Flour

Flour is very different between the USA and ČR.

In the USA, flour is sold by its intended use: all-purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour, etc.

Over here, flour is sold according to how coarsely it has been ground.  Wheat flour is the most common type of flour but there are several textures.

For pastry flour you need to look for Hladká mouka výběrová.

Hladká mouka, "smooth flour" is the equivalent to all-purpose flour.  It's used for thickening soups and sauces, as well as, for pie crusts, Czech pancakes, and Christmas cookies.

Polohrubá mouka, "semi-course" is the equivalent of high gluten flour.  Czechs use it for making coffee cake and Christmas or Easter sweet breads.

Hrubá mouka is "course" flour and is the equivalent of first clear flour.  Czechs use this as the main ingredient for bread dumplings or noodles.  It can also be used in some cake recipes.

Pšeničná Krupice is the coarsest flour.  Very similar to semolina; white whole wheat.  It's normally used to make dumplings.

To make self-rising flour you combine 150g (1 cup) of flour, ½ teaspoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of baking soda (bicarbonate soda).  The baking powder is sold in 12g or 20g sachets in the market.  The only place to buy baking soda is at a pharmacy.

American Bisquick

This is all way to complicated for me.  I love my Bisquick.  It's a boxed mix of flour, salt, baking powder and shortening.  I've received a few care packages which has kept me from having to deal with the Czech flour situation.

British Bisquick

Bisquick isn't available here but it is available in the UK.  Nat normally grabs me a couple of boxes every time she's back there for work.  The UK Bisquick comes in a different box but it's more or less the same.  Except that the American version is bright white while the UK version has a beige tint to it.

Here's a recipe I found online for fake Bisquick.  Combine 1 cup of flour, 1½ teaspoons of baking powder, ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of oil or melted butter.

EDIT:  Natalie found 100g sachets of baking soda at Tesco.