Self raising flour was invented by a British baker, Henry Jones, in an attempt to make better bread for sailors. We still have it in the UK and I never trust it, always adding baking powder anyway to cakes. We have plain flour for pastry and sauces and then bread flour (higher gluten) for bread. I always have three flours in my cupboard.

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Jolter 2 days ago | parent [-]

I keep four to six flours in my pantry, but none of them contain additives like baking powder. It’s so trivial to add the appropriate amount when it’s called for, I have trouble understanding why self-rising flour would be a popular product.

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forgotusername6 2 days ago | parent [-]

What are your flour varieties?

	▲	Jolter a day ago \| parent [-]
		We're getting off-topic, but let's nerd on baking! Right now: - All-purpose (the trade term sifted/sieved/filtered wheat) - Bread flour (same but higher protein content, in this case it's just a different variety of wheat. Some brand use additives like added gluten.) - Whole grain wheat. I just ran out of regular but I have whole-grain emmer on hand that I can substitute. Anything with gluten and full-grain will do the job, it's usually only 10-20% of a bread anyway. - Spelt (sifted) - Whole-grain rye (fine-milled, for something like a French country rye bread or Finnish rye) - Whole grain rye (course milled, for pumpernickel type breads or Danish rye) - Durum (for ciabatta and pasta) - 50/50 mix of sifted rye and wheat, a local specialty called "rågsikt". You can't usually get sifted rye except mixed with wheat so for some fine rye breads you need this mixture. For sweet Scandinavian type breads using syrup.