Flour is usually made from grinding wheat, maize, rye, barley or rice. As the main ingredient in bread, which is a main staple in many cuisines, it is one of the most common ingredients in the world.
Wheat flour is the most popular and versatile flour and there are many different varieties:
White flour, otherwise known as plain or all-purpose flour, contains about 75 per cent of the wheat grain, with most of the bran and wheat germ taken out. It is commonly used for cakes, pastries and biscuits. When used in cakes it is combined with a raising agent such as baking powder or bicarbonate of soda. It is also used in quick breads like soda bread, producing a more densely textured loaf. White flour is usually artificially whitened but you can buy an unbleached variety if you prefer which is an off-white colour.
Watch our video on how to rub in butter and flour with your fingertips when making pastry:
To make self-raising flour, mix 100g plain flour with 1 tsp baking powder. When making cakes or bread, it is essential you use plain or self-raising flour as stated in the recipe for successful results. You can also buy self-raising flour, which has the raising agent already added. Some recipes use both self-raising flour and an additional raising agent – this will give a lighter texture, and is usually added when the dough or batter is heavier than normal to give it additional lightness.
Wholemeal or wholewheat flour
Wholemeal flour is made from the whole of the wheat grain. If the flour is steel-crushed, the wheat-germ is separated from the white part of the grain and returned to the white flour at the end of the grinding process. Wholemeal flour produces heavier results than white flour, so is often used in combination.
Strong flour
Strong white bread flour is made from 'hard' wheat varieties which are high in gluten. This makes it ideal for bread-making where dough needs to expand and rise well in order to produce a light loaf. Strong flour is not suitable for cake recipes. It usually needs to be kneaded well, and then relaxed in 'rising' or 'proving' stages to relax the gluten and increase the 'stretch' of the dough.
'00' flour
A ground wheat flour that looks like plain flour, but is a special grade, which is the perfect blend for making delicate pasta or noodles. Some chefs use '00' flour to make pizza bases, too.
Some cake recipes replace part or all of the wheat flour component with rice, cornmeal, chestnut or other wheat-free flours, ground almonds or ground polenta. This provides a wealth of different textures and flavours, but as baking is an exact science, you cannot simply swap one for another, look for specific recipes containing these ingredients.
Divide the original amount of flour by 2 to find the amount needed for half the recipe. In this case, 2 cups divided by 2 equals 1 cup of flour. 3. Use a measuring cup to accurately measure 1 cup of flour.
If you want to be very accurate with your measurements when trying to convert a recipe from “cups to grams,” we recommend you weigh your favorite flours and note exactly how many grams are in a cup.
For best results, we recommend weighing your ingredients with a digital scale. A cup of all-purpose flour weighs 4 1/4 ounces or 120 grams. This chart is a quick reference for volume, ounces, and grams equivalencies for common ingredients.
Scoop up a mound of flour with a standard dinner spoon. Give the spoon a gentle shake, so the excess flour falls off the mound. Dinner spoons are also known as soup spoons. Measure out about 15.5 tbsp (121 g) of flour to get approximately 1 cup (120 g) of flour.
The most accurate way to measure flour is with a digital scale. It removes the guesswork and will help you achieve consistent baking results. All of our recipes assume 1 cup = 120g (or 4.25 oz.)
Spoon the flour into the measuring cup. Gently pile it in until it forms a heap above the rim of the measuring cup. Don't pack the flour down. Scrape a knife across the top of the measuring cup to level the flour.
Often, it's too much or an inaccurate amount of flour in the recipe. Too little flour and your cake will fall. Too much flour and your cake is dense and dry. Similarly, too much flour can make a cookie dry and crumbly…and often more of a thick lump rather than a regular cookie shape.
Introduction: My name is Saturnina Altenwerth DVM, I am a witty, perfect, combative, beautiful, determined, fancy, determined person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
