Have you ever found yourself in the baking aisle, wondering what the difference between Bisquick vs. Self Rising Flour? If so, I'm here to help! Read on for all the information you need to know the difference between Bisquick and Self Rising Flour!
The baking aisle of most grocery stores can be a confusing place with all the different types of flour. You've got bread flour vs all purpose flour, self rising flour vs all purpose flour, and then you have cake flour, Bisquick mix, and gluten-free flour! It can be super confusing! I'm here to help you figure out what flour is best for your needs!
What is Self Rising Flour?
Self-rising flour (often called self-raising flour) is a type of flour that comes with the raising agents built-in. That means that the baking powder and salt are already mixed in. Basically, it's like an all-in-one package – flour with a little extra help to make your baked goods rise. It's made with a few simple ingredients that you probably have in your pantry already.
First thing you've got is a flour base. Like any other flour, it starts with a base of wheat flour, usually unbleached all-purpose flour.
Next, we've got baking powder. This is the magic ingredient that helps your baked goods puff up and become light and fluffy. Have you ever wondered how baking powder works? Baking powder is a leavening agent that produces carbon dioxide gas when it reacts with moisture and heat, causing your dough or batter to rise.
Finally, we need some salt. A touch of salt is added for flavor. When recipes use self-rising flour, they rarely have any extra salt added to the recipe.
With self-rising flour, you get the convenience of not having to measure and mix in these extra ingredients separately.
What is Bisquick?
Bisquick is a common baking mix that is versatile and is a staple in many pantries. It was first introduced by General Mills in 1931 and quickly gained popularity for it's ability to be used in a lot of different recipes.
Bisquick is known for its all-in-one mixture of dry ingredients, which typically includes flour, leavening agents, shortening, and sometimes sugar. It can be used to make biscuits, pie crusts, pizza dough, waffles, and pancakes. You can find heart healthy Bisquick, gluten-free Bisquick, Shake N Pour Bisquick, and even complete mixes. For this comparison, we will be talking about the standard Bisquick baking mix or your own homemade Bisquick.
The main ingredients of Bisquick are:
- Flour: The main ingredient in Bisquick is flour. It's usually an unbleached white flour but if you want you can use whole wheat flour to make a whole wheat baking mix too.
- Shortening: Bisquick includes a source of fat. It is usually a type of vegetable shortening. This eliminates the need to have more fat like butter into a lot of recipes.
- Leavening Agents: Bisquick contains leavening agents, usually a combination of baking powder and sometimes baking soda. These are responsible for helping the dough or batter to rise during baking.
- Salt: A small amount of salt is added just like it is in almost all ingredients.
- Sugar: In most baking mixes, Bisquick includes a small amount of sugar, especially in recipes designed for sweet dishes.
Make Your Own Self Rising Flour
Self rising flour is really easy to make at home and keep in your pantry. Of course, you can buy a bag at the grocery store too. It's in the baking aisle with all the other flours and cake mixes.
For every one cup of regular flour, use 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. That will get you one cup of self-rising flour. Check out my post for how to make your own self-rising flour for more in depth info!
Make Your Own Bisquick
When possible, I like making my own homemade Bisquick pancake mix. Store bought Bisquick contains hydrogenated oil because it needs to be shelf stable, which butter isn't. When I make my own baking mix, I'll use butter instead.
To make it, mix 5 cups of all purpose flour, ¼ cup baking powder, 3 tablespoons of sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 cup of butter. Add all the ingredients to the food processor and process them until they form a sand like mixture.
Place the mixture in an airtight container and keep it in the freezer or the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
Can You Use Bisquick in Place Of Self Rising Flour?
Yes! For the most part, Bisquick can be considered a self-rising flour substitute, with a few things to keep in mind. If you are using self rising flour in place of Bisquick, you'll need to add some sort of fat to the recipe. Bisquick contains fat, while self rising flour does not.
Bisquick often contains sugar too, which self rising flour does not. Just be aware of that especially if you are substituting them in savory recipes.
Recipes Using Bisquick
There are so many recipes that you can use Bisquick in besides pancakes. You can make the best Bisquick cinnamon rolls and even Bisquick waffles.
Bisquick recipes are often thought of to be used in sweet recipes, but you can use it to make Bisquick turkey pot pie and even Bisquick zucchini pie. It's great to add to lots of dinner recipes!
- Bisquick Pancakes for One
- Breakfast Casserole with Bisquick
- 9x13 inch Coffee Cake with Bisquick
- Blueberry Bisquick Coffee Cake
- Banana Pancakes with Bisquick
Recipes Using Self Rising Flour
Self rising flour is one of my favorite ingredients to use in so many recipes! You can make banana bread with self rising flour and even oatmeal raisin cookies with self rising flour.
Pancakes with self rising flour is a classic recipe to enjoy any day of the week and it only has 5 ingredients! Don't forget about waffles with self rising flour too!
You can use self rising flour for almost all quick bread recipes, like zucchini bread. It's not recommended to use self rising flour with yeast breads. That's because the baking powder interferes with the yeast and will cause the bread not to rise properly.
- Cinnamon Rolls with Self Rising Flour
- Cornbread with Self Rising Flour
- Banana Muffins with Self Rising Flour
- Chocolate Chip Cookies with Self Rising Flour
Storage Tips
There is always a bag of self-rising flour and a box of Bisquick in my pantry! Both self-rising and Bisquick (or any pancake mix) should be kept in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight and moisture. The most important thing to remember is to store them in an airtight container or in a gallon Ziploc bag. Flour can often have bugs in it if it is not stored properly.
Believe it or not you can also freeze flour and Bisquick! Place either in gallon sized Ziploc bag or freezer safe bags. Make sure to label the bags and then freeze the flour or Bisquick for up to 6 months. Sometimes you can even freeze the flour for longer!
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Bisquick has the addition of sugar and a fat, usually Crisco. Self rising flour is simply baking powder, flour, and salt.
All purpose flour does not have any other ingredients in it, so you would need to adjust the recipe if you were going to use Bisquick instead of all purpose flour. For instance, you will need to adjust the amount of fat and sugar in the original recipe if you place to use Bisquick instead of all purpose flour.
Yes! To do so you'll need one cup of self rising flour, two tablespoons of butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Meg says
Can you leave the sugar out when making the homemade Bisquick mix?
Lynn Polito says
Definitely! Then you can add sugar to the recipes when using the homemade mix.