I've seen recipes calling for "sifted flour". Would someone mind telling
me what good it does? I can honestly tell no difference in the final
recipe whether the flour was sifted or not. Furthermore, I look at flour
in a mixing bowl, then sift it, then run my hand around in it and it looks
again like it's never been sifted.

So why do people sift?

Damaeus

Damaeus wrote:
> I've seen recipes calling for "sifted flour". Would someone mind telling
> me what good it does? I can honestly tell no difference in the final
> recipe whether the flour was sifted or not. Furthermore, I look at flour
> in a mixing bowl, then sift it, then run my hand around in it and it looks
> again like it's never been sifted.
>
> So why do people sift?

Most flour theses days is pre-sifted so it isn't always necessary. In
the old days when flour was ground by mill stones you sometimes got
little rocky surprises in the flour. Sometimes there are little lumps
in the flour and sifting breaks them up or leaves them behind. Flour
sometimes settles and gets packed a little tighter, and sifting aerates
it and fluffs it up a bit. In theory, using sifted flour will result in
a more consistent measurement, though measuring by weight accounts for
differences in density.

FWIW.... when a recipe calls for a cup of sifted flour it actually
means that you should sift the flour and then take the one cup measure
from that, as opposed to putting a cup of flour in the sifter and using
what comes through.

In article >,
Damaeus > wrote:

> I've seen recipes calling for "sifted flour". Would someone mind telling
> me what good it does? I can honestly tell no difference in the final
> recipe whether the flour was sifted or not. Furthermore, I look at flour
> in a mixing bowl, then sift it, then run my hand around in it and it looks
> again like it's never been sifted.
>
> So why do people sift?

To incoroprate air into the flour. If the dough/batter is treated
gently, the end result may be a little lighter.

In the old days, sifting also removed bugs.

Miche

--
Electricians do it in three phases

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:19:01 -0500, Damaeus
> wrote:

>I've seen recipes calling for "sifted flour". Would someone mind telling
>me what good it does? I can honestly tell no difference in the final
>recipe whether the flour was sifted or not. Furthermore, I look at flour
>in a mixing bowl, then sift it, then run my hand around in it and it looks
>again like it's never been sifted.
>
>So why do people sift?
>
>Damaeus

Sifting serves two purposes - first, it removes any foreign bodies or
lumps from the flour... and second it incorporates more air into the
mix to make it lighter. Neither of which is particularly necessary
nowadays especially if you're using flour straight out of the packet
and it hasn't been sitting around in a cupboard for years on end. If
you open a fresh packet of flour it'll be nice and fluffy already.

Kajikit wrote:

> Sifting serves two purposes - first, it removes any foreign bodies or
> lumps from the flour... and second it incorporates more air into the
> mix to make it lighter. Neither of which is particularly necessary
> nowadays especially if you're using flour straight out of the packet
> and it hasn't been sitting around in a cupboard for years on end. If
> you open a fresh packet of flour it'll be nice and fluffy already.

Yes, a new bag of flour will be nice and fluffy, and if you start
getting really exact about measurement, flour that has been sitting
around in a big bag is likely to be more compact, leading to an
measurement actually having more flour by weight. If the recipe calls
for one cup of sifted flour you are going to get the same amount of
flour by first sifting it.


I am not usually really careful about measuring, except when baking.

Note that some recipes call for using a certain amount of sifted flour,
as opposed to sifting flour with other ingredients, like salt and baking
powder or soda.

"Damaeus" wrote:
>
> I've seen recipes calling for "sifted flour". Would someone mind telling
> me what good it does?

With modern flours nothing.