Cake flour?

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

OP's address traced to NY, so my advice was based on my experience in the USA.

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. 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!

Swans Down is one brand name and comes in a red box. The other brand is Softasilk. Haven't bought that recently.

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: ?ProductID=47900-13010&

ask at your supermarket customer service desk.
In some supermarkets that have their own bakery you can get bulk flour from the bakery.

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.