I’ve been seeing some recipes that call for self-rising flour. I read about the history of this product but am unsure why it is ever used in modern kitchens. Can’t you just use regular flour, salt, and baking soda to yield the same result?
Is there ever a situation when the proper combination of flour/salt/baking soda cannot be used in place of self-rising flour?
Self rising flour is extremely popular in some parts of Europe, especially in the UK. By contrast it’s very difficult to find in the US. In the southern states a low protein, self rising flour marketed as White Lily, is popular for biscuits. So it’s more readily available in the south. But throughout most of the country, stores do not stock self rising flour.
Bakers certainly do make the substitution of all purpose (plain) flour. But substitution of all purpose (plain) flour for self rising flour can be problematic as its impossible to know the amount of chemical leavening that was blended into the self rising flour.
A general rule is self rising flour contains 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of flour. That’s in the range for baking standards. But it’s not a given that any one particular package of self rising flour in fact contains that specific amount of chemical leavening per cup.
When you mix your own leavening into the flower you know for sure that you put one and a half teaspoons of baking powder in the mixing bowl.
Another issue is some mills add salt. Not knowing the amount of salt in the package makes it impossible to adjust the salt accordingly.
Then there’s the issue of type of chemical leavening. Baking powder and baking soda produce different textures.
For instance I never use baking powder in my cookies. Ever. Baking powder produces a puffy, smooth exterior surface with a cake like interior texture. I want my cake to be cakey, but I don’t want my cookies cakey.
And in my cakes I prefer to use a combination of baking powder and baking soda. With self rising flour you cannot adjust the baking powder down to allow for the additional use of baking soda.
So for my baking style, self rising flour is not suited for my pantry.
