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.

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.

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.
http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/re...ecipe_2633.asp

The texture reminds me a bit of shortbread cookies. I guess it's the
cornstarch. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep searching for the
perfect 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.


--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral, 48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

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:
http://www.pillsburybaking.com/prodP...aq.aspx?id=203

http://www.luzianne.com/template_buy...D=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.