Flour has been used for cooking for many years. Anyone experienced chef it is known that for different dishes You can use your own special kind of flour. It will differ in properties and features.
There is a flour that is used for everything, it can be found in every store and almost everyone is familiar with it. Of course, it also has its pros and cons, so if you decide to bake one dish and buy ingredients for it in advance, it is better to use flour that is suitable for this. But in the kitchen of every housewife there is a bag wheat flour from which you can cook any dish.
Pancakes are considered traditional Russian food. Should I use pancake flour for them or can I use regular flour? Let's consider.
Wheat (regular) flour
Ordinary flour is produced from two types of wheat, after which two subspecies are obtained. pasta and bakery. For pasta, hard, high-glassy wheat is used, and for baking, soft wheat is used. So the usual and most popular flour is considered baking. 
Wheat flour is:
- wallpaper. It contains bran, so products with its use are enriched with fiber and B vitamins.
- The highest grade, there is little gluten in such flour, it is used for rich products and as a thickener for sauce. 54.1 norm of whiteness units.
- First grade. It contains a lot of gluten and is used for lean baked goods. 36 is the norm of units of whiteness.
- Second grade. It contains slightly less bran than in wallpaper flour. Bread is baked from it. 12 is the norm of units of whiteness.
Flour is made from wheat grain, which contains a lot of useful substances for the human body. Its grade is determined by the fineness of grinding. The higher the grade of flour, the less useful substances it retains and its color becomes whiter. If the color of the flour gives off a bluish tint, it means that weed seeds are present in it. The shelf life of the product is not more than one year.
Bad flour is considered if it forms lumps. To check the expiration date, in addition to the instructions on the package, if possible, you can rub the flour with dry, clean fingers. If you hear a creak - the flour is good, if it starts to stick together - stale.
This type of flour is a ready-made mixture for baking pancakes, so it saves time because it already has the necessary components. To use it, you just need to add water, and detailed instructions how to dilute it is indicated on the package. Different manufacturers, at their discretion, add ingredients and their quantity, but the basis of the components does not change:
- Salt, sugar.
- Baking powder or soda.
- Wheat flour.
- Milk dry whey.
- Egg powder.
The calorie content of the pancake mixture will be 336 kcal. It contains coarse wheat flour. In order to dilute the mixture, you need milk or water room temperature. After adding the liquid, everything should be mixed with a mixer or whisk until a homogeneous mass is formed. Immediately after cooking, you can start baking pancakes.
To check the quality of flour, you can taste it, fresh flour will have a sweetish aftertaste, and expired flour will be bitter. If the cooked pancakes are torn, then the mixture is not stirred enough. In this case, you should mix it again, and then try cooking again.
What do pancake flour and regular flour have in common?
The composition of pancake flour contains ordinary flour, so they have a few differences. Using wheat flour and adding ingredients to it, you can prepare the same pancake mixture. The benefits and taste of pancakes will not differ if you use pancake flour or regular flour with the addition of natural ingredients.
The main difference between pancake and ordinary flour
In order to cook delicious pancakes and do not bother yourself with the number of proportions of ingredients, pancake flour is perfect. And in this she can not be compared with the usual.
Novice cooks, who have little experience and knowledge, do not immediately succeed in preparing the right mixture for pancakes from ordinary flour. Even doing everything clearly according to the instructions of the recipe, it is not always possible to achieve the desired result. Pancake flour guarantees delicious and fluffy pancakes because it contains ready-made all the necessary ingredients in the right proportions.
Your dish with ready-made pancake flour will turn out faster. This will save a lot of time and effort. From this dough, you can also bake pancakes, cake, cookies and other baking products. If you use regular flour, the cooking time will increase.
The composition of pancake flour contains egg powder and dry milk mixture. In this form, products are stored much longer than natural milk or eggs, and chemical composition and benefits are no different. If you cook pancakes not at home, so as not to spend money on a large number of products, you can save money and buy pancake flour. If you use wheat, you will have to purchase all the necessary ingredients.
The two products differ in price. Since pancake flour is already a ready-made mixture, it costs more than usual. There are different manufacturers and prices. It is the manufacturer who decides what composition the pancake flour will have. Using wheat, you can prepare the mixture to your taste.
Not all dishes are equally suitable for pancake flour. If you use flour as a breading, thickener, it is better to use wheat flour for casseroles. A specialized pancake to use for baking and pancakes.
How much does pancake flour cost (average price per 1 kg.)?
Moscow and Moscow region
Pancakes are considered an indispensable attribute of the Russian national culinary tradition. From ancient times, such a dish as pancakes was customary to cook as special occasions and public holidays and use in your daily diet. We think that many domestic housewives traditionally bake pancakes for Maslenitsa, which are also an ancient Russian symbol of the sun.
In cooking, pancakes are understood as a food product that is made from liquid dough, which is placed in a pan and fried. As mentioned earlier, the correct rounded shape of pancakes is not accidental and symbolizes the heavenly body, which our ancestors worshiped. But indeed, the shape and color of pancakes resembles the sun.
Pancakes are served to the table as an independent dish. In addition, pancakes are stuffed various fillings, and also use the product as a filling in the preparation stuffed fish as well as birds. Researchers argue that pancakes can be easily attributed to one of the most ancient culinary products, which people began to cook in the prehistoric period of the development of human civilization.
In the national culinary traditions of many peoples, you can easily find recipes different types pancakes. For example, in France, they are very popular thin pancakes, which are fried, as a rule, only on one side and stuffed with both sweet and meat or fish fillings. Pancakes are baked in Europe, as well as in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Usually, for stuffing pancakes, such types of fillings are used as: meat or minced fish, as well as vegetables, fish caviar, mushrooms, chicken eggs, cheese, fruits, berries, condensed milk, honey, chocolate, caramel, sour cream and so on. For baking pancakes, they use both homemade batter and ready-made dry mix or the so-called pancake flour.
Composition of pancake flour
Pancake flour is a ready-made culinary mixture that is used to make pancakes. The composition of pancake flour includes almost the same ingredients that housewives use to make batter. However, in the composition of pancake flour instead of fresh chicken eggs using egg powder. In addition, in addition to wheat flour and egg powder, salt, sugar, baker's defect and whey powder are added to pancake flour.
In order to end up with delicious pancakes from pancake flour, manufacturers of ready-made culinary mixtures use high-quality wheat flour, and always whole-ground. It is believed that ordinary refined wheat flour of the highest grade does not give such excellent results. The use of pancake flour significantly reduces the hostess' time spent on making pancakes.
Delicious pancakes can be baked both from plain flour and from a special one, which has the appropriate name "pancake". But the cooking process in each case will occur in different ways. To understand all the intricacies, let's find out how pancake flour differs from ordinary flour.
Definition
pancake flour- a product consisting of ordinary flour and special additives.
pancake flour packaging
regular flour- powdered grains of wheat, rice, rye and other crops.
Comparison
So, let's pay closer attention to the composition of both products. After all, it is in the components contained that the difference between pancake flour and ordinary flour lies. Special pancake flour is made in such a way that it requires only the addition of water to obtain ready dough. It already contains eggs (in the form of a powder), and sugar with salt, and soda (baking powder), with which the pastries are lush. And to make pancakes even tastier, you can dilute such flour with milk, as well as kefir. All proportions are indicated on one side of the package.
regular flour But if the hostess is going to use for frying pancakes plain flour, she will have to dose and add all the necessary ingredients to the dough on her own. However, sometimes situations arise when there is really not enough time for this. For example, in case of an unexpected appearance on the doorstep of guests or if you want to quickly serve something delicious for a family breakfast. At such moments, pancake flour will come in handy. By the way, a more homogeneous dough is obtained using a mixer.
Despite its name, pancake flour is suitable not only for frying ruddy pancakes, but also for preparing other culinary products. So, by kneading the dough thicker, you can bake wonderful pancakes from it. In addition, from pancake flour, if certain ingredients are added to it, delicious cookies, pies and even cakes.
Also, having this special flour at hand, you can treat yourself and those around you with mouth-watering lush pies. In this case, the pancake mixture is diluted with kefir until a dough of the appropriate consistency is obtained. For the filling, chopped cabbage and onion are stewed in a pan with butter, to which chopped boiled egg. The formed pies are laid out in a pan and fried until cooked.
Thus, knowing what is the difference between pancake and ordinary flour, you can decide what exactly to buy, intending to cook it again.
Pancake flour can be found in any large store, however, not every cook uses it in the kitchen. What kind of product is this and how does special flour for pancakes differ from ordinary flour - let's try to figure it out.
? 6 differences between pancake flour and regular flour
- It contains all the ingredients for making pancakes: wheat flour, salt and sugar, soda, egg powder, whey powder.
- The cost is significantly higher.
- It has a lower calorie content (336 kcal versus 364 kcal).
- Cooking from it is much easier and faster, since the mixture only needs to be diluted with water or milk.
- Not universal.
- Short shelf life, 6-12 months.
You can determine the quality of the product by taste. If the expiration date expires, it will be slightly bitter.
Contrary to popular belief, pancakes made from a special mixture of useful substances are no less. The taste of the dishes is the same.
What are the similarities between pancake flour and plain flour?
- You can knead the dough not only for pancakes, but also for other pastries. Before use, you need to carefully study the composition of the product and adjust the amount of ingredients.
- The structure of the products is almost the same. It takes the same amount of force to dissolve it in a liquid.
- Both types need to be sieved so that the dishes are airy.
Despite the fact that the pancake mixture is more expensive, the cost of cooking when using it remains lower (the baker does not have to buy more eggs, sugar and milk, which will significantly reduce the price).
Is it possible to cook pancakes on ordinary flour
It is most customary to cook from wheat flour, as our grandmothers and great-grandmothers did. This process may take longer, but it is still better and calmer when you can be sure of the composition of the product.
To the usual, you just need to add additional ingredients for making pancakes. simple recipes you will find at this link.
Available in stores different kinds flour: corn, barley, buckwheat, rice, wheat. The buyer understands that their difference is determined by the type of grain from which the product is prepared. In the case of pancake flour, such a stereotype does not work - after all, pancake flour is prepared not from pancakes, but for pancakes!
How is pancake flour different from regular flour?
Ordinary wheat flour is ground wheat grains. Pancake flour basically contains wheat flour. And besides it - other necessary components for baking pancakes:
- powdered milk;
- egg powder;
- salt;
- sugar;
- baking powder.
Pancake flour should contain only high quality ingredients that are carefully dosed for the best result.
Manufacturers claim that in terms of chemical composition and benefits, egg powder and milk powder are no different from natural products, but are stored much longer.
Advantages and disadvantages of pancake flour
It can be difficult for housewives who do not have experience and knowledge to cook good dough for baking pancakes. Even with handy ready recipe, it is not always possible to achieve the desired result. Using pancake flour will help you bake delicious and fluffy pancakes, because all the necessary ingredients are collected in it in the required proportions. In addition, the time for cooking the dish is reduced - you will not need to measure and mix the ingredients. Pancake flour is indispensable when going to nature or to the country - in the case of its use, there is no need to purchase and care for the storage of eggs, milk and other additives.
Pancake flour is a real lifesaver for busy housewives, because it allows you to significantly save time and effort on cooking homemade cakes.
The only downside is the higher cost of pancake flour compared to regular flour. But if you add to the cost of flour the price of others necessary ingredients for baking pancakes, the result will be an obvious benefit.
How to make pancakes with pancake flour
Pancake flour makes the most quick pancakes. Indeed, to prepare the dough, in addition to pancake flour, you will need ordinary water at room temperature:
- The liquid and the pancake mixture are mixed with a whisk or mixer until a homogeneous mass is formed.
- Next, scoop a small amount of the prepared mixture and evenly distribute it over the bottom of the heated pan.
- Bake for 1-2 minutes on each side.
- Remove the pancake from the pan and, if desired, grease it with oil, sprinkle with sugar, etc.
The manufacturer always indicates the amount of liquid needed on the package.
The recipe for making pancakes from pancake flour is carefully designed and tested by the manufacturer.
Many housewives dilute the pancake mixture not with water, but with milk. In this case, pancakes will turn out even tastier!
How to make pancake flour at home
Pancake flour is easy enough to make at home. For the preparation of the mixture traditionally used baking wheat flour of the highest quality. If desired, it can be combined with buckwheat, corn, barley flour. Thus, the composition is enriched with fiber, vitamins and minerals. For 0.5 kg of flour you will need:
- 40 g (or 4 tsp) egg powder;
- 3 art. spoons of powdered milk;
- 3 art. spoons of sugar;
- 3 teaspoons of baking powder (you can use regular baking soda);
- 1 teaspoon of salt.
All ingredients are combined, mixed and stored in a tightly closed container.
The best container for storing flour is glass or plastic.
Having ready-made pancake flour in stock, you will very quickly prepare breakfast for your family or present a stack of pancakes to unexpected guests, which can be stuffed at your discretion with cottage cheese, meat, cheese, vegetables or chopped fruit.
