Okay, I know this is super boring, and you’re all asking “Where’s the chocolate?”, but measuring flour is extremely important when baking. Ironically, I’m posting this right after my Flourless Chocolate Cake!The techniques in this post will come in handy for my next recipe that I’ll post in a few days….French Macarons!

So there are a couple of things to know:

Order Matters.

1. When the recipe reads “1 cup flour, sifted“, they want you to measure one cup of flour and then sift it.

2. When the recipe reads “1 cup sifted flour“, they want you to sift some flour and then measure one cup.

So how do you sift flour?

I have a flour sifter like this one:I got it at William-Sonoma for $17 and it has made sifting flour a lot faster. If you do buy a flour sifter, I would not wash it regularly. I suggest storing it in a zip lock baggy…flour doesn’t go bad so it’s not a big deal to have flour residue in it. If you wash a sifter frequently it will start to rust because there are so many crevices that won’t dry well. I would only wash a sifter after using it for powdered sugar or cocoa.A flour sifter does make sifting go faster, but unless you sift flour a lot I would not recommend buying a flour sifter. I would suggest getting a sieve because it can be used for other things too…you could use a sieve for washing fruits and vegetables, and you don’t need to worry so much about it rusting.

The second sieve below is a little finer than the first so it takes longer and is slightly more frustrating to sift with…so just keep that in mind when you pick one out. Just put the flour in and shake it through the sieve or sifter!

But wait a lot of recipes do not even refer to sifting!

So if your recipe does not say to sift the flour they want you to use the “spoon and level method”. Now, I honestly never used this method until last year…. I know, I know I’m such a lazy baker! I would just dip my measuring cup in and get all the flour in one scoop….STOP THE MADNESS!!! Unfortunately the quick method will create really unreliable measurements. You will end up using a lot more flour than the recipe intended. Now, you probably won’t notice a huge difference in things like cookies, but cakes especially will be super dry and dense if you overmeasure.

Spoon and level method.

So grab a spoon and scoop up some flour. Now take your measuring cup and lightly sprinkle the flour off the spoon into the measuring cup. Keep repeating this process until you have a flour mound. Take a straight edge and level off the extra flour!All of these techniques can be used for powdered sugar and cocoa too!

I know this seems like extra work, but it will vastly improve the outcome of your baked goods!

Voilà!