Baking Substitutes

[Argyle]

I am very much interested in baking, but I have no background. I've recently found a receipe, and one of the ingredients are granulated sugar and potato flour. Can I use powdered sugar as a substitute to granulated sugar and all-purpose flour for potato flour? If not, what other ingredients can I use as a substitute, because I cannot find these two ingredients in our supermarket.

Any idea or suggestion will be very much appreciated.

Best Regards,
Vicky

[kwormann]

Well, granulated sugar is just regular table sugar. As for potato flour...what are you making? I have never heard of a recipe calling for it. I assume it is lighter so maybe cake flour would work...but if someone else has insight....jump in!

Kim

[noni liedtke]

Please, don't start with something complicated. Get agood down to earth cookbook like The Doubleday Cookbbook by Jean Anderson.By the way granulated sugar is just plain old sugar that you put in your coffee. Good luck, Grandmabear

[Vanessa]

Vicky
There are many simple recipes to start off the baking adventure. My advice is when first starting do the recipe as it is then you can change it as you master it.
Because of you mentioning potato flour I presume it could be a glutten free recipe or a lighter recipe. Different flours act different in baking because of their gluten vs no gluten characteristics.
If you want to start baking I suggest start with any cL muffins or cakes or quickbreads.
Be careful measuring and check oven temperature and of course don't overmix.

[sneezles]

Potatoe lour is a very fine flour made from potatoes ground to a pulp and freed from their fibers. It is an old product but corn flour or cornstarch has taken its place in most American households. It is used still in Europe for gravies, stews and puddings as a thickener and for baking, where it gives a dry texture to cakes. When potatoes flour is boiled it will thin out. In using potato flour, one tablespoon will thicken one cup of liquid to a medium consistency. It can be substituted measure for measure for cornstarch. It can be found in health-food stores and in some general stores, especially those catering to people of German and Scandinavian descent. It can be found in Jewsih markets, as it is used during Passover instead of flour.

This is from the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, Vol 9, c1966. Hope it helps.

[noni liedtke]

WE are all dying to know what you were going to bake. best wishes, Grandmabear

[Gail]

Since I see you're in the Philippines, I'm wondering if perhaps both products have different names, for example the potato flour might conceivably be labeled katakuriko. May I suggest you refer to Cooks Thesaurus to see if any of the other names for these products happen to be used on your local packaging. Check out: http://www.foodsubs.com/
Here's what Cook's Thesaurus has to say on the subject of the potato flour:


potato starch = potato flour = katakuriko Substitutes: cornstarch OR rice starch OR arrowroot OR tapioca starch OR flour OR ground Passover matzo Notes: Ordinary flour makes an opaque sauce, imparts a floury taste, and can easily turn lumpy. When substituting flour for potato starch, use twice as much and stir the flour (mixed first with a little cold water) into hot fat to prevent lumps (or better yet, use Wondra flour). (For directions, see The Roux and Other Basics posted by Homearts

As for the powdered sugar substituting for granulated, as they are completely different textures and weights, I wouldn't advise it. I agree with everyone that it is far easier to give advice if we actually saw the recipe in question.

Good luck to you!



[This message has been edited by Gail (edited 11-15-2000).]

[Argyle]

Hi All,

Thanks for your reply! I'll try to find the recipe first, then I will post it here.

Vicky

p.s. I've already visited the site: www.foodsubs.com, (http://www.foodsubs.com,) and it's very helpful and quite informative.