Food & Drink Nigella Lawson swears by this trick to make self-raising flour from plain flour

© Getty Getty If you’re in the market for self-raising flour, but only have plain, there is a little something you can do.

Did you know that, if you add baking powder to plain flour, it will work just as well as self-raising flour? Yup – it’s true. And Nigella Lawson swears by it. In fact, she never bothers buying self-raising flour. She simply has plain flour and baking powder in her lavish larder, and if a recipe requires self-raising flour, she DIYs it.

© Giphy How To Make Plain Flour Into Self-Raising Flour

But how much baking powder to add, that is the question.

Gallery: Food hacks 33 famous names swear by (Lovefood)

Nigella Lawson's storecupboard peri-peri chicken recipe will be a huge hit with kids

Nigella Lawson's storecupboard peri-peri chicken recipe will be a huge hit with kidsLooking to Nigella Lawson – queen of the elaborate, butter-stuffed dish – for practical recipe tips wouldn't usually be our first port of call in this instance. But, after revealing some seriously smart quarantine cooking advice to Emily Maitlis on the BBC’s The Coronavirus Podcast, the celebrity chef has once again proved her food expertise invaluable.

Self - raising flour goes off much more quickly than plain (cream) flour . Avoid this by buying only plain (cream) flour and adding one teaspoon of baking powder per 4 ozs/approx 100g of flour where self - raising flour is We'll use this to make informed decisions about future website improvements.

Monday, 27 April 2020 If You Can’t Get Hold Of Self - Raising Flour , You Can Make It With Plain Flour And Baking Powder | Yellow Woman Nigella Lawson swears

On Nigella’s website, when a fan asked how to make self-raising flour at home, the response from someone who works for her was:

© Getty Food ingredients and kitchen utensils for cooking on wooden background “Nigella tends not to use self-raising flour in her more recent books as she doesn't bother to keep both plain (all-purpose) and self-raising flour. Partly as keeping just one type of flour saves on storage space and partly as if you don't use self-raising flour regularly then it will lose its raising power over time

“It is fairly easy to make your own self-raising flour. Just add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each 150g/6oz/1 cup plain flour. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl before using, to make sure the baking powder is thoroughly distributed (or you can put both ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together).

“If you are baking with cocoa, yogurt or buttermilk then add 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) as well as the baking powder as generally these ingredients need a little extra leavening boost.”

Go forth and bake ultra-light, springy cakes and breads!