Should I use low-gluten flour or ordinary flour to make cakes? Why?

It is best to use low-gluten flour. The characteristic of low-gluten flour is that it is not easy to produce gluten when stirred and stirred, and has a soft texture. When ordinary flour is stirred, it is easy to form local gluten and the taste is not good. If you don’t have low-gluten flour, you can also mix ordinary flour with cornstarch in a ratio of 4:1. Cornstarch can reduce the gluten of ordinary flour. However, the baking time may vary, so you have to explore by yourself

To briefly talk about these types of flour, the most common ones are divided into high-gluten flour, medium-gluten flour and low-gluten flour according to protein content. The most common flour in households is all-purpose flour, which is the ordinary flour mentioned in the question. Ordinary flour is usually used to make Chinese pastries such as steamed buns, steamed buns, and mooncakes. Making cakes requires a soft finished product, so it is best to use low-gluten flour. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t make the other two. It still has something to do with the mixing method after adding the flour. Don’t stir in circles after adding the flour to prevent the flour from forming gluten.

If stirred in one direction under a certain humidity, it is indeed easy for the protein molecules in the flour to be arranged neatly, forming a grid structure, and producing greater elasticity. Therefore, the finished product will easily shrink and become insufficient. It's fluffy and the shape isn't pretty enough. The higher the gluten content of the flour, the easier it is to produce a protein lattice structure, so low-gluten flour is the most suitable for making cakes. However, if your technique is correct enough, not to mention all-purpose flour, even high-gluten flour can still make cakes, and the cake will have the same fluffy texture, but it will not be as high as the cake made with low-gluten flour.

Beginners are still advised to use low-gluten exercises, which are safer and minimize the risk of tendons. However, if you only have ordinary flour at home, you can try the following method to reduce the gluten of the flour: Mix it with ordinary flour: cornstarch = 4:1 ratio. You can replace low-gluten noodles and ordinary flour in the same amount and place it on the steamer. Steam for 15 minutes, let cool, then sift and use. It is similar to low-gluten flour, but be careful not to get water