| Flour name | Flour type | Purpose |
| Cake flour |
Type 450 – very fine |
For all types of baked products, especially for cakes. The flour is very light, less sticky. |
|
Coarse-ground flour |
Type 450 – coarse flour with gruel texture |
Perfect for pastas and pastry dough. |
|
Koszalin, Wrocław, Poznań flour |
Type 500 |
Flour for dumplings, pancakes and pierogi, but also for various types of dough that require stickiness, e.g..: for croissants, croquettes. |
|
Bakery flours |
Type 550, 650, 750, 850, 1800, 2000. |
Perfect for bread, buns, pretzels and for other cooking purposes, but these are dark flours. |
The flour type means the mineral content. The higher the number denoting the flour type, the more minerals it contains, but at the same time it is darker and more coarse.
If you use a Polish recipe for a cake, but use an inadequate type of flour, or do not pay attention to the type of flour recommended, you can get a slack-baked cake.
As you can see from the table, there are differences between flours. Cake flour differs from coarse-ground flour only with texture. Coarse-ground flour has a gruel texture, while cake flour is the finest wheat flour. Both are very light-coloured, but have a cream shade. They both contain plenty of gluten, that is protein, hence they must be eliminated from a gluten-free diet. They are fine for cakes, pancakes, doughnuts, biscuits, batter noodles, etc. Less suitable for dumplings and pasta, as they are less sticky than flours type 500.
Wrocław, Poznań, Koszalin flours – as the flour type suggests, they are slightly darker than cake flour and are perfect for dumplings and all dishes that require good stickiness. They can be practically used for all types of dishes, provided that they are real flours, without additives.
Both country-style flour and de luxe flour are dark, which is in compliance with the type number (550,650). All other flours, such as grandma's flour, grandpa's flour, fluffy flour, royal flour, etc. most often come with chemical additives.
If you notice that the flour you bought is as white as paper, it will mean that it has whitener added, it may also contain dry gluten and other chemical components.
