Pastry flour is a softer flour that substitutes well for all-purpose in any recipe where tenderness is the goal, like muffins, quick breads and cakes. If you can find it, whole-wheat pastry flour is an even better swap for all-purpose.

For every cup of cake flour called for in a recipe, measure out 1 level cup all-purpose flour. Remove 2 tablespoons flour from that measurement. (Return those 2 tablespoons to the bag of flour, you don’t need them.) Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch to the (1 cup minus 2 tablespoons) measured flour.

Instructions

1. Start with 1 cup all-purpose flour. Remove 2 Tablespoons (16g) so you have 14 Tablespoons total.
2. Add cornstarch to the 14 Tablespoons of flour.
3. Sift together TWICE.
4. Measure (spoon & level) 1 cup from this mixture.
5. Now you have 1 cup of cake flour that you can use in any recipes requiring cake flour.

To create the most reliable substitute for pastry flour, combine ½ cup of all-purpose flour with ½ cup of cake flour for every 1 cup of pastry flour needed.

What Is the Difference Between Pastry Flour and All-Purpose Flour? Pastry flour is a low-protein, specialty flour that is ideal for baked goods. On average, pastry flour has an 8 to 9% protein count versus all-purpose flour, which contains approximately a 10 to 12% protein count.

Pastry flour is milled to a finer texture than all-purpose flour, and is made with soft wheat for a lower protein content, which helps baked goods like pie crusts and pound cake recipes produce very tender results and a fine crust.

Pastry Flour: An unbleached flour made from soft wheat, with protein levels somewhere between cake flour and all-purpose flour (8 to 9 percent). Pastry flour strikes the ideal balance between flakiness and tenderness, making it perfect for pies, tarts and many cookies.

all-purpose flour

Swapping in bread flour for all-purpose flour in cookies won’t change the flavor of your cookies at all. Rather, the switch will impact the texture of your final product.

Foods made with bleached flour tend to have a softer texture, more volume, and a brighter color than those made with unbleached flour. Bleached flour is best for making cookies, pie crusts, quick breads, muffins, and pancakes.