self-rising flour verses plain flour?
Once and for all............when and why should you use self-rising flour verses plain flour? and, when a recipe calls for "flour" does it mean plain flour?
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Once and for all............when and why should you use self-rising flour verses plain flour? and, when a recipe calls for "flour" does it mean plain flour?
6 Comments
http://www.food52.com/blog/3130_on_chemical_leaveners
But, in summary self-rising flour is just flour with baking powder and salt already added to it (1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt per 1 cup of flour). Easy peasy!
http://www.food52.com/blog/3130_on_chemical_leaveners
But, in summary self-rising flour is just flour with baking powder and salt already added to it (1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt per 1 cup of flour). Easy peasy!
flour = plain flour. American recipes will specify if it's self-rising flour (self-raising flour in US) or any other type of white flour (cake flour, bread flour) that is not plain flour. So if you see just 'flour', it means plain flour. When to use will be defined by the recipe. Recipes using plain flour will have some sort of leavening (like baking powder or acid/base combo) listed in the recipe.
One big thing to note (because I find that people are confused about this too), cake flour is NOT self-rising flour. In the US, cake flour is a plain flour with a low percentage of protein (low protein means that foods baked with cake flour will be lighter with a more tender and delicate crumb than those made with all purpose flour). Again, a recipe will usually list cake flour specifically and not just list 'flour'.
several brands of self-rising flour that have a lower protein content than all purpose flour (11% protein). They are effectively cake flours (8% protein). Wheat protein, or gluten, is what gives baked goods much of their structure, but it can also cause a bread to be too dense or tough. White Lily and Presto are two examples of self-rising brands that use a low-protein cake flour as their base.