Purpose Plain

Purpose Plain

Which flour is for what? Plain, Self Raising, All Purpose.. ?

Some recipes I get say just 'flour' some say 'all purpose' Which do I use when? What will happen if I use the wrong one? Are there any generalities?

"All-purpose or plain flour is a blended wheat flour with an intermediate gluten level, which is marketed as an acceptable compromise for most household baking needs."

"Self-rising or self-raising flour is flour ("white" wheat flour or wholemeal) that is sold premixed with chemical leavening agents. Typical ratios are the following:
100 g flour
3 g baking powder
1 g or less salt"

In order of gluten content, least to most, we have:
Cake flour (good for cakes and cookies) (8-10%)
Pastry flour (9-10%)
All purpose flour (9-12%)
Bread flour (10-13%)
High gluten flour (12-14%)

For bread, the more gluten you have, and the more you knead, the more airy your bread. If you don't knead enough, or the yeast dies, or there isn't enough gluten, your bread won't rise right.

For cookies, cakes, and such, you'll probably be fine with all-purpose flour (aka plain flour). If your recipe just calls for "flour" and also calls for baking powder and/or baking soda, use all-purpose, or plain, flour. If your recipe doesn't call for baking powder/baking soda, and just calls for "flour", probably use self-rising flour.

If you use self-rising flour when you shouldn't, it'll probably just rise more. If you use all purpose flour when you should use self-rising flour, it'll likely not rise enough. But follow the rules of thumb above to avoid that.

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