From your favorite muffin recipe to a delicious creamy pasta sauce- when it comes to using flour no matter the recipe, getting your measurements correct makes all the difference! Have you ever attempted a bread or pancake recipe promised to be moist and tender but ends up being dense and dry? You are not alone. Get the consistency of all your baked goods just right from now on with my tips on measuring flour correctly.
First, let me address these common flour faux-pas:
Directly Scooping: We've all scooped flour directly out of the bag or jar with the measuring cup. This literally packs the flour into your measuring cup. Because the flour is tightly packed, it will undoubtedly yield too much flour.
Shake-to-level method: If you level off your flour in your measuring cups by shaking it off, the result will be inaccurate because the flour will have accumulated at the bottom.
Press-method: When you press flour into your measuring cup, its light and fluffy consistency means it's a no-brainer that you'll end up with too much flour than your recipe requires.
Weigh your flour - get it right every time.
Do you have a good kitchen scale? A trusty and quality kitchen scale is the sure-fire way to know you're adding the right amount of flour to your baked goodies. Instead of measuring it by volume, you can rest assured knowing EXACTLY how much you're using when you weigh your flour. When you use a recipe that requires 'cups' of grams or ounces, there will always be room for slight error based on a variety of factors – your specific measuring cups, how you scoop the flour or even how tightly you pack it. There is quite a chance that you'll end up with more flour -or less- than you need in your recipe which can significantly affect your final masterpiece.
No scale? No Problem.
Having said all this, if you haven't got a scale to hand, I recommend the spoon-and-level method. This is my go to, favourite method of measuring flour. It's super easy! You need to fluff up your flour first, as it will have settled in its bag over time. Have a poke around with a fork in the bag, make sure the flour is no longer packed, or tip your flour into a big jar and fluff it up there.
Next, you're going to spoon your flour into your measuring cup carefully. Don't press it down or pack it- let it naturally pile up in the middle of the cup. It might even go above the edges of the measuring cup- that's okay. Next, grab a butter knife, and with the flat side, scrape across the top of the measuring cup, pushing off the excess flour over the sides. Because the flour isn't packed down, you'll have a pretty accurate flour measurement. Easy! A cup of spooned-and-leveled flour should measure around 120-125g, whereas a packed cup of flour can weigh up to 155g. See what a difference it can make?
Do you need to sift flour?
Unless your recipe is for a particularly light and airy baked treat like an Angel Food Cake, you don't necessarily need to sift flour if you've fluffed it up well. I rarely sift my flour, but if the recipe requires use a sifter to sift the flour before doing the scoop and level technique.
Now go forth and bake with confidence -with or without your scale- and get the best results with the correct measurements of flour every time. Happy baking!
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