Flour

Types of Flour

There are lots of types of flour but for cake making wheat flour is used.

There are three types of wheat flour:

  1. All Purpose which has no leavening agent added to it
  2. Self-Raising Flour which has leavening agents added to it
  3. Cake Flour which also has leavening agents added to it.

You should use the flour stated in the recipe.

What you should know about Flour and Leavening

If the flour is already leavened then why add more? Because some of the other ingredients might counteract the leavening so more is needed.

What you should know about Flour and Gluten

Gluten (from the word “glue”) is formed from the proteins in wheat flour.  It gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and to keep its shape. It oftens gives the final product a chewy texture. You don’t want chewy when it comes to cakes so you need to be careful not only about which flour you use  but how you handle it.

All Purpose flour has 10-12% proteins and so it can produce more gluten than Self-Raising that has 8-9% proteins and Cake Flour which has only 6-8% proteins.

Over mixing will develop too much gluten in the flour and the result will be a tough cake. So this is why the mixing time is important.

If, as in the One Bowl method, the liquid is added after the butter and flour are combined, it reduces the gluten formation. The fat essentially coats the flour stopping the toughening action triggered by the liquid from taking place.

Making Glue from Flour

You can make glue by mixing All Purpose flour with water to make a paste.  It can be used to stick paper together.  A nice safe alternative for kids!

Posted by Annushka's Mum in