Flour has proven itself to be one of the most useful ingredients to have in your kitchen. However, many types of flour serve different purposes, such as self-rising flour.
If you have never heard of self-rising flour, you may be curious as to what self-rising flour is and how it differs from regular flour. I did the research, and here is what I learned!
What Is Self-Rising Flour?
Self-rising flour is a mixture of all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Self-rising flour is used in recipes that need structure and rise, such as quick bread recipes. If you were to use self-rising flour in a recipe, there should be no other leavening agents like baking powder or yeast added to the recipe.
Do you want to find out how self-rising flour differs from plain flour, if self-rising flour has gluten, and what you can use instead of self-rising flour? Keep reading!
What Is Self-Rising Flour Made Of?
Typically, self-rising flour contains wheat flour, which is normally all-purpose flour. However, self-rising flour will also have other leavening ingredients.
Normally, the leavening ingredient you can find in self-rising flour is baking powder. Salt is another common ingredient because salt strengthens or binds gluten, giving your baked goods a stronger structure.
What Is Self-Rising Flour Used For?
Generally, self-rising flour is used for any recipe that requires structure and rise. This is especially helpful if you do not have yeast, which is usually used to make baked goods rise.
Self-rising flour works because self-rising flour contains salt and baking powder. Salt is helpful because salt will make the gluten in your recipe stronger.
Baking powder is a chemical leavening agent that creates carbon dioxide gas when mixed with water. Since there is more gas in your mixture, the gas will provide more rise in your recipe.
Do I Need Baking Powder If I Use Self-Rising Flour?
If you have a recipe that calls for regular flour and baking powder but you want to use self-rising flour instead, omit the baking powder. Self-rising flour already contains baking powder, so adding more baking powder could ruin your recipe.
Can Self-Rising Flour Be Used For Cookies?
It is possible to use self-rising flour for cookies. However, if the self-rising flour is not explicitly stated in the cookie recipe, you will have to learn how to adjust your recipe accordingly.
Generally, self-rising flour contains less flour because of the added ingredients. Therefore, if your recipe needs a cup of regular flour, you need to add one cup plus 1 ¾ teaspoon of self-rising flour.
Moreover, you will need to omit other leavening ingredients and salt from the cookie recipe. For example, remove baking powder and salt if they are listed in the recipe.
Can I Use Self-Rising Flour Instead Of Plain Flour For Pancakes?
Normally, you can use self-rising flour instead of plain flour to make pancakes. Moreover, many pancake recipes will call for self-rising flour, especially if you are making a fluffy pancake recipe.
If your recipe did not call for self-rising flour, you can use self-rising flour without issues. However, you should expect that your pancakes will turn out larger and fluffier than expected.
What Is The Difference Between Self-Rising Flour And Regular Flour?
Generally, the main difference between self-rising flour and regular flour is their ingredients. Regular flour only contains wheat flour whereas self-rising flour contains all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
Since they are made of different ingredients, self-rising flour and regular flour serve different purposes. While self-rising flour and regular flour normally have the same gluten levels, they create very different sizes in baked goods.
Self-rising flour contains leavening agents, which will normally be baking powder. Self-rising flour causes a lot of rising in baked goods while all-purpose flour will create little rise with all-purpose flour’s medium gluten content.
What Happens If I Use Self-Rising Flour For Biscuits?
If you were to use self-rising flour for biscuits, the results of your biscuits will mostly depend on your recipe. Some biscuits will specifically call for self-rising flour.
For example, some biscuit recipes, particularly the thicker biscuits like in the United States, will benefit from self-rising flour. Self-rising flour will offer rise from the baking powder and the salt will enhance the flavor.
However, flatter biscuits like crackers will not do well with self-rising flour. If you were to add self-rising flour to a flat biscuit recipe, your dish would rise and be too large.
Can Self-Rising Flour Be Used For Fried Chicken?
Normally, self-rising flour is not called for fried chicken recipes because all-purpose flour can work. However, some people prefer to use self-rising flour for fried chicken.
Self-rising flour helps the fried chicken’s crust puff up more. This will result in a slightly larger and crunchier exterior.
Does Self-Rising Flour Have Gluten?
Generally, self-rising flour does contain gluten because the main ingredient of self-rising flour is all-purpose flour, which is a type of wheat flour.
What Can I Substitute For Self-Rising Flour?
If you have salt, baking powder, and all-purpose flour at home, you can make self-rising flour. Simply mix ¼ teaspoon salt and 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder for every level cup of all-purpose flour.
In certain recipes, you may also use bread flour instead of self-rising flour because bread flour contains a lot of gluten, which will help your recipe rise. However, you will often have a much denser texture with bread flour.
Take a look at our related articles to learn what strong flour is, substitutes for millet flour, and substitutes for mochiko flour.
Conclusion
Self-rising flour is a pre-mixed flour found in most groceries. Normally, self-rising flour contains baking powder and salt, which means you would need to omit salt and baking powder in recipes if you want to use self-rising flour.
Generally, self-rising flour is used in recipes that need structure and rise. This is especially great for recipes where you do not have yeast, baking powder, or other leavening agents.