i have a question as i am new to baking and i was thinking of trying out a new recipe. the pound cake needs 3 cup of all purpose flour and 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. however, i accidently bought self-rasing flour rather than all- purpose flour. so i was wondering is it the same if i use 3 cup of self-rasing flour instead?
AP vs SR flour for pound cake questions
- Thread starter eleos
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tdejarnette
Senior Cook
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each cup would have 1 and 1/2 tsp. of baking powder and 1/2 tsp. of salt, so that's way too much for your recipe. That kind of flour is for biscuits.
you can go ahead and use the self-rising flour.
self-rising flour already has baking powder and salt in it. at least i think it has salt in it. it should say on the package. there's no real need to adjust any of the ingredients. just omit the baking powder (and salt?). the sugar, butter, eggs, etc. remain the same as called for in your recipe. if you want to be perfectly accurate, you could add an additional 1 1/4 teaspoons of the flour, but such a small amount one way or another won't make a noticable difference.
self-rising flour already has baking powder and salt in it. at least i think it has salt in it. it should say on the package. there's no real need to adjust any of the ingredients. just omit the baking powder (and salt?). the sugar, butter, eggs, etc. remain the same as called for in your recipe. if you want to be perfectly accurate, you could add an additional 1 1/4 teaspoons of the flour, but such a small amount one way or another won't make a noticable difference.
boufa06
Executive Chef
eleos, this is what will happen if you go ahead and use your self-raising flour for the pound cake rather than plain flour. Your 3 cups of SR flour will contain anywhere from 4-1/2 to 6 teaspoons of baking powder. This is obviously significantly more than the 1 teaspoon you have in the recipe. Such an increase in the amount of baking powder will cause more rising than necessary and will not give you the final texture that you will get otherwise.
So it would be better to get plain flour. As for the SR flour, you can use it for butter cake or any rich cakes that the recipe calls for.
So it would be better to get plain flour. As for the SR flour, you can use it for butter cake or any rich cakes that the recipe calls for.
I never buy self-rising flour because, for the few times I use it, it is easier to just make some with 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp of salt, and either 1 Tbs of baking powder or, if I happen to run out of baking powder, 1 tsp of baking soda and 2 tsp of cream of tartar (no, you can not use tartar sauce instead!)
boufa06 said:
boufa06 - good catch on that one. i hadn't actually stopped to consider how much baking powder it had. googling up about 10 pages, i see substitution ratios of between 1 and 1 1/2 teaspoons per cup of flour, with 1 1/2 t being the most common. the salt content also seems pretty high.
considering that eleos' recipe probably calls for beating in a lot of air, the pound cake could well come out more like a chiffon cake! oops
bstorm
Assistant Cook
I thought this topic was rather interesting! I was just wondering though, aren't pound cakes suppose to be somewhat dense and not contain any leavening agents? As for the self-rising flour--not a total loss--I prefer to use SR flour for dredging my meat in before frying.
bstorm said:
you're right on that. the traditional method uses equal weights of butter, eggs, sugar, flour, a pinch of salt and some vanilla or lemon zest. period. how light or dense it comes out depends on which method you use to beat in air.
that said, if you look around, lots of recipes seem to call for a modest amount of baking powder.
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