Why buy plain flour?

[starkadder]

My MIL tells me that you can make everything which requires flour (including pastry, white sauce, etc) with self raising flour, and that there is no point having plain flour in the cupboard at all.

She says the only people who still use plain flour use it because they are romantics nostalgic for bygone days.

I am not too sure about this. I have plain flour and add baking powder when necessary, firstly because I live in Spain where self raising is hard to come by and secondly because my kitchen is quite small and I don't want to use up all the cupboard space with 2 types of flour.

Opinions please!

what about things that you don't want to rise? like biscuits?

I feel the same way about self raising flour - never buy it. I have only plain flour and add baking powder if needed. Not all my recipes call for self raising anyway.

i used plain flour for yorkshire puds, pancake batter, other batters etc etc

Plain flour is better for Yorkshire puddings, play-dough, pancakes, gravy, white sauces, some biscuits, roux pastry

I really wouldn't use SR for them

I use plain flower for yorkshire puddings and pancakes . Apparently SR flour just don't do it, even though the yorkshires 'rise'

SR is for cakes and the like isn't it?

You can tell I bake alot

I was always lead to believe that plain flour with baking powder added makes SR flour or is the same thing

your MIL is talking rubbish.

If I'm making a white sauce or gravy, I don't want raising agents in it, if I'm making pancakes I don't, same for pizza dough, nann bread, pita bread, flour for dusting chicken/fish, bread dough, all sorts actually.

Shinyshoes yorkshires don't rise because of the raising agent, a different magic works on them to get them to rise!

exactly! that is what I said. What about biscuits etc which you don't want to rise? And she just said "No, it is NO problem whatsoever, and I know because my grandfather was a master baker."

PS thank you all. Anyone else who also agrees with me welcome to say so too, haha! Although I am genuinely interested to hear if there is anyone who agrees with HER. She also said that no-one in Britain would bother buying plain flour any more (there was an American present during the conversation). Again,

I think she has it the wrong way around. There are lots of uses for plain flour that are not to do with baking for example I use it to thicken casseroles and make sauces-I haven't tried with sr flour but I don't think it would be suitable. You don't want shortcrust pastry to rise. There is no need to buy self raising flour, it is only plain with a raising agent mixed in and you can do it yourself by adding baking powder.

I tried self-raising flour pancakes one Shrove Tuesday when we'd run out of plain flour...the resluts were not pleasant

that's what I said, PiscesMoon, but she was most vehement about it being PLAIN flour that was outdated and unnecessary...

I think she was just being argumentative actually...

I think she has got it the wrong way around... I use Plain Flour, not Self-Raising (that's for sponge cakes only IMHO).

Cheese sauce made with SR flour is horrible, had to do that once when ran out of plain flour. Never again!

Agree starkadder. I'd rather just have plain flour and add baking powder to make SR.

Same here. If I were only allowed one type of flour it would plain.

Is she a good cook? I'm just curious about the end product.

No, not really... well, I have never seen her cook anything with flour from scratch.

I think she can be discounted then! She doesn't know what she is talking about! Ask her to make a white sauce with sr flour and you will have proved her wrong.

I only really buy plain tbh. She's being daft!

no she is wrong
self raising flour is for cakes
plain flour is foe everything else
and don't even try to make playdough with SR flour!
it's like an explosion in a bread making factory

haha! I love mumsnet. Thanks everyone

She's definitely wrong. What a nut. Like everyone else here, I wouldn't mind only having plain flour and adding a raising agent where necessary but there are loads of things I couldn't make with SR flour.

She is wrong.

My grandfather designed machines that made tools. I know nothing about engineering.

i have never bought self raising flour.