A comment on why the NY Times recipe uses a mix of bread and cake flours. One reason is to achieve greater consistency, which is critical for commercial baking and nice for home baking as well. All-purpose flour has a protein content (think "chewiness") that varies by up to 50%, even for the same brand. Protein content is dictated both by where the flour is made and by whether it is bleached. On average, this is 7.5-9.5% for Southern flour vs 11-12% for Northern flour. In addition to the more precisely defined protein content achieved by mixing cake and bread flour, cake flour exhibits unique properties that cannot be duplicated by all-purpose flour. Cake flour is bleached by chlorination rather than bromination. Chlorination reduces gluten activity (leading to a tenderer, less chewy result without reducing the actual protein level), slightly acidifies the flour (unsure if the acidity is sufficient to assist the baking soda), and increases the flour's ability to hold liquid and to distribute fat evenly. In the NY Times recipe, the flour would be penetrated by moisture more completely and evenly using the mixture of two flours than by using all-purpose flour alone. Cake flour also sets faster in the oven and so changes the texture for a given cooking time. Some brands of flour can vary considerably in the protein content. However, King Arthur flour has the narrowest specifications in the industry, and varies less than a tenth of a percentage point bag after bag, batch after batch. If you buy our all-purpose flour that's 11.7% protein, that's what you get: 11.7%. Our bread flour is 12.7%. The organic all-purpose is 11.8% and the organic bread flour is 12.7%.Mary @KingArthur Flour

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