Questions for John Baricelli: Self-Rising Flour Substitute

It's Baking Week here at The Kitchn, and John Baricelli of the new PBS television show Everyday Baking asked us for your baking questions.

Remember we are also taking questions for Lisa Yockelson, who will answer your questions next week on baking with chocolate.

Here's the fourth of five readers' baking questions for John. Reader MMG asks:

Q. If you have regular cake flour on hand, but the recipe calls for self-rising cake flour, rather than run out to the store late at night when the baking bug bites, can you concoct something at home to substitute for it?

A: If you only had cake flour, you could add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of sifted cake flour.

You can also look in the back of the book Food Lovers Companion for other neat conversions.

Thanks John!

For more on pantry basics, including cake flour and baking powder, see these posts:

• Pantry Basics: What Is Cake Flour?
• Pantry Basics: What's the Difference Between Baking Soda and Baking Powder?
• Survey: Do You Sift Your Flour?
• Good Question: Pastry Flour vs. Cake Flour

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