I wanted to try making an Angel food cake. The recipe calls for "cake
flour". I scoured 3 supermarkets near me including Whole foods but was
unable to find it. I found "Pastry Flour" is this the same?
I never realized there were so many types of flour!
Thanks!
Cake flour is very low in gluten forming proteins. It is always(?) bleached
and finely milled. The pH is low because of the bleaching. All this
combines to give a tender crumb. Pastry flour can be white or whole wheat,
is not as finely ground, and can be bleached or not. It is higher in
protein than cake flour. All purpose is yet higher in protein.
Cake flour is sold in 2 pound boxes and is usually stocked in an
inconvenient location because it isn't a big seller. If you weren't looking
for a BOX of flour, you may have missed it. In a pinch, you can replace two
tablespoons of AP flour with corn starch, for each cup of flour specified.
Every supermarket in my area carries cake flour. Soft as Silk and Swan's
Down are the two brand I'm familiar with.
For an angel food cake, I would try for the cake flour.
On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 00:26:02 GMT, "Vox Humana"
wrote:
It all depends on where the original poster lives. In Canada (where we
have Whole Foods stores) I've never, ever seen any kind of flour --
cake or otherwise -- sold in a box. In the States or the U.K. (where
they also have Whole Foods stores) who knows? While I've shopped in
lots of American grocery stores, I've never gone looking for baking
supplies.
Here cake flour is generally sold in smaller bags (I can't recall the
exact measure and since I happen to be out at the moment -- it's on
the list for tomorrow's shop). I've used both Monarch and Red Rose
with equal success. It usually depends on which grocery store I'm in
which brand I find, but most grocery stores here do sell some type of
cake flour.
--Vic
On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 01:53:47 GMT, "Vox Humana"
wrote:
I must admit, that I didn't backtrace the OP's address. I just glanced
up and saw the Hotmail portion. I know lots of Canucks with Hotmail
accounts, so I don't assume one way or the other where the person
lives.
I probably would have paid more attention to the e-mail, but I had to
check the cookies I had in the oven. I am trying out a new chocolate
chip recipe so I didn't quite trust the suggested baking time.
As for the cookies, I don't think I'm too impressed.
formatting link
texture reminds me a bit of shortbread cookies. I guess it's thecornstarch. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep searching for theperfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. --Vic
Thanks for all your help. Yes, I'm in the NYC area. Where did you look that
up by the way?
No you're right, I wasn't looking for a box of flour. I'll check again
tomorrow.
Thanks!
If you right-click on the message and open the "Properties" box (or some
equivalent if you are using a reader other than Outlook), the NTTP posting
address will be listed. If you open a DOS window and enter the command
"tracert" followed by the IP address (i.e. tracert 192.168.1.1) it will
trace each hop from your computer to the IP address listed. There are also
websites such as samspade.org or tracert.com where you can enter an IP
address and get a whois or tracert.
This is what you should be looking for at the supermarket:
On 27 Jul 2005 08:23:18 -0700
I buy my cake flour in 4lb bags from a boutique store run by the local
mill.
I'd love to try their hard white or hard red single variety flours, for
bread, but they only sell *those in 80lb bags, and I'm just not that
interested.
The boutique store is lousy with "mixes" and deeply encrusted with
raffia and frilly cloth bits. I believe i am not part of their target
market.
Hi Giz-
It may be located near the cake mixes, as opposed to with the other
flours, sugars etc. Here in the US it's in boxes.
The standard substitute I have always heard is remove 2 TB from 1 cup
of all purpose flour. AP flour has more gluten than cake flour, which
with mixing adds body to things like bread, something you don't want in
an angle food cake.
I believe pastry flour is a finer milled flour than AP and that cake
flour is finer milled than pastry. And in some instances the terms
pastry flour and cake flour are used interchangeably.
I haven't made an Angel food cake in years but since your goal, I
believe, is to deflate your egg whites as little as possible you'll
want to barely incorporate the flour, so there's not much chance for
the mixing to develop the gluten anyway.
Also, there's no fat to "carry the flavor". So go for truly fresh,
organic eggs that have real flavor, and use real extracts if you're
adding them. The cake is so "simple" you want the best ingredients.
There really are differences in flour taste as well. I'm a bread baker
and there's definitely a difference in the finished product using brand
X AP flour compared to something like King Arthur. Keeps it
interesting !
-Marylouise
in SF Bay
Vox Humana wrote on 26 Jul 2005 in rec.food.baking
In Canada it comes in bags...If you're not going to use it up
fast...store in the freezer for best results.
Thank you very much for all your help. Unfortunately with the hot humid
weather in the NY area lately, I didn't get a chance to go to the
supermarket. Even if I did, I probably wouldn't want to turn the oven on in
this weather! At least I'll know what to look for tomorrow.
I am using Outlook Express so i can't see the info you're referring to but
it's good to know/
Thanks again!
You might want ask someone at the grocery store if they stock cake flour.
A good store should be able to tell you if they have it but are just
currently out. I find it surprising you cannot find it anywhere. I'm
assuming the 3 supermarkets were owned by different companies. If the
parent company is the same then you might find they all stock the same
thing. For example, I'd try a Loblaws, Dominion, No Frills and Whole Foods
Market. Between the four all always find what I'm looking for.
I have used flour for "cake & pastry" and it worked out well. I'd guess
that pastry flour should work okay for you.
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