I’ve gone all my life without using self-rising flour.  Until today, that is…

A while back a great couple I know gave me a recipe for a quick beer bread.  Really easy.  Very basic.  As is typical with me, I get a recipe, and then file it away for weeks or months, and then finally decide to make it.

I’m making a pot of Mulligatawny Soup today and thought that the beer bread would be good with it.  That, and there’s actually beer in the house from the party last Saturday.  (The Asinine Socialist Pennsylvania Liquor Laws force one to go to a ‘beer distributor’ to purchase beer – by the case only.  No single bottle or 6-pack sales allowed.  That, somehow, promotes responsible drinking.  Needless to say, we don’t often have beer in the house.)  But I digress…

I have beer in the house.  I don’t drink it, often, so I might as well cook with it, right?!?

First thing I did was pull out the recipe and notice that it calls for self-rising flour.  Now… I can make my own self-rising flour (2 tbsp baking powder and 2 tsp salt per pound of four) but I also just got my first issue of Gourmet magazine (a freebie from Amazon.com) and it’s all about Southern cooking – and lots of the recipes call for self-rising flour.  So, during my weekly shopping trek today, I bought some.

I must admit I am intrigued!  I’ve gone from never, ever having it in the house to seeing how many recipes I can now use it with.  Thank goodness it’s wintertime!  the oven is going to be going full-tilt-boogie!