Sifting flour question

[Chopstix]

When a recipe says to sift dry ingredients together (say, flour & baking soda), I first stir them together thoroughly then run them thru a sieve. It's a pretty tiresome step, especially if the recipe says to sift three times!

Then I saw a Martha Stewart episode where she just used a wire whisk to 'sift' dry ingredients together in a bowl. She actrually called it 'sifting them together'.

So do any of you guys use Martha's method and is it as effective as the ol' sieve ? Thanks!

 

[Katie H]

I do both depending on how much time I have or how lazy I feel. I haven't had any problem. The only difference is that when using a sieve/strainer, any lumps would be left in the sieve/strainer. Of course, those could be broken through the mesh with a spatula or spoon.

 

[AllenOK]

I cheat. I just whisk the flour, salt, leavenings, and other dry ingredients a few times.

Sifting serves two different purposes:
1) To add air to the mix to aid in baking.
2) To remove small foreign particles from the flour.

Unless I'm trying to remove weavils from some flour, I see no real reason to run flour through a sifter when I can accomplish the same thing with a whisk.

 

[Chopstix]

Weevils/weavils! I'd throw out the whole lot, never mind sifting! Those nasty things lay eggs your sieve won't filter out........

 

[Barb L.]

I don't sift either, just whisk, works for me with no problem I see.

 

[skilletlicker]

I don't mind so much when the recipes says "sift three cups flour" but hate when it says "three cups sifted flour." Sifting significantly increases the volume so a cup is more than a sifted cup, and sifting into a cup is a real nuisance. To make it a little easier I weighed a cup of of sifted flour (124 g) and taped that to the canister.

 

[Katie H]

I don't mind so much when the recipes says "sift three cups flour" but hate when it says "three cups sifted flour." Sifting significantly increases the volume so a cup is more than a sifted cup, and sifting into a cup is a real nuisance. To make it a little easier I weighed a cup of of sifted flour (124 g) and taped that to the canister.

That's one of the reasons I love cooking by weight. I use an electronic scale for almost all my measuring/weighing and love it. A bonus to this method is that far fewer measuring cups/spoons/bowls are dirtied up, which allows me to cook cleaner and more efficiently.

 

[wysiwyg]

Along the lines of some of the replies; I don't sift but had the equivalent weights listed on the door of my refrigerator.

I was told that Martha Stewart learned that trick while in jail LOL

 

[ChefJune]

That's one of the reasons I love cooking by weight. I use an electronic scale for almost all my measuring/weighing and love it. A bonus to this method is that far fewer measuring cups/spoons/bowls are dirtied up, which allows me to cook cleaner and more efficiently.

so do you sift after you've weighed? or just whisk?

fwiw, try both in two bowls, side by side, and see if the results you get are the same. It won't take very long, and you won't waste anything....

I measure by weight and then sift -- using an old fashioned sifter!

Some cakes need to be lighter than others. If it's not for a cake, you probably don't need to sift, anyway.

Just my 5 cents.

 

[Avlynn]

Clearly i don't watch enough tv. I have never seen that trick. The whisk sounds way better then my sieve. Next time i may try that. But i do wonder if it is for a cake it would not be best to use the sieve.

Av

 

[PattyAnnie]

I read an article about a baker in Texas who makes very appealing cakes, muffins, etc. She said that she never sifts, even when the recipe calls for it.

 

[KellySeven]

How can just whisking add air? Sounds easy though, but even for a cake?

 

[Caine]

I just throw the dry ingredients into a strainer and bang it with my hand until everything is either in the bowl or bouncing around in the bottom of the strainer.

 

[PattyAnnie]

Kelly, ya, the article I read (and it had pictures of huge muffins, cookies, wonderful-looking cakes) quoted the baker as saying she never sifts. I don't think it's the sifting that adds air, but the mixing.

 

[CrémeBrulée]

I only sift baking cocoa and icing sugar, both of which can have very persistent clumps that whisking would not remove, and potato starch and cornstarch when adding straight to hot liquids, as they tend to clump otherwise. I only ever sift flour to search for bugs. I have never found flour lumps in any of my cakes or bread and I never have trouble getting them to rise.

 

[thymeandthymeagain]

I always, always sift, sometimes even if the recipe does not call for it.........maybe a hold over from baking when I was a very young and persistent assistant, to my Mother. I was following her around the kitchen with a very strong desire to help in the kitchen from a very young age.

I would wake up every Saturday morning and bake for the whole day, probably to get out of the chores that I did not like to do. we lived on a farm, so there were lots to do...think barn, horses, cows and pigs!!!!

I have NEVER found any weevils in my flour....ever!!!! I sift to add air, but then again maybe it is just air between my ears.

 

[college_cook]

I defintely do NOT use the whisk. You'll probably get most of the lumps out that way, but I feel like recipes that call for sifted dry ingredients do so in order to achieve a certain texture and refinement, and I'd rather do it the right way and experience the dish as it is meant to be.

For recipes that call for sifting that probably don't need to be sifted, then I use the whisk. Particularly stuff that uses the muffin method.

 

[LadyCook61]

I cheat. I just whisk the flour, salt, leavenings, and other dry ingredients a few times.

Sifting serves two different purposes:
1) To add air to the mix to aid in baking.
2) To remove small foreign particles from the flour.

Unless I'm trying to remove weavils from some flour, I see no real reason to run flour through a sifter when I can accomplish the same thing with a whisk.

try bay leaves in the flour... it keeps those weevils out. It works for me.

 

[Walt Bulander]

I remember weevils in the pancake batter in Boyscouts many years ago.
We didn't notice until the batter was ready to cook.
Fried them extra dark and didn't tell anyone about the extra free meat until breakfast was over!

 

[BreezyCooking]

If a recipe calls for it, I always sift. I just use a fine-mesh kitchen strainer. No big deal.