Flour vs self raising flour

When you read a recipe and see self raising flour, you can think to yourself…. But I don’t have any in my cupboard, what do I do now? It is actually an easy question to answer.

Self raising flour is nothing more than regular flour with a baking agent added already. If you live in America, the self raising flour also contains salt. So if you follow a recipe when baking in America, remember to leave the salt specified in the recipe out if you are substituting flour for self raising flour.

Self raising flour has a specific ration of flour to baking powder. There is about 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder for every cup (150gm) of plain flour. Many recipes require a different proportion of baking powder to flour in order to achieve the desired leavening. You may need 3 teaspoons of baking powder to 1 cup of flour in order for the recipe to rise as much as required….

For me personally it is better to use plain flour and then just add however much baking powder the recipe requires. The other reason why I prefer the plain flour and baking powder separately is because the baking powder added to the self raising flour does expire and the shelf life is short. For me it makes more sense to keep the flour and baking powder separate and use as you need.

This is just my opinion. Maybe you prefer baking with self raising flour and there is nothing wrong with it  Just remember if a recipe calls for self raising flour and you do not have any in the kitchen, just add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder per 1 cup of flour and off you go …
Let us know your thoughts.