While the two are similar, aeration is not the same thing as sifting flour. When you sift flour, in addition to adding air, you also remove lumps and other unwanted particles that may have found their way into the flour. On the other hand, aeration does not remove lumps and should be done before mixing every time. To aerate your flour, all you need to do is grab a spoon or fork and mix it up a bit. Aeration adds air to the flour, making it lighter.
Although most flour is pre-sifted, over time, it gets packed tighter in its container. This can cause you to measure out more flour than you need. Like aeration, proper measurement is important in baking.
You should never dip the measuring cup into the bag or container of flour. After fluffing, use a spoon to dip the flour into your measuring cup. Once full, take a knife and rake the excess flour away. Amazon has a good flour sifter, seen here. If you prefer a mesh strainer, it can serve more purposes than a sifter.
You can find one on Amazon at this link. Most banana bread recipes do not call for sifted flour. Traditionally, recipes ask you to sift ingredients as a way to aerate them and guarantee consistency between cup measurements, since cups of unsifted flour will vary widely in weight depending on how tightly the flour was packed in the bag. Sifting the flour helped promote consistency in recipe results by removing the larger particles that could potentially result in densely textured baked goods or even ones that would sink in the middle.
But modern techniques have improved significantly since then. I was also wondering why CIA has a recipe that starts out for 10 min then lowers to Your other article at least showed the different affects temps from to have on a cake, so I can begin to guess what changing the temperature half way through would have. That was really helpful! I used to sift my dry ingredients but started getting a bit lazy!
I find that,as long as the big clumps are broken up, then the mix is absolutely fine! Great information!!! I have a concert, sifting makes a difference when measuring, some recipes said 1 cup of flour and the instruction require to sift, other said one cup of sifted flour, so should a measure before or after sifting if I decide to sift. Hopefully I make my question clear, so I can get help… thank you very much! Wow Amanda! I would live in a chemistry lab over a kitchen any day but i now see that I can do both as the science geek side if me has been stimulated.
Thank you ladies! Many Blessings! Sifting 3 times was drummed into my head in Home Economic class. To this day I whisk, then sift 3 times. Notice too the sifted cake is more level.
What a waste of money and time. My grandmother and her friends never had to hack off the tops of their cakes either. They thoroughly sifted the dry ingredients as well. I believe the 30 seconds it takes to sift thoroughly is a factor in a cake baking level. Thank you Summer for not only explaining the subtle differences, but also showing pictures of each variation.
Thank you again!! Great post and great blog. The information on sifting — or not — and the post regarding how long to mix have answered what I needed to know. I have some old family recipes that are VERY short on information. Thank you! I sift my flour and dry ingredients and I think it makes a difference in the baked good for the better. I have a battery operated sifter and I love it!
I hope this has informed the way you add your dry ingredients. Happy baking! Summer Frills Cake ». Comments Thank you so much for performing this test! I hope that all makes sense! Looking forward to your next post. This little food hack is not only a lifesaver if you don't have the proper equipment, but a whisk is also so much easier to clean than a fine-mesh sieve or clunky sifter.
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