How to make value/basic plain flour work like premium/branded flour for baking cakes and pastries

The new season of the Great British Bake Off has just started, so baking season is in full swing. I am sure a lot of us would be baking a lot now and also as we go into the winter months. One thing I have learned though with the amount of baking I do is the difference between using branded  flours like McDougalls or Homepride and Asda/Tesco value/basic brands. I have used both the premium and value brand in my baking and the premium brand do give a light bake every time and the flour is more finely milled. I am sure this is part of why there is such a difference in price.A 1.1kg bag of premium  McDougalls plain flour cost on average £1.50 another premium brand Homepride retails at about £1.50 for 1kg bag  of plain flour.

On the other hand value/store brand plain flour retails for between 45p and 60p for 1.5kg this is on the average a 68% price difference.

Well the difference is mainly the milling process and that the premium brands have also been pre-sieved, but you can still get brilliant results in your baking with value/basic store brand flour and also save yourself some money in the process.

To get the lightness that makes premium brand flours perform so well in cakes and bakes, the key is to sieve the flour I would say at least three times, also ensure if you are adding other dry ingredients like salt, baking powder, cocoa powder or baking soda these are also passed through the sieve so they are evenly distributed.

So what you would do is measure out your flour, add the other dry ingredients as required (Salt, Baking powder, Cocoa powder or Baking soda) and pass through a sieve and repeat the process three times. This will ensure your bakes come out light and tender.

So let the baking begin!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers Ade