Self-rising flour

[Brad Ballinger]

I'm looking in a 1960s recipe book, and I found one that called for self-rising flour. Is this still something that's labeled as such? Is most "regular" flour now self-rising? What should I do with this recipe?

[phlawless]

you can buy self rising flour still, white lily is a great brand...what's the recipe?

[elyse]

If it's a cake recipe, you can find self rising cake flour at the supermarket. It comes in a box like Swan's Down, but it's a different brand. Swan's Down is not self rising. It may be called Presto...? Dark blue box.

[Pan]

What makes it rise by itself? Does it have yeast in it?

[phlawless]

it contains a certain percentage of baking powder

[Brad Ballinger]

Thanks for the replies.

what's the recipe?

It's sort of a "jelly roll" with lemon curd as the fillng. I can't recall the exact name; I don't have it handy at the moment. It's from a book on British Isles cooking.

[pastrymama]

you can make your own self rising flour by mixing 1 cup flour, 1 1/4 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.

[Varmint]

And self rising flour usually is made with a lower-gluten flour. I use it for biscuits.

[dellis453]

In the UK self raising {rather than rising) flour is very common. It is used to make cakes, scones etc. I would add two teaspoons of baking powder, no salt as an equivalent. You can also use 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and one teaspoon of cream of tartar for the same effect.

Hope the recipe goes well!

[mudbug]

You can find self-rising flour at grocery stores. Several companies make it including Gold Medal, Martha White, and Pillsbury.

Self-rising flour has baking powder and salt already added and is more common in the South, where making biscuits is popular.

For each cup of flour required, put 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt in a measuring cup. Top off with low protein flour.

photos 1

photos 2

On Flour

[Tmnoland]

And self rising flour usually is made with a lower-gluten flour. I use it for biscuits.

My only problem with self rising flower is that I don't use it up fast enough.

It's hard to tell how old the leavening is in it, so I don't like to let it hang out for long. This may be a dumb question, but short of ruining a full recipe is there a quick test to tell if the baking powder still has some kick?

I'm going to have to find a good biscuit recipe that calls for self rising flower. I've

always wanted to be able to quickly throw biscuits together in the morning and the self rising flower would save a little time. My grandmother was one of those wonderful/infuriating people that could throw together huge, fluffy biscuits with out a recipe. ugh.

--therese

[mudbug]

My only problem with self rising flower is that I don't use it up fast enough.

It's hard to tell how old the leavening is in it, so I don't like to let it hang out for long. This may be a dumb question, but short of ruining a full recipe is there a quick test to tell if the baking powder still has some kick?

I've always wanted to be able to quickly throw biscuits together in the morning and the self rising flower would save a little time.

If you're that worried about it and you know that about yourself, don't buy the self rising flour. It'll take all of 30 seconds to measure the baking powder and salt for your biscuit recipe. Measure it all out the night before even... Can't imagine it'd take more than five minutes.

As for a test, the amount of baking powder mixed in with the flour would be so diluted, I'd imagine you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

[prasantrin]

Another self-rising flour question...I want to make some whole-wheat cheese muffins. The recipe not only calls for self-rising flour, but then calls for an additional 2 1/4 tsp. of baking powder. Isn't that a lot of baking powder?

The full recipe is:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 cup skim milk

1/2 cup egg substitute or 2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 Tbsp. margarine, melted

Vegetable cooking spray

It's from a diabetic website, hence all the low-fat stuff, but I'm planning to use full-fat cheese and milk, and butter rather than margerine.

I'm thinking the extra baking powder might be due to the use of whole wheat flour. But do I really need it, or do I really need as much? I hate it when you can taste baking powder in baked goods, so I'd like to use as little as possible.

Edited May 5, 2007 by prasantrin (log)

[K8memphis]

Yes it's to get the whole wheat flour to pop up to make that big dramatic dome on the muffin. Kinda seems like a lot to me though too. Interesting that it's two and a quarter teaspoons a very carefully measured amount. Probably necessary to push up against that melting cheese too. Makes sense I guess.

Edited May 5, 2007 by K8memphis (log)

[prasantrin]

Yes it's to get the whole wheat flour to pop up to make that big dramatic dome on the muffin. Kinda seems like a lot to me though too. Interesting that it's two and a quarter teaspoons a very carefully measured amount. Probably necessary to push up against that melting cheese too. Makes sense I guess.

←

It is a lot. Altogether, it's 4.5 tsp including the baking powder already in the self-rising flour. But I'll try it as written. I can always reduce the amount in the future if I find it to be too baking powdery.

Thanks!

[Renee K]

Perhaps the recipe is trying to simulate self-raising whole wheat flour. I think the ballpark for self-raising flour is around 1 1/2 tsps baking powder per cup of flour (though it probably varies slightly between brands)... so I guess 1 1/2 c of whole wheat flour would give 2 1/4 tsps of baking powder... added on top of the plain self-raising flour.