Bread-Bakers v112.n003.5

This could be several things. Usually white wheat has less protein 
than red wheat. Commercial flour is frequently either aged, exposed 
to oxygen, or bleached under UV light as some of the antioxidants in 
the flour need to be degraded for the flour to be more usable. Also, 
if your dough was not elastic enough, adding ascorbic acid would 
probably make it even less elastic. It usually has the effect of 
tightening the gluten to keep loaves from spreading while proofing. 
Hope that helps!

Mike Patrick