What is multi purpose flour?

Answer 1

It is plain flour, but with a medium gluten content.

Flour can have a high gluten content - (strong flour) and this sort of flour is best for bread making, or a low gluten content in which case it is best for pastry and cakes (if you add baking powered to low gluten flour - this is sold as self raising flour).

A multi purpose flour will have a medium gluten content and thus can be used for both bread and cake baking it is a compromise product.

Answer 2

This is not really a question. What's the difference? Can you substitute one for the other? When to use one or the other? Self rising already has the leavening agent in it and you really can't switch the two. Most recipes have 1 teaspoon of baking powder to 1 cup of flour. On that basis, you could use regular flour in place of self rising and shouldn't have a problem as long as you add the baking powder.

Answer 3

Multi-purpose or all-purpose flour is flour that is suitable for all uses, including pastries, cakes and bread. Other flours are formulated for specific uses. Cake flour would have lower proportion of gluten while bread flour has a higher proportion of gluten.

Answer 4

If a recipe calls for flour with no mention in the recipe for salt or baking powder then you can use self-rising