Flour
Flour comes in many types and packages. Sometimes the labels are a bit confusing.
If the package doesn’t mention anything, it is safe to assume it is regular flour, without additives. This is sometimes called “all-purpose flour” or “plain flour”.
Likewise, if a recipe just mentions “flour”, it is safe to assume the recipe calls for plain flour.
Do note that while they look similar, baking powder is something very different from baking soda.
Some people claim they add salt to their self-rising flour mix, but I’m not a fan. It is not common, not necessary, and can lead to different results. If you want to try, the consensus seems to be to use about 2 g of salt per kg of flour.
Self-rising flour is usually just plain flour with about 3% baking powder mixed in.
As I often find myself looking this up in a hurry when I find myself without self-rising flour, here are some examples.
- 125 g flour
- 3.75 g baking powder
- 500 g flour
- 15 g baking powder
- 750 g flour
- 22.5 g baking powder
- 1 kg flour
- 30 g baking powder
- 500 g flour
- 15 g baking powder
Bread flour typically contains more protein compared to regular, all-purpose flour. More protein result in better gluten development, improving the texture of the bread.
Since I don’t always have access to proper bread flour, I sometimes have to make do with all-purpose flour, and I found that adding some vital wheat gluten yields very acceptable results.
Usually, all-purpose flour contains about 10% protein, while bread flour is more in the range of 14%. This is different for each flour, so make sure to check the packaging; or in my case: experiment because there is no label on the flour at all.
The experiments below use vital wheat gluten, with a protein content of 70 to 80%. Again, this will be different for other brands.
For 500 g of bread flour:
- 480 g unlabeled all-purpose flour
- 20 g vital wheat gluten (70-80%)