Yes and no. If the recipe calls for plain flour with the addition of baking powder (or another leavening agent), self-raising flour can be used instead, simply omit the leavening agent. If the recipe does not include baking powder or a leavening agent, do not substitute plain flour with self-raising flour.
It may require, let's say, 1 cup of plain flour and 2½ teaspoons baking powder, and hence will call for plain flour and baking powder. For this reason, it's not advisable to simply substitute self-raising flour or you may find yourself with a less-than-desirable result.
All Purpose Flour
For store-bought the best flour for baking cookies and pie (especially this easy best ever flaky pie crust recipe) is all-purpose (I use the organic all-purpose from Costco) when I'm not doing a fresh ground recipe, read on to see my favorite fresh ground flour picks for pie crusts and cookies.
Because plain flour contains no extra ingredients, including rising agents, your cakes and pastries won't rise if you use this type of flour as it is. You'll need to add a rising agent, such as yeast or baking powder, into the plain flour if you want your baked goods to rise and become appetisingly fluffy.
Self-raising flour includes a raising agent such as baking powder. Use this storecupboard staple to create beautiful fluffy cakes, scones, pancakes, biscuits and other bakes.
Self-rising flour is not the best choice of flour in recipes that do not utilize a chemical leavening agent. Items such as pie and tart shells, shortbread cookies, and crackers are all examples of baked goods where leavening is not desirable.
As it is know that plain flour has a generally longer self-life than self raising flour, due to the fact it does not have rising agents which expire. We get through so much self-raising flour, there is not an issue with making sure that we use it up in time, therefore we prefer to use self-raising flour.
Bread recipes usually ask for plain flour, and that's because the raising agent comes from the yeast working with the water, flour and salt. If you use self-raising flour, your bread won't rise evenly and you could end up with a stodgy crumb.
Madeira cake uses both plain and self raising flour whilst sponge is just self raising flour. I think the plain flour makes a denser cake that is easier to carve. You have a good answer from Jayess, but in addition, because a plain and self raising flour mix produces a denser cake it also has a longer life.
“Self-raising flour will bubble up to the surface, plain flour will stay sunk.” Otherwise, you could dip your finger into the flour and taste a very small amount. Apparently “self-raising flour has a tingle on your tongue while plain flour doesn't.” That's because self-raising has baking powder in it.
Plain flour (or all-purpose flour) is made from wheat. These two names = the same thing. Aussies call it Plain Flour, and other parts of the world (like the USA) call it all-purpose flour. Wheat is starch and protein.
Self-rising flour, which is also known as self-raising flour, combines all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder which acts as a leavening agent and adds airiness through small gas bubbles released in the batter / dough.
Self-rising flour has a more specific purpose: making cakes and pastries. Self-rising flour contains leavening agents that allow goods to rise even without baking powder or soda. All-purpose flour does not. All-purpose flour contains 10-12% of protein, while self-rising flour has 8.
Cake flour is also sold in Australia as biscuit flour or pastry flour. It is made from softer wheat, which enables it to absorb more moisture and sugar. It has a lower protein level of around 6-9%, producing a softer texture in cakes, a flakier and moist pastry and a perfect crumb in cookies and biscuits.
If you want to substitute self-rising flour for all-purpose flour in a recipe, just omit the baking powder and salt from the recipe, and use self-rising. Self-rising flour does not contain baking soda so if you are using self-rising flour and the recipe calls for baking soda be sure to add it.
While the terms self raising flour and self rising flour are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Self raising flour is most commonly used in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. This flour is made from plain all purpose flour and baking powder.
It is affectionately named overseas as you can use it for all purposes, but in Australia self-raising flour is more popular in baking which is why we call it plain flour.
All-purpose flour is plain flour in the UK and Australia. American self-rising is called self-raising in the UK. Indian plain flour called Maida is quite different from its British and American cousins.
If you're planning on baking goods that are fluffy or spongy in nature such as sponge cakes, quick breads, scones, muffins, self raising flour is perfect for you!
To get the ratio right to making your homemade version, add two teaspoons of baking powder for each 150g/ 6oz/ 1 cup of plain flour. Make sure you combine the baking powder thoroughly by using a sieve and mixing it together in a bowl so it's aerated and evenly distributed.
The main function of flour in baking is to build structure. When the proteins found in wheat flour are hydrated, they interact with each other forming what is known as gluten. As dough or batter containing wheat flour is worked, an elastic network is developed.
One trick to keep in mind is that both baking powder and baking soda gives rise, but baking soda also spreads due to its leavening strength in small amounts. Think of what the recipe is trying to ultimately achieve, both taste and texture-wise, and that should give you a clue if you forget which to use.
For each cup of all-purpose flour, you will need 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Whisk the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt together until combined, then use as directed in the recipe in place of the self-rising flour.
Pastry flour is best used for: pie crusts, cookies, muffins, pancakes, cakes, biscuits, and bread sticks.
Just add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each 150g/6oz/1 cup plain flour. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl before using, to make sure the baking powder is thoroughly distributed (or you can put both ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together).