has 13.1% protein - excellent for yeast breads. I've worked with wheat that had 16% protein levels. It takes more kneading to develop the gluten in high-protein wheat varieties and you won't get as tender a crumb as you do with lower protein levels. I also mill soft wheat for pastry, biscuits, cakes, quick breads; or mixtures of low-gluten flour (spelt) and hard wheat to make "all-purpose" protein levels when I need lower-gluten flour (cookies, quick breads, etc.). For low-gluten "cake" flour, I use a 3:1 mixture of soft white wheat and oats (or spelt) for fine cakes like chiffon or angel food. -Grainlady

What are you going to use it in? In general, it's not a good choice because of the high amount of gluten in the flour. I'd certainly avoid using it in anything where you don't want a lot of gluten-development to begin with - cookies, quick breads, pastry, biscuits... Cookies will be harder, dryer, as well as tough - so choose a cookie that is already crispy, not soft. It will be easy to over-develop gluten in quick breads during mixing, and they will be more tough-than-tender and you may end up with tunnels running through your muffins and quick breads. Pancakes will be tough. If you do use it (emergency use), keep mixing to a bare minimum. Adjustments you can make: -Use 1-2 tablespoon LESS per cup. -Additional fat will help if you use it for biscuits or pastry, where the fat is mixed into the flour. The fat coats the gluten in the flour. Where the gluten is coated with fat, the liquid will only allow the gluten to form in short strands. -Use a mixture - 10% low-gluten flour - rye flour or blend oatmeal into a flour in a blender or food processor and use it as 10% of the flour mixture. All-purpose flour is a blend of hard wheat and soft wheat while bread flour is milled from hard wheat. Soft wheat really makes a huge amount of difference in the blend of all-purpose flour to add tenderness to baked goods, while hard wheat gives enough strong flour to raise a loaf of yeast bread. Hence the term "all-purpose" flour. It was developed for all purposes. The problem is that it's NOT optimum for anything. -Grainlady

If you decide to use bread flour, one of the tips for using high-protein flour is to add a little more fat - above the amount called for in the recipe. Where the additional fat coats the flour, it blocks the water from being absorbed, so it also reduces the amount of gluten that is developed. Be sure to keep mixing to a bare minimum. You could also use a blend of bread and cake flour and use the regular amount of fat in the recipe. I disagree with Linda about the protein content being "miniscule". There are more baking "mistakes" made by using the incorrect flour. High-protein flour gives you tough pastry, cookies, and cakes..... Hydration will be completely incorrect - as the chart below will show. Information from "CookWise" by Shirley O. Chorriher: Cake flour - 8 g. of protein per cup National Brand (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) Bleached All-Purpose - 9-10 g. of protein/cup National Brand Unbleached All-Purpose - 12+ g. protein per cup Northern Unbleached All-Purpose (King Arthur) - 13 g. protein per cup Bread Flour - 13-14 g. protein per cup ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The water absorption capacity of white flours for 1-cup of water to form a sticky dough ball in a food processor: 14 g. protein Bread Flour - 2-cups (packed) + 1 T. 13 g. protein Unbleached Flour - 2-cups (packed) + 2 T. water 12 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/4 c. 11 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/3 c. + 1 T. 10 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/2 c. 9 g. protein Southern All-purpose - 2-1/2 c. + 2 T. 8 g. cake flour - 2-3/4 c. -Grainlady