Baking Bread with Self-Raising Flour: Can it be Done?

[FAC51]

Hi everyone,

Help.

I've lots of fast acting yeast but the shops have been stripped of flour, strong flour etc.

I've loads of self raising flour. Can I use this to bake a basic white loaf?

Please help

 

[MixUp]

While someone, somewhere out there might have some trick of deactivating the baking soda (just let it sit while wet?) self raising flour is flour with baking soda in the mix already. It has its own chemical leavening - it's not what you'd leven for yeast.

Quick breads would work, and soda bread (just in time for St. Patricks day....sort of.) would work. Southern biscuits wouldn't make you a typical sandwich but it gives you a bread that would work. If you're not in the US, biscuits are a type of soda leavened "roll" type bread - not "cookies" as it would be in UK English. If you're in the US South and that's why you have an abundance of self rising flour to begin with, then you know what to look for.

But for yeast bread, I can't say I've heard of how throwing baking soda into the mix would affect things. I'd think the elevated pH would starve the yeast.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi everyone,

Help.

I've lots of fast acting yeast but the shops have been stripped of flour, strong flour etc.

I've loads of self raising flour. Can I use this to bake a basic white loaf?

Please help

You could probably Get away with making rolls, but a loaf would be so so.

British self rising flour has a significant amount of leavening in it. But that’s only part of the problem. The protein content is about 9%, which is suited to pastry flour rather than bread flour.

American self rising flour is bleached, soft wheat so it is also about 9% protein. While it has less leavening, it contains salt. It is blended primarily to make biscuits. Between the low protein, leavening and salt it is not suited for bread.