Flour vs. Flour

[taxlady]

I don't have a sifter.

I've been watching Alton Brown (really like him, so much better than the rest of the show-offs) and he said to skip the sifter. Said we should weigh the flour (he's very big on weighing!) and then put the stuff in the food processor to sift it.

Running it through the FP does make it poofier, but it loses some of the poof when it's transferred.

Any thoughts on FP versus real sifting? (Should I get a sifter?)

You can use a sieve instead of a sifter. If you start to do a lot of baking, you will know when it's time to get a sifter.

Since you like whisking, why not just whisk instead of using the food processor. Unless you are going to use the FP for some other part of the recipe and get it dirty anyway, the whisk will be much less clean up.

I really like Alton Brown too, but he isn't always right, just most of the time.

BTW, Welcome to DC.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I don't have a sifter.

I've been watching Alton Brown (really like him, so much better than the rest of the show-offs) and he said to skip the sifter. Said we should weigh the flour (he's very big on weighing!) and then put the stuff in the food processor to sift it.

Running it through the FP does make it poofier, but it loses some of the poof when it's transferred.

Any thoughts on FP versus real sifting? (Should I get a sifter?)

If I was just starting out I would invest in a good scale instead of a sifter.

A sifter or food processor would be handy to mix various dry ingredients like flour, baking powder, cocoa, spices etc...

Borrow your Mom's sifter and see what you think, she may not even ask you to return it!

Good luck!

 

[Blackitty]

I got a scale. I've started weighing things.

I do whisk it, lol. I whisk everything I can and probably longer than is needed. But I run it through the FP when sifting is called for...because Alton said so and for no other reason. It isn't hard to clean, but those food processors do have a lot of parts. It's kind of a pain in the butt.

I want to make cakes that are as yummy as they can be. So, if actual sifting is best, then that's what I want to do.

I also want my breads to rise better. They taste good and aren't doughy or anything and no tunnels, but they don't get very high up and I'm trying to work on that, too. I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong there, so no clue on how to fix it. Kind of hoping that I'll just get better somehow. Maybe real sifting will help.

 

[taxlady]

Do you have a sieve? Sieves work just fine for true sifting. Sieves are handy for lots of things. Mine gets used a lot for rinsing rice before I cook it.

 

[Addie]

I don't have a sifter.

I've been watching Alton Brown (really like him, so much better than the rest of the show-offs) and he said to skip the sifter. Said we should weigh the flour (he's very big on weighing!) and then put the stuff in the food processor to sift it.

Running it through the FP does make it poofier, but it loses some of the poof when it's transferred.

Any thoughts on FP versus real sifting? (Should I get a sifter?)

Yes you should. All the FP does is mix the dry ingredients together. It does not put air into the mixture. That is what a sifter does. And you will find that you will come across recipes that require sifting for the best results.

 

[Andy M.]

Yes you should. All the FP does is mix the dry ingredients together. It does not put air into the mixture. That is what a sifter does. And you will find that you will come across recipes that require sifting for the best results.

Addie, I think a FP aerates dry ingredients very well. It would be a good substitute for a sifter if you needed the FP for other parts of the recipe. I wouldn't bring out the FP just to aerate flour.

 

[taxlady]

Addie, I think a FP aerates dry ingredients very well. It would be a good substitute for a sifter if you needed the FP for other parts of the recipe. I wouldn't bring out the FP just to aerate flour.

Exactly

 

[RPCookin]

I don't have a sifter.

I've been watching Alton Brown (really like him, so much better than the rest of the show-offs) and he said to skip the sifter. Said we should weigh the flour (he's very big on weighing!) and then put the stuff in the food processor to sift it.

Running it through the FP does make it poofier, but it loses some of the poof when it's transferred.

Any thoughts on FP versus real sifting? (Should I get a sifter?)

I did neither when I made ciabatta bread this weekend, but then bread is a different animal. I've never seen any bread recipe that recommended sifting or processing.

I did weigh everything except the yeast and salt. I weighed the flour and the water to get exactly the right proportions. I replaced some of the flour with conditioner (one tablespoon per 5 oz. of flour) and vital wheat gluten (one teaspoon per 5 oz.), adding the conditioner and gluten before all of the flour, then using more flour to bring it up to the exact weight. Proper bread textures require correct dry to wet percentages, and the only real way to get it as close as possible is by weight.

Process is equally important. For me, ciabatta takes an overnight fermenting for the poolish, then about 4½ hours of mixing, kneading, folding, resting and baking before the meal it's intended to be eaten at.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

...I run it through the FP when sifting is called for...because Alton said so and for no other reason. It isn't hard to clean, but those food processors do have a lot of parts. It's kind of a pain in the butt...

AB isn't the one cleaning up your kitchen equipment. If he's willing to send his prep people and clean-up people to your home, use the FP. Otherwise, whisk or sift. I sift before measuring if the recipe calls for it. I sift all dry ingredients together if a recipe calls for it. Otherwise, whisking blends the dry ingredients adequately and adds a bit of air.

 

[bakechef]

I got a scale. I've started weighing things.

I do whisk it, lol. I whisk everything I can and probably longer than is needed. But I run it through the FP when sifting is called for...because Alton said so and for no other reason. It isn't hard to clean, but those food processors do have a lot of parts. It's kind of a pain in the butt.

I want to make cakes that are as yummy as they can be. So, if actual sifting is best, then that's what I want to do.

I also want my breads to rise better. They taste good and aren't doughy or anything and no tunnels, but they don't get very high up and I'm trying to work on that, too. I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong there, so no clue on how to fix it. Kind of hoping that I'll just get better somehow. Maybe real sifting will help.

Sifting won't make your bread rise better. Once liquid is added to flour, and volume that you've built up from sifting is gone.

I like to sift if there are a lot of spices to incorporate with the flour or if my baking soda looks a bit clumpy, the rest of the time I whisk, I would never use my FP, no way I'm going to clean that just to sift.

 

[Addie]

Do you have a sieve? Sieves work just fine for true sifting. Sieves are handy for lots of things. Mine gets used a lot for rinsing rice before I cook it.

Excellent suggestion. Just for straining pasta alone makes it worthwhile. And it is easier to break up the lumps with a sieve.

 

[Maelinde]

Do you have a sieve? Sieves work just fine for true sifting. Sieves are handy for lots of things. Mine gets used a lot for rinsing rice before I cook it.

My sifter broke a few months ago and I've been using sieves for the time being.

Never thought to rinse rice in it, though! Thank you Taxlady for that tip.

 

[Mad Cook]

If you don't still have your Granny's sifter you can get good results using a fine mesh wire strainer similar to this one. Just tap it against the palm of your hand.

Browne-Foodservice - S9098 8" Fine Mesh Stainless Steel Single Strainer

That's what I use and I always sift. Because we almost always weigh ingredients over here it doesn't matter whether we sift before or after.

As for flour, we don't have the equivalent of your AP flour so it's plain flour for pastry, self-raising for most cakes and strong flour for Bread. Very soft cake flour is a fairly recent addition over here and not widely used so far. Most varieties come in bleached or unbleached (unbleached is more expensive) and wholemeal flour

We also have specialist flours such as rye flour (mainly for bread making) available.

 

[Mad Cook]

I got a scale. I've started weighing things.

I do whisk it, lol. I whisk everything I can and probably longer than is needed. But I run it through the FP when sifting is called for...because Alton said so and for no other reason. It isn't hard to clean, but those food processors do have a lot of parts. It's kind of a pain in the butt.

I want to make cakes that are as yummy as they can be. So, if actual sifting is best, then that's what I want to do.

I also want my breads to rise better. They taste good and aren't doughy or anything and no tunnels, but they don't get very high up and I'm trying to work on that, too. I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong there, so no clue on how to fix it. Kind of hoping that I'll just get better somehow. Maybe real sifting will help.

I always sift but recently I was in a tearing hurry and trying to do several things at once. I decided not to bother with sifting flour for a madeira cake and when it was cooked you could tell I hadn't sifted. I've made that recipe hundreds of times and it's always worked but the time I didn't sift the flour the texture of the cake was not good. It was course and crumbly and difficult to cut and it didn't taste quite as good.

 

[Blackitty]

Thanks, everyone! This board is so helpful!

I have a sieve and will use that for sifting. One less thing to buy and yay that. Sieve cleaning is easier than FP cleaning. FPs would be much handier if they weren't a pain to clean. I'm still doing things myself that I thought I'd let it do, because it's quicker to chop the onions myself than it is to clean it. I'm only using it to do things that I simply couldn't do without it. I suppose a smaller one might be helpful there, but my money and counter space are not unlimited.

I'm eager to see the difference with the sifting. Planning to make a layer cake, so I'm going to do one with unsifted and one with sifted, to see how they differ.

I feel like I should be paying you people. You're teaching me so much. Thanks!

 

[taxlady]

Instead of getting a small FP, I got this Cuisinart immersion blender with attachments. There is a whisk and a mini food processor. I use this all the time and it's easy to clean. Probably I use it a lot because it is easy to clean.

https://www.cuisinart.com/products/hand_blenders/csb-79.html