To Buy or Make Self-Rising Flour

I love reading recipes.  I love Old, New, American, and European recipes.  Well, anything that has to do with food.  I've noticed with European recipes, a lot of cakes use Self-Rising Flour.  I found a recipe in my box of recipes called Russian Poppy Seed cake.  The cake uses Self-Rising flour.  I was intrigued.  American household's rarely have Self-Rising flour. So, I went to the market and picked up a small bag.  I quickly experimented with a Russian Poppy Seed Recipe.  The cake rose quite nicely.  After a few tweaks with the amount of Poppy Seeds, the flavoring and the amount of baking powder, the cake came out perfectly.

It was then I decided, what would happen if I made my own self-rising flour.  Well, that is what I did. I researched how to make self-rising flour.  I found out that many recipes use Pastry flour instead of All-Purpose flour to make self-rising flour. After many experiments and many tests using the Russian Poppy Seed cake, I agree, Pastry Flour is definitely better than All-Purpose flour.

Self-Rising flour includes salt and baking powder.  The amounts of each is what varies. However, I decided to use King Arthur's formula: (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/tips/homemade-self-rising-flour.html) (With the Poppy Seed Cake, I had to add another teaspoon of baking powder.)

Unfortunately, I found that I needed more baking powder than the Homemade Self-Rising Flour Recipe called for.  So, I adjusted the recipe and added another teaspoon and viola, the cake using the Homemade Self-Rising Flour worked perfectly!

However, after all that research and testing, the best cake was the one using the store bought Self-Rising Flour.  My suggestion, just buy it!!

So, here is the recipe for the Russian Poppy Seed Cake:

Ingredients:

1 Cup / 4 1/2 ounces/ 130 grams - Self-Rising Flour (If making your own Self-Rising flour, add one more teaspoon of baking powder)

1 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - salt

1 Cup / 7 Ounces / 200 grams - Sugar

2 Eggs

2 tsp - Vanilla

1 cup / 5 ounces / 140 Grams -  Poppy Seeds

Zest of 1 Orange

1/2 cup / 4 fl ounces - milk

1/2 cup / 4 ounces / 113 grams - unsalted butter

2 TBSP - Vegetable Oil

Confectioners Sugar

Directions:

  • Preheat Oven 350 degrees F.  Sprag  or butter and flour a 9 inch springform pan.
  • Sift together, flour, baking powder and salt

 

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  • Using a wisk beat eggs, sugar and vanilla extract till pale and fluffy.
  • Fold in Poppy Seeds and Orange Zest
  • Combine, milk, butter and vegetable oil.
  • Add flour mixture and milk mixture - alternating between flour and milk mixtures.
  • Bake for 35 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
  • Cover with Orange glaze and confectioners sugar. 
Baking, CakesSarah MichaelsComment