Most of my recipes call for all purpose flour and it is a staple ingredient in most kitchens. As you can tell from the name, it’s good for a wide variety of baked goods, from cookies to cakes to breads. Another popular flour is known as “self rising flour.” Self-rising flour has a leavening agent and salt already added to it, which means that you don’t need to add additional baking powder or baking soda to a recipe. Recipes that call for self rising flour will look more streamlined than recipes that call for all-purpose flour because they can omit two ingredients that are already included.
Self rising flour is most often used in biscuits, though it can be used in a wide range of recipes. If you do a lot of biscuit baking, you might already have some on hand. But if you don’t have any in your kitchen (and I don’t find many stores in the West Coast carry it), you can easily make your own.
To make quick self rising flour: Combine 1 cup all purpose flour with 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.
To make better self rising flour: Combine 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup sifted cake flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.
The reason that I call the second option “better” is because a lot of self rising flour is softer and lower in protein than all purpose flour. Adding some cake flour into your homemade self rising flour recipe will yield a more tender, fluffier finished product that is even more similar to what “real” self rising flour will produce. That said, this option requires an extra ingredient and the quick-fix recipe will get the job done (and still produce good results) without the need to make a trip to the grocery store.
What do you think?