Nigella Lawson swears by this trick to make self-raising flour from plain flour
If you’re in the market for self-raising flour, but only have plain, there is a little something you can do.
Did you know that, if you add baking powder to plain flour, it will work just as well as self-raising flour? Yup – it’s true. And Nigella Lawson swears by it. In fact, she never bothers buying self-raising flour. She simply has plain flour and baking powder in her lavish larder, and if a recipe requires self-raising flour, she DIYs it.
But how much baking powder to add, that is the question.
According to Nigella, 2 tsp of baking powder for each 150g of flour will do it.
On Nigella’s website, when a fan asked how to make self-raising flour at home, the response from someone who works for her was:
“Nigella tends not to use self-raising flour in her more recent books as she doesn't bother to keep both plain (all-purpose) and self-raising flour. Partly as keeping just one type of flour saves on storage space and partly as if you don't use self-raising flour regularly then it will lose its raising power over time.
“It is fairly easy to make your own self-raising flour. Just add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each 150g/6oz/1 cup plain flour. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl before using, to make sure the baking powder is thoroughly distributed (or you can put both ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together).
“If you are baking with cocoa, yogurt or buttermilk then add 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) as well as the baking powder as generally these ingredients need a little extra leavening boost.”
Go forth and bake ultra-light, springy cakes and breads!
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