
FLOUR
VARIETIES, FACTS AND TIPS
Flour Types
All-Purpose Flour
- The most common called for flour
in recipes. A blend of hard and soft wheat, it may be bleached
or unbleached. Bleached is best for pie crusts, cookies, quick
breads, pancakes and waffles. Unbleached is generally best because
of it's higher protein content for yeast breads, Danish pastry,
puff pastry, strudel, Yorkshire pudding, eclairs, cream puffs
and popovers
Cake Flour
- This a "fine-textured,
silky flour milled from soft wheats with a low protein content."
Since it has a greater percentage of starch and less protein,
it's best for keeping delicate cakes tender. You can use cake
flour instead of all-purpose flour in recipes by increasing the
cake flour by 2 tablespoons per cup, but that in some recipes
the substitution may cause sinkage or collapse. Similarly, you
can use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour by decreasing
the all-purpose flour by 2 tablespoons, but it is not recommend
to substitute when making delicate cakes such as angel food or
sponge.
Self-Rising Flour
- Sometimes referred to as phosphated
flour, this is a low-protein flour with salt and leavening already
added. It's most often recommended for biscuits and some quick
breads but never for yeast breads. 1 cup of self-rising flour
contains 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
It can be used instead of all-purpose flour in a recipe by reducing
the salt and baking powder according to these proportions.
Instantized Flour
- Is granular in texture and,
because it disperses instantly in cold liquids, is best for preparing
smooth gravies and sauces.
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