What do you do when you haven’t got any self raising flour – you make your own! Well that’s what I had to do the other day when I had a craving for another batch of these yummy scones and I realised that I didn’t have enough self raising flour left! I had plenty of plain flour in the pantry but no self raising flour. I was sure that I had heard of some way of turning plain flour into self raising flour!
So I jumped on the computer and searched for a solution. As it turns out I didn’t have to search for very long. There are quite a few baking sites that discuss making self raising flour (also know as self rising flour)! I ended up on nigella.com and found it gave a good explanation (see here).
I keep quite a bit of plain flour on hand because I use a lot of it but often I will run out of self raising flour. It’s so annoying when you get your heart set on making something but you find that you have run out of the flour that you need!
How to Make Your Own Self Raising Flour
It turns out that you only need to add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each cup of plain flour that you use. You also need to blend them together well to ensure that the baking powder is evenly mixed through the plain flour. You can do this by giving the two a good whisk or by sifting the two together. If you live in the US then you also need to add ½ teaspoon of salt per cup of flour. This will ensure that the homemade self raising flour is the same as the store bought flour.
Now that I know this I don’t have to stress so much about ensuring that I have the right flour before I start baking. You could even stop buying self raising flour and just make your own as you need it if you wanted to!
This is such a handy baking tip to know, I can’t believe that I haven’t looked it up before now!
Hi, I'm Kaylene, and I'm a keen gardener,budding baker and wannabe DIYer!
I often make my own self-raising flour but I’ve been known to buy it if I’m making a heap of recipes calling for it. Great post.
Thanks Maureen, I can’t believe that I didn’t know how easy it was to make until now!
I’ve been making my own for years. I make a 10 liter bucket at a time.
That’s a great idea Charlene, and it would be a money saver too because you can’t buy SR flour in bulk at the supermarket. Not where I live anyway! 🙂
How many tsp of baking powder would be used for 1kg of flour?
Hi Rashi, you would need around 13 teaspoons of baking powder for 1kg of flour.
i’ve been making mine for years now but i find if you add a tablespoon of cornflour to each cup of flour then your cakes come together better but pastries turn out flakier
Thanks for commenting Violet, I’m going to have to try adding some cornflour to mine next time!
Do you mean cornstarch?
Hi Connie, I can’t speak for Violet, but here in Australia cornstarch is often referred to as cornflour. I think it’s just one of those funny international differences!
Another old recipe for your own SR flour:
for each cup of plain flour add 1 teaspoon bi carb soda and 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. pinch salt
Sift thoroughly.
Thanks for the suggestion Leona!
My Mom used this recipe all my life. She baked everything under the sun. Always turned out delicious.
Can you use whole wheat flour and came with the same results?
thanks
Hi Linda, I haven’t tried making whole wheat self raising flour this way but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. I’m sure I’ve read about others who have used the same method with wholemeal and wheat flour – so I’m pretty sure it would work!
Hi would bread flour be submitted
Hi Doreen, yes I’m sure you could use this method with bread flour!
How much baking powder for each cup of flour. I’m in Canada so would I use salt and if so how much per cup of flour?
I’ve never seen self rising flor in any super markets here.
Hi Lynda, I use 2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of flour. You can also add some salt if you wish, around 1/4 teaspoon of salt per cup of flour.
Thank you for replying. I didn’t really expect an answer. Great information.