Foods made with self-rising flour tend to be lighter, fluffier, and more crumbly. This can be a disadvantage for breads, depending on the type of bread one is attempting to make.
As a general rule, you probably do not want to use self rising flour if there is another leavening agent called for in the recipe, such as yeast or baking soda.
It is meant as a convenience so that you don't have to stock baking powder at home, but it does deteriorate quickly in humid conditions, and has the disadvantage that you can't use it for pastry, etc.
While it's similar to all-purpose flour, self-raising flour isn't as rich in protein as all-purpose flour. Also like all-purpose flour, self-rising flour is enriched with added nutrition. It also contains salt and baking powder that has been distributed evenly throughout the flour and acts as a leavening agent.
Just add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each 150g/6oz/1 cup plain flour. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl before using, to make sure the baking powder is thoroughly distributed (or you can put both ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together).
If the recipe calls for plain flour with the addition of baking powder (or another leavening agent), self-raising flour can be used instead, simply omit the leavening agent. If the recipe does not include baking powder or a leavening agent, do not substitute plain flour with self-raising flour.
If you want to substitute self-rising flour for all-purpose flour in a recipe, just omit the baking powder and salt from the recipe, and use self-rising. Self-rising flour does not contain baking soda so if you are using self-rising flour and the recipe calls for baking soda be sure to add it.
Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, ranging from 12% to 14%. That makes this type of flour ideal for all kinds of bread recipes, including hearty sourdoughs, tender brioche, and lacy English muffins.
Here's our Test Kitchen's simple method to make self-rising flour: For every cup of self-rising flour, substitute one cup of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon baking soda.
Self-rising flour is a staple in many recipes — particularly Southern recipes like biscuits, cobblers and more. It simplifies the baking process by including the leavener and salt right in with the flour, making it handy to have around when you're running low on baking supplies (or time to assemble it all).
What Is Self-Rising Flour Used For? Some self-rising flour recipes include simple, three-ingredient biscuits or pancakes, especially if you like them thick and fluffy. You can also use self-rising flour to make muffins, certain types of bread, pizza dough, and even delicious, Southern “Fat Bread.”
When using self rising flour the bread proofs much faster. Therefore, if you also add yeast to it you will need to wait for it to act. As a result your bread will be way over-proofed and will most likely collapse while baking.
Self-rising flour has a more specific purpose: making cakes and pastries. Self-rising flour contains leavening agents that allow goods to rise even without baking powder or soda. All-purpose flour does not. All-purpose flour contains 10-12% of protein, while self-rising flour has 8.
Cake Flour: The flour with the lowest protein content (5 to 8 percent). The relative lack of gluten-forming proteins makes cake flour ideal for tender baked goods, such as cakes (of course), but also biscuits, muffins and scones.
Bread flour is the flour you buy when you want to make sourdough bread or baked goods that need to rise. Unlike all-purpose (or plain) flour, bread flour has a higher protein content of 11-13%, making bread or pizza dough rise during the baking process.
Dense or heavy bread can be the result of not kneading the dough mix properly –out of many reasons out there. Some of the other potential reasons could be mixing the yeast & salt together or losing your patience while baking or even not creating enough tension in the finished loaf before baking the bread.
The healthiest bread flour is 100% whole grain flour. Whole grain flour could be rye, barley, spelt, oat, or wheat flour - the key is that the flour is made from 100% whole grains. Whole grain breads provide essential nutrients that are lacking in bread made from white flour.
Anti-Inflammatory Foods:
Whole grain and nut flours: whole grain flours, almond flour, coconut flour, chickpea flour, quinoa flour. Full-fat coconut milk, unsweetened almond milk, hemp milk. Beans and legumes. Honey or pure maple syrup.
Whole-wheat flour is a little coarser but contains more fiber — an ingredient that is known to lower your LDL cholesterol levels. 1 There are many types of wheat flour, so if whole wheat flour gets boring, you can use other types of flour that are higher in fiber, such as spelt flour, cricket flour or graham flour.
All-purpose white flour is the standard for most basic muffin recipes. However, to keep them on the healthier side, I almost always make my muffins with whole wheat pastry flour. This 100% whole wheat flour gives baked goods a lighter taste and texture than that achieved using regular whole wheat flour.
WHAT IS SELF-RISING FLOUR? The simplest description of self-rising flour is flour that has baking powder and salt added to it. Recipes that call for self-rising flour usually don't list additional baking powder or salt in the ingredients. In this way, self-rising flour is a 3-in-1 ingredient.
If you only have plain flour, you can make it into self-raising flour by adding 2 teaspoons baking powder to every cup (150g) of plain flour, and then sifting this mixture a few times to distribute the baking powder through the flour evenly.