Heat treated flour - cakes aren't raising as much? Help!

[helpmebake]

So I need some advice really. Im no professional baker but do enjoy making cakes. I recently bought a heat treated flour so it's safe for when my daughter makes cakes with me (she can eat the raw mixture) but I've noticed the cakes don't rise as well. I'm following recipes exactly as they are and using a sieve for the flour too. Does anyone have any tips? Do I need to add baking powder or add extra flour? I've tried googling but there's just hundreds of pages on how to heat treat flour!

Following as I’m having the same issue with floor that’s been frozen (to kill weevil eggs)

Off topic slightly, but why is it you need heat-treated flour because of your DD? What harm is it supposed to be eliminating?
Not actually heard of heat-treated flour & I'm a regular baker.

@APurpleSquirrel flour that isn't heat treated is raw so it can contain salmonella, ecoli etc. whilst this is probably rare as I've eaten cake mix my whole life and not been sick, but since I've heard raw flour can cause food poisoning.. there's no way I could let my daughter eat it!

Add a teaspoon of baking powder next time- if it doesn't make a difference go back to regular and don't eat the raw mix.

I've been a pro baker for 15 years and I don't let my kids 'lick the bowl' when we make cakes. Eat the finished cakes or lick the icing bowl. Eating raw cake mix is unnecessary.

Thanks - most of the information I found related to the FDA in the US, so maybe UK flour is more rigorously tested?
Personally it doesn't bother me - I'd be more concerned about raw egg (but then I can remember being shit scared by the whole egg-salmonella Edwina Curry scare in the 80s).
If you feel you need to do that, then do it, it's your child - but I'd hazard that heat-treated flour isn't usual in the UK & most people won't have much experience of using it.
Plus your child will likely put much worse things in their mouth as they get older than some uncooked dough/batter but hey, you do you.

@APurpleSquirrel ahh I am not too concerned about eggs as I use the red lion eggs! The heat treated flour is also great as the cakes don't crumble so easily and it makes them much sweeter. It's just raising I have an issue with :(

Is it self-raising flour or plain flour - what does the packet actually say?

The risk of food poisoning from flour is much higher than from eggs.

@MidnightOnceMore it doesn't actually say which is really frustrating. It just says it's perfect for cakes!

In that case I'd assume it's plain flour & requires a raising agent. Have you tried that?

Well I've learnt something new today. Why is flour more likely to contain e-coli or salmonella vs, say, fruit or veg. Does it spread on all grains? I've googled but I'm not sure whether it's a U.S thing over UK. Storage?

Well, every day’s a school day! Who knew? 50 years of licking the bowl and no ill-effects here.

Do we know the relative risks in terms of likelihood? Like how many cases of food poisoning in the Uk are traced to flour each year?

@hermioneee you and me both, I just googled, it does stem from a US outbreak https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42236702

I don't know how I feel about this, I always lick the whisk after making cakes, always have done.

I think you're using plain flour - so yes just add baking powder.

I always licked the bowl as a kid, of course, but don't any longer.

Statistically the vast majority of people who eat raw batter don't get ill, but obviously those who don't eat raw batter have even better odds!

I will try another cake this weekend and add a little baking powder and see if that helps I also had no idea that you could get sick from it! I have eaten raw flour my whole life but now I know it's possible (I developed contamination OCD after the birth of my daughter and a fear of food poisoning in pregnancy) I'd rather stick to heat treated flour for when my DD sticks her hand in the mix!

1 teaspoon for every 75g flour was the ratio I learnt at school.

If you remember report back as I'm interested!

@MidnightOnceMore thank you very much! That's helpful to know so I will let you know if it works!

If it doesn't say self raising then it's plain flour and needs either baking powder/baking soda depending on recipe. Check ingredient list on bag, it would list a raising agent if there is one in there but highly unlikely if not labelled as self raising.

So I tried basic fairy cakes tonight with a teaspoon of baking powder and my cakes have raised perfectly!

Just FYI Op, you can heat treat normal flour yourself at home. Really easy and simple, you basically just microwave it or heat it in a dry frying pan.
Might save you some money if the heat treated stuff was more expensive.

I only heat treat flour when I make cookie dough and freeze it because then the kids can eat it raw like the little balls in the ice cream tubs.