Self-rising flour is pre-mixed with the leavener (baking powder) and salt. It's common in the South, Australia and the UK and is used here for things like biscuits and quick breads (think banana bread). Self-rising flour works in these recipes when they're mixed up and heat is applied. In other words, unlike a yeast-based recipe, nothing much happens until it's in the oven. It's not "authentic" pizza dough, and the flour is a bit softer, but there are quick handy recipes for pizza crust that do call for self-rising flour. Check out the link below. (There's also a crust with beer in it.) Carol Here is a link that might be useful: How to Make Pizza Dough with Self-Rising Flour

dedtired- Thank you for your kind words, but no, there's no blog or web site. I just hang out here and a couple other message boards, and food science is a long-time study and hobby of mine that is necessary as a Foods Judge at County Fairs. I have to be able to tell people what went right, wrong, or how to improve their skills and their finished products. Gold Medal All-Purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheat. Hard wheat provides enough protein to make a fairly good loaf of bread, and soft wheat so you can make a fairly good quick bread - but it's not the optimal choice for much of anything other than soft dinner rolls. There are better flour choices for yeast and naturally-leavened bread, pizza crust, bagels, hard rolls, etc., and better choices when you don't want a lot of gluten development - pastry, cookies, quick breads, cakes.... It wasn't until the advent of the bread machine in the 1980's that things like "high-gluten bread flour" and "vital wheat gluten" were even heard of for home use. All we had was all-purpose and an occasional find of whole wheat flour or rye flour (usually sold by hippies in a dark little whole foods or health food store - LOL). So we can thank that industry for giving us a broader choice of flour products. Today I work from a variety of over 30 different grains/seeds/beans for milling into flour and incorporating in our diet. bbstx- I grew up in the middle of wheat fields, so it's not surprising your dad knew what his wheat would be used for. Yes, soft red wheat is used in cake flour and also suited for cookies and some pastries, but it's a completely different variety of wheat from durum wheat. Most of the durum wheat produced in the United States is grown in North Dakota (76%), and some in Montana, South Dakota, and Minnesota and it's primary use is in pasta/spaghetti/macaroni but it's also used to make puffed breakfast cereals and wheat germ. The bran and germ are removed and the endosperm is coarsely milled into semolina flour, which we use most often for making pasta, although I have a few favorite recipes where I add it to yeast breads, but I mill my own using whole grain durum. When you mill your own flour and you forget which variety of wheat (hard or soft) you milled, all you have to do is rub it between your fingers. Hard wheat flour is fairly gritty while soft wheat feels more like talcum powder. -Grainlady

Happyday, I agree that you are overproofing your bread, probably. If you let it rise too high it will collapse on itself and you'll get that sunken lump. Ask me how I know. (grin) Ann T, I do bread dough overnight and it's good, I've done it up to two days in the fridge and it's good, but I keep it more than that I it seems to develop a flavor that I find similar to mild sourdough. Elery loves it, so he's always hoping that I don't have time to bake that dough, LOL. jasdip, you won't find a consistent yeast amount in bread recipes. Some have more and some have less, depending on the flavor the originator of the recipe was shooting for and liked. As has been mentioned, bread is simple and forgiving, you can use more yeast or less, you can use whole wheat or white or off brand flour, oil or butter or none, milk, water, coffee, whatever and it will usually come out just fine. I just made a loaf for Elery that took a cup of liquid, I used 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of Sriracha sauce, along with a bit of dry mustard and some black pepper. White whole wheat in place of all purpose. He loved it, I'm not even tempted to try it! I had seen a similar recipe on the internet, but I didn't feel like looking it up, so I made it from what passes for my memory and it was still just fine and an absolutely beautiful color. Annie

Annie - Yep, I'm gluten-free (3-years - gluten-intolerance, not celiac disease) but I still teach all kinds of classes, and do even more 1 on 1 mentoring through the Extension Office than classes these days (yeast and naturally-leavened bread, bread machine, grains and milling), just as I have for the past 25-years. I no longer judge foods at fairs due to gluten-intolerance, but I still train new judges. Even though I have eliminated gluten, I still mill my own flour when I make wheat-based baked goods (or other gluten-containing grains) for the rest of the family or visiting guests, as well as milling my own gluten-free flours from a variety of grains/seeds/beans. I just don't make 100% whole wheat bread nearly every week like I did before going gluten-free. I'm busy making all our gluten-free breads and baked goods now, as well as still developing sorghum recipes for a local mill. About your bread challenges.... These may be some reasons why you have so much trouble using home-milled flour. The type of wheat you purchased, the fineness of the milled flour (fine flour = fine bread - coarse flour = coarse bread), or failure to add an acid to the dough (1/8 t. ascorbic acid powder per loaf) to counteract the damage to the gluten from Glutathione found in wheat germ (which leads to short squatty loaves with a coarse grain). My panned loaves of enriched 100% whole wheat bread are as high-rising and nearly as fine a texture as white bread - but that didn't happen until I started using the sponge method and adding ascorbic acid. If you are using a straight dough method (best suited for white bread and light wheat using commercial bleached/unbleached flours - a more modern method designed for making bread quickly), instead of using an old-fashioned sponge method (which is best suited for wholegrain flours), that may be a contributing factor as well. Some of the heirloom wheat varieties, when freshly-milled into wholegrain flour, require 2-day processes for making good bread - usually due to the low amount of gluten in these old varieties. Remember, before the 1870's and the advent of hard red winter wheat being grown in Kansas, all wheat, and the milled flour, was from soft wheat varieties. So -- soft wheat can be used for making bread, it just won't be the high-rising loaves of bread made in an hour in a bread machine, and there are older technics used. I've also done tests for a mill that had hard winter wheat with a 16% protein level (which is very high), and you have to knead it nearly forever to get that much protein developed when using a straight dough method - but it's a cinch when you use a soaked flour method, and you need very little kneading. My knowledge is from years of training as a foods judge at fairs using judging standards for what characteristics are considered "best" for the baked goods being judged; and knowing the science after years of classes and study about wheat/flour, and other grains, and baking characteristics. You have to be equally as informed as to what is right as to what went wrong when you judge. It's not just about what "looks" good. These are also based on industry standards from restaurants to commercial bakeries. You probably won't see a pizza place using all-purpose flour, it's the wrong standard for pizza dough - BUT - you can make pizza dough with all-purpose flour - it's just not the optimum flour choice. Knowing the science really IS the difference between good and best when using judging standards. Personal preference aside. -Grainlady