Self-Rising Flour

[jnky]

I have 2 5lb bags of White Lily Self Rising Flour purchased for a beer bread project that we have grown weary of...and am now in search of the best use for self rising flour.
I would appreciate your best recipes/uses where you use self rising flour instead of all purpose.

Thanks !

[jcattles]

I use it for pancakes. cobbler, & fried chicken.

I use Ruhlmans Ratio for my pancakes recipe. 4 parts flour, 4 parts liquid, 2 parts egg, 1 part butter. Add 1 tsp baking powder for every cup of flour, you can add sugar & vanilla as needed. I use self rising flour in addition to the paking powder. I live at very high altitude & can't get fluffy pancakes w/o it. You could eliminate the baking powder if you live at lower altitude.

For Cobbler I use this recipe from Zac Brown Band's Cookbook (it's the best i've found)
1 stick melted butter, 1 c. self rising flour, 1 c. sugar, & 1 c. milk, either a large can of sliced peaches, or a bag of frozen fruit (I like blackberries) that I've added some sugar & water to. Put the melted butter in a 9x9 pan, mix the flour, sugar, & milk (add vanilla if you want). Pour into the butter. Add the fruit. Do not stir. Bake at 350 until golden brown & done in the center.

For fried chicken I mix some Franks Hot Sauce into some beaten eggs, then dredge the chicken into seasoned self rising flour. Fry as you normally would.

[Hank Hanover]

Paula Dean makes a lot of her cakes with self rising flour. Here is one example.... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pa...

[paulj]

For some reason, self rising flour is more popular in the American South (and the UK). In part it maybe been due to the marketing efforts of companies like White Lilly.

[danna]

I would assume it's because more biscuits are made in the South, and self rising flour is just better for biscuits.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Why is self-rising flour better for biscuits, Danna? I guess it's unclear to me how it is different than using plain flour (in this case a soft-wheat flour) one combines with baking soda and salt one's self.

[danna]

Caitlin, it is unclear to me , too. I have always been a little frustrated because my biscuits don't live up to my grandmother's, but from trial and error, if I use self-rising flour, I get a better result. I don't know if the leavening is mixed in better, or if the recipes that call for s-r flour are better, or if maybe I tend to always buy White Lily when I get self rising....I haven't gone at this scientifically. But I'm convinced that self rising flour is a step in the right direction for lighter biscuits.

[chowser]

This is interesting because I've heard the same thing and wondered about it, as Caitlin asked. Have you ever tried with cake flour? I wonder if that's similar to what they use in self rising flour. Oh, and I use unbleached AP flour--I'll bet that makes a difference, too. Bleached probably makes a lighter biscuit.

I just found this, which might help explain why it's lighter. Some self rising flours are as low in protein is cake flour but far, far lighter than what I use which is KA unbleached AP flour.

http://pinchmysalt.com/2007/09/18/how...

So, you might be able to use cake flour w/ baking powder and salt to make lighter biscuits like self rising flour.

[paulj]

I got the impression from other threads that KA AP is higher in protein (gluten) than the national brands (Pilsbury and GM). I assume White Lily is preferred for biscuits because it is softer (lower in protein) - though not as low as cake flour. I assume WL also sells a plain AP flour, without the salt and baking powder, but I've only seen the self-rising type (at Grocery Outlet).

A while back WL changed ownership, and people were concerned that their formulation would change (different mill, different sources of wheat, etc).

A mix of national AP with cake flour might be a good alternative. All cake might be too soft for biscuits.

[chowser]

Yes, KA is higher and also more consistent in its percentage is what I've read. If you look at the chart I posted the link to, you can see the comparison.

[smtucker]

Boy was that a lot of acronyms. Like reading Greek. I am an avid cook and still can't decipher much of what you typed! :-)

[paulj]

general mills, king arthur, all purpose, white lily etc.

[jmcarthur8]

jnky, White Lily's website has recipes for their self rising flour. It's used a lot here in Georgia because everyone (and their mama) makes biscuits. There are as many brands of self rising as there are all purpose flour at the grocery store. And self rising cornmeal, too, for all the cornbread.
You can use it for pancakes, all kinds of baked goods.. you just have to adjust for the leavening.
I love the soft fluffy texture of White Lily in cakes.

[jnky]

Thanks guys....I appreciate the ideas.
The flour is in the freezer wrapped and stored safely...I bought it some time back upon reading something about the scarcity of this particular brand of flour, not thinking about how long it would take to run through 10 lbs of it. I had started making that simple bread of Self Rising Flour/Beer/Sugar and melted Butter....but quickly tired of it.
Now I want the freezer space :)

Will definitely check out some of these ideas...you are great !

[danna]

yep, biscuits! cheese biscuits, sweet potato biscuits, too. You can also use it for thickening stuff like gravies and puddings. Sub it in your waffle and pancake recipes (but leave out the leavening).

[Mona Williams]

I have heard of people using it in regular (using yeast) bread baking. They say the baking powder makes the bread lighter. I don't know, I haven't tried it, but I don't think it could hurt, as long as you left out the salt in the recipe you are using.

[chowser]

You could freeze it, too.

[weem]

My understanding is that it's more of a staple ingredient in the UK than in the US, but there it's called "self-raising flour" instead of "self-rising flour". So if you are searching the internet for recipes, you might try including the British spelling in your searches.

[Zeldog]

It will take you forever to go through 10 lbs of flour making tempura, or even biscuits (unless you have a really big family that likes biscuits). Self rising flour is unbleached, I think (feel free to correct me if yours is not) and doesn't taste as good as unbleached anyway. So make playthings:

http://tumbleweedboutique.typepad.com...

It's baked at a pretty low temperature but I don't know if the baking powder will screw things up. But you want to get rid of the stuff, right?

[paulj]

It is just a mix of flour, baking powder and salt. Since it is the White Lily brand, the flour might be softer than a GM or Pilsbury AP, and work better for biscuits.

[smtucker]

Makes a great tempura batter.

[chowser]

Magnolia cupcakes are good:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sa...