Is high grade flour the same as bread flour?

I'm a recent transplant to NZ from the US, and am glad to have found this page as I was having the same questions. Bin Inn has been a good source of those hard-to-find ingredients in the Wellington area. Now, I just need to figure out what they call pastry flour here...

Hi Everyone
I’ve lived in New Zealand all my life & have grown up learning to cook since I was 8-9yrs old. With that I can assure you that “Bread Flour” is indeed very much available here in New Zealand. Now for many years the brand called “Edmonds” has been a stable here in NZ for as long as I can remember & was very much around when my late grandmother was a child herself in the early 1920’s & has it’s very own cook book that the majority of New Zealanders have grown-up with for many many years & it’s a very much trusted brand & is basically found in the drawer of every kitchen around the country. I’ve attached a copy of the range of flours that “Edmonds” have available in NZ today. Definitely recommend that you visit their website as well for any further details & information about their entire range of products that they have available. But with saying all that, “Edmonds” isn’t the only brand available here in NZ either. The store called “Bin Inn” they do sell “bread mixes” in a variety of different types of breads that are “pre-made” into bags with all that’s needed to make a loaf of bread mostly to use with your bread maker. But they also sell all those ingredients individually in bulk if so wished as well. You can also find the “Bread Flour” made by “Edmonds” along with the vast variety of other types of baking & flour products on the shelves of many stores & supermarkets around the country. Plus in NZ there’s only 2 separate store chains of supermarkets in & around the country & they promote & carry their own “in-store” range of products that are along side a vast variety of other well known brands of course. These “in-store” ranges are usually a lot cheaper that usually have very plain, simple style of packaging than all the other top brands that come in all that expensive packaging, so that they can keep their prices down low to compete with all the other trusted leading brands that we have all come to love. So in future do keep a look out for the “Bread Flour” products that are on the supermarket shelves as they are very much available here in New Zealand. Good luck baking guys!

Hi
I’ve lived in New Zealand all my life & have grown up learning to cook since I was 8-9yrs old. With that I can assure you that “Bread Flour” is indeed very much available here in New Zealand. Now for many years the brand called “Edmonds” has been a stable here in NZ for as long as I can remember & was very much around when my late grandmother was a child herself in the early 1920’s & has it’s very own cook book that the majority of New Zealanders have grown-up with for many many years & it’s a very much trusted brand & is basically found in the drawer of every kitchen around the country. I’ve attached a copy of the range of flours that “Edmonds” have available in NZ today. Definitely recommend that you visit their website as well for any further details & information about their entire range of products that they have available. But with saying all that, “Edmonds” isn’t the only brand available here in NZ either. The store called “Bin Inn” they do sell “bread mixes” in a variety of different types of breads that are “pre-made” into bags with all that’s needed to make a loaf of bread mostly to use with your bread maker. But they also sell all those ingredients individually in bulk if so wished as well. You can also find the “Bread Flour” made by “Edmonds” along with the vast variety of other types of baking & flour products on the shelves of many stores & supermarkets around the country. Plus in NZ there’s only 2 separate store chains of supermarkets in & around the country & they promote & carry their own “in-store” range of products that are along side a vast variety of other well known brands of course. These “in-store” ranges are usually a lot cheaper that usually have very plain, simple style of packaging than all the other top brands that come in all that expensive packaging, so that they can keep their prices down low to compete with all the other trusted leading brands that we have all come to love. So in future do keep a look out for the “Bread Flour” products that are on the supermarket shelves as they are very much available here in New Zealand. Good luck baking guys!

Sorry, the shops are called Bin Inn not Bulk Inn... and they are all through the country...

I live in NZ too but trained to cook in Europe. High Grade Flour is bread flour but it does have a lowish protein content. You can bump this up by adding gluten as per previous comments. You can get gluten in baking shops - in Auckland, Bulk Food Savings in Dominion Road, shop 3/217 Dominion Road. In other towns, the Bulk Inns should have it. You can also buy it in wholesalers like Gilmours but you need a store card...

I just also started into baking and found it difficult to find bread flour here in NZ. I can only see High grade, self raising, and plain flour here. And to my research i found out that plain flour is just also the same as all purpose flour. Since then this what i am using now. When the recipe ask for a bread flour i just used the Plain Flour and still fine. But i have bought 10 kilos of high grade since i know nothing about flour before and i stop using them and thinking what i have to do with them. Now i know what to do with them since we have the same problem with CurioCook. I will try to use them again. I just recently fond of baking and still learning...i just follow recipes and watch them how to do it online. Thanks!

Indeed ...High Grade flour is the closest you'll find to Bread flour in NZ. I'm one of the recipe testers for food52 (and often test while visiting family in NZ), so have been in the predicament of needing bread flour when testing something. After extensive research, I found that High Grade is a satisfactory substitute for bread flour. You actually can get gluten powder/flour ...I'm not in NZ at the moment, however have a packet in my mum's pantry and am trying to picture it. I'm fairly certain it's made by Healtheries. If you're in the Auckland area, try Farro or Huckleberry Farm ...I'm fairly certain that's where I found it! And if you need any other help on where to find obscure ingredients (if you're in Auckland), send me an email as I've probably already had the hair-pulling task of finding it. Hope you're enjoying NZ.

If you're going to add gluten to flour, what you would be looking for is vital wheat gluten, which is waaaaaay on the high scale of about 75% protein. I doubt you'll need it, however. I suspect that the high grade flour you have available will do you just fine. Simply don't overwork it for more tender applications (cookies, muffins), while if you are making bread, be sure to knead it up to a good strong windowpane. And lucky you for having the opportunity to live in New Zealand!

Thanks!! Indeed this flour has 11% protein. Since the recipe called for bread flour, I think it'll be ok, crossing my fingers that I didn't mix too much. I'm also hoping it works for the future since the other ideas I read about (adding gluten to ap flour) doesn't seem doable here - can't find gluten either.

P.S. Here is a link to what I hope is a good discussion of protein content in flour:
http://thesolitarycook.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/lets-bake-bagels-part-1/

High gluten flour has a protein content of 14-14.5%. Think bagels. That chewiness? It comes from that high gluten content, as well as the fact that bagel dough undergoes some serious kneading to fully develop the gluten. If you use it for cookies, they will be chewier than you really want. High grade flour has a protein content which straddles that of all-purpose flour (10-10.5%) and bread flour (12-12.5%), lurking in the range of about 11% protein. You can safely use it for cookies (take care not to over mix them), as well as for bread (DO knead it perhaps longer than you would a dough made with true bread flour).

I have never heard of "high grade" flour. However, if it is the same as "high gluetin" flour, then yes, you can use it instead of bread flour.