What the heck is sifting flour about? Half the baking recipes out there seem to call for it, but does anyone in America actually own a sifter?
You may have lumped this mystery step into a category with:
- “Add eggs slowly, one at a time, beating after each addition.” (Ain’t nobody got time for that.)
- “Rinse your rice thoroughly before cooking it.” (I’m dirtying my rice cooker already. Do I really need to dirty a sieve, too?)
- “Rinse canned beans before adding to soup.” (Has a little bean juice ever hurt anyone?)
We get it. You’re busy. You don’t have time for kitchen gymnastics that don’t really matter, so let’s demystify this flour-sifting thing once and for all.
(Ivan Samkov/pexels)
Why Was the Flour Sifter Invented in the First Place?
Tilden’s Universal Flour Sifter received a patent in 1865 and sold like hotcakes. It looked like a big metal can with a hand crank. The crank brushed the flour over fine wire mesh so that it would fall into dough or batter perfectly sifted.
So why was the sifter so popular then? It was the Wild Wild West of milled products. You could pull open your flour sack and be greeted by a clod of dirt, a stone, or insect parts. The flour sifter was not just a nicety. It was the thing that kept the cockroach legs out of your cake.
Also, flour wasn’t always milled finely and evenly back then. It tended to be coarse and clumpy, so the sifter helped smooth it out.
So Why Do We Still Need the Flour Sifter Today?
Quality control is much higher at mills now, and when the flour gets to you, it’s pre-sifted. So you’re not really sifting out the bad stuff anymore. You’re simply aerating the flour a bit to prime it for perfect baking.
Flour can get packed together when it sits. This can lead to a couple of problems:
- Lumps. Flour can settle into lumps and clumps. When flour is clinging together like that, you won’t get an accurate measurement. You may think you have 1 cup when you scoop it into your measuring cup, but you could really have 20 to 30% more. Sifting flour will lighten your flour up so that you get closer to that perfect 1 cup measurement.
- Heaviness. Light and airy batters, like those used in sponge cake or angel food cake, need to stay light and airy. When your flour is too dense, it can knock the wind out of your light batter, making it too heavy.
One More Reason to Sift: Flouring Your Bread Surface
When you make rolled cookies, such as sugar cookies, you need to flatten out the dough on a floured surface. The flour works best when it’s a thin dusting, but it’s hard to achieve that on your own. Most of us end up with a clumpy coating of flour, thick in some parts and thin in others.
Sifting solves this problem. Sift your flour over your work surface for a perfectly even dusting of flour that won’t dry out your dough.
What if I Don’t Have a Sifter?
Maybe you don’t want to shell out for a sifter, or maybe you just don’t have the kitchen space for a whole new gadget. No problem. May we recommend that you get your fine-mesh sieve to do double duty? Scoop your flour into the sieve and shake it through the mesh.
Sieves are workhorses. You can use them for separating citrus seeds from the juice, straining out pulp or seeds to create perfectly smooth purees, or resting veggies over boiling water for steaming. You can even use a sieve to cradle a raw egg in simmering water for the perfect poached egg. Might as well cash in on this multi-tool for your sifting needs.
And if you don’t have either a sifter or sieve, you can always fluff up your dry ingredients with a wire whisk to get them nice and light before measuring.
Do I Need to Sift for Cookies?
If you’re making sponge cakes or angel food cakes that depend on eggs for “lift,” by all means, sift your flour so it’s nice and aerated and won’t weigh down your batter. But since cookies are “soft and chewy” (not “light and airy”), sifting isn’t a high priority. What is a high priority is making sure that you’re fluffing up your flour enough to get an accurate measurement.
Too much flour will suck up the moisture in cookies and leave them dry. Too little flour will give you a flat, crispy, greasy cookie.
How Do I Measure Flour and Other Dry Ingredients for Cookies
To measure flour, fluff it up a bit in its storage container with a spoon or whisk, then spoon it into your desired measuring cup and level it off with a knife. Make sure to use a dry measuring cup, not a liquid one.
For best results, add your other dry ingredients to your flour and spoon or whisk them around gently. This ensures that things are evenly combined, and you don’t end up with a big clump of salt or baking soda. Then, combine your dry and wet ingredients and proceed to mix up that scrumptious cookie dough (that your family will probably eat half of before you have a chance to bake).
And if you don’t want to mess with any of these steps, get a kitchen scale. One cup of flour equals 120 grams. Scales keep your measurements perfectly consistent without any fluffing or aerating.
What Else Should I Sift?
If your cookie dough recipe, or your cookie dough frosting recipe, calls for powdered sugar, it is prone to lumps. We recommend giving it a good whisk or running it through a sieve or sifter before adding it to your ingredients.
The Takeaway
There you have it: No sifter, no problem. You can make do with a whisk or sieve. When it comes to cookies, the focus is aerating the flour so that you can measure it correctly. Flour measurements matter if you want that perfect cookie–crisp on the outside, soft and melty in the middle.
And, as always, if you just want to order some gourmet cookies for yourself or someone you love, you can simply visit Chocolate Shipped Cookies online and order any one of our dozen cookie types (sugar, chocolate chip, brownie mint, and so much more). You’ll have a cookie box delivery on your doorstep soon, no sifting required.