Because most flour is 'pre-sifted' now.

That said, I do sift ingredients together to make sure they are well blended.

I finally came across it in a cookie recipe last year. I've never really seen it either.

Sifting is almost always a specified step in Angel Food Cake recipes.

In recipes that use several spices, you'll often see instructions to whisk the dry ingredients together.

Last month my neighbor gave me a family recipe for pound cake and she couldn't remember if she sifted the flour or not. And if she did sift it she forgot whether she sifted before measuring or if she measured out the amount and then sifted it. I looked online for suggestions and found this article from The Spruce that was very informative.

I ended up making a plum tart instead.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/guide-to-sifting-flour-480509

I know the bags always say "pre-sifted" but I sift my flour into the canister and usually have a few lumps to deal with. When baking, if I don't sift everything together, I do whisk the dry ingredients to evenly mix everything before adding to wet.

I haven't sifted in years. I do whisk in dry ingredients.

A scooped cup of flour from a tightly packed bag is a different amount of flour than a scooped cup of flour that was sifted or in a canister.

Recipes where the proportion of flour to other things is more critical may often use a weight of flour (ounces or grams) rather than a volume (cups or tablespoons). Commercial bakers whether small or large typically follow recipes where ingredients are weighed.

If making a recipe that specifies the weight of flour, sifting or not won't affect the weight. When other dry ingredients are mixed in before liquid is added, whisking is usually suggested.

Everyone should have a digital home kitchen scale. They're inexpensive and very useful for a variety of purposes.

When we were using our bread machine daily, we weighed the flour and got much better results. I wonder why more recipes don’t specify that, since the density of the volume measure can vary so much?

I'll probably always be a "sifter." I like how well it mixes everything and I love not dirtying another bowl and a whisk. Plus, the waxed paper makes it so easy to lift and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet. (BTW, I have wonderful Rubbermaid canisters that take up very little room in the cabinet but allow enough room for scooping. Highly recommended!)

I zero out the scale WITH the mixing bowl on it. so that it's set to zero before flour is added and weighed for the right amount. I can pour or scoop it in carelessly and return any excess to the container. I then add other dry ingredients, whisk, then liquid.

One bowl.

My Grandmother always said that sifting was mainly to find and remove any debris... including bugs... that was in the flour. I always fluff the flour before measuring.

I used to be a sifter, too. These days I usually "fluff" the flour in the canister, measure it out, then whisk it with any other dry ingredients. Never had a problem.

Regarding digital kitchen scales, my daughter gave me one years ago. Funny thinking how I wondered if I'd use it much. Couldn't be without it now.

In Europe everything is weighted and it makes good sense because it is more accurate and you can do what Elmer does and just add ingredients to the one bowl.

Way back flour wasnt stored as well as it is today and it did develop lumps that had to be removed and that was the general reason for sifting. Older recipe books tell you to sift before measuring. Frankly I dont think it makes much difference with most of the things we make. The occasional delicate cake could be affected by excess flour.

Sifting is required if one is keeping kosher for the reasons Kate mentioned, even though I haven't seen foreign stuff in flour since I was a kid. In this case, it's ritual.

Aerating before measuring is essential, but if you empty a small bag into a wide open canister your whole hand and scoop can fit in easily, or use a scoop to fill the canister, then dip/level out of the canister, you can measure pretty accurately without sifting if you know what you're doing (don't knock the sides, etc.) Weighing is much more accurate, though if your flour has taken on moisture, if you're in a very humid place, it might throw off your measurements no matter how you measure.

I have the scale sifter attachment for the KA mixer. It was a gift. Turns out I love it. :) I sometimes still sift to add aeration. A couple of days ago, I was making banana bread by hand. It calls for sifting, but I didn't think it was sifter worthy, so I just ran it through an actual sieve. I do think it helps the texture, as does barely mixing.

Sifting is highly necessary for almond meal and powdered sugar which are both prone to lumps.

When mom was teaching me how to bake, she'd get a spoonful of flour from the rubbermaid tub and lightly shake it into the measuring cup. So that's what I did instead of sifting. Some years ago, I discovered weighing ingredients and how easy, clean, and precise it is. I have a 'cheat sheet' listing weight in grams and ounces for one cupful of the ingredients I most commonly use.

My brother bought me a sifter when he went to the grocery store on Sunday. I had told him that I thought I needed a strainer, but then I found one in the cabinet that i had forgotten that we had, and I let him know. I have a lot of strainers in L.A., and I use them for rinsing rice and beans. I don't usually sift flour, especially when making bread, and I've noticed that I've had to adjust my recipes in desert, as the flour is much drier here and soaks up the water faster, thus requiring less flour.

I have a couple of sifter/shakers that I keep flour in for dusting the counter top. I originally bought one of them for powdered sugar, but I very seldom use that, and so I will use the sifter that Kevin bought for that and take it back to L.A. I bought one flour sifter to Cathedral City and only have one left in L.A.

I do often weigh ingredients, but flour to water in bread varies so much, based on humidity, that that kind of accuracy is not necessary. I know how the bread dough is supposed to feel.

I'm getting an additional Pullman pan tomorrow, but I'll be making pizza this afternoon.

I was indeed taught how to sift when recipes called for that procedure. Haven't seen it requested in ages.

But I admit, I hardly ever bake these days (I am so not a sweet tooth), so I assume I'm just not as much in the baking loop as Mom wanted me to be back in the day.

I came to Oklahoma as an 18 year old, accomplished in cooking and baking. Love my German cookbook. All measurements are weight based. :)

But I got Americanized... and use local recipes, and sift when it calls for, don't otherwise.... and most of the time, everything turns out fine.

But I wish, recipes would be weight based, and the USA would be metric... but that is a different can of beans... LOL

Moni

I can recall sifting flour for one cake recipe 3 times, per the directions. I think it was a pound cake. I also have a chocolate pound cake recipe (my go-to) that calls for sifting the flour and cocoa together, plus the usual dry ingredients. I always do. Seems to make the blending easier when incorporated into the wet ingredients.

And yes to a kitchen scale. Wouldn’t bake without one now.

I ordered a cookbook from Germany when I was in college, Das Große Taschenbuch vom Kochen, and it had all the measurements in metric, plus mostly by weight, but some liquids by liters. I did not buy a scale at the time, but I did buy some metric measuring tools, but I still needed a scale before I could make anything, and so I did not use that book very much. I still have it, but I have other cookbooks that I prefer to use, as that one is quite old now. I can't remember whether this book called for sifting the ingredients, but I do not that they were supposed to be weighed.

The only time I use metric is when I weigh the salt for sauerkraut, and I use 10 grams of salt per pound of cabbage.

Like others have mentioned above, I use a whisk or pastry blender (another golden oldie) to mix my dry ingredients, but I mostly don't bother, and just add them on top of the wet and mix well.

Conversely, if dry ingredients are mixed together first, I often add the liquids in the center without mixing them together first and blend well.

I basically reserve sifting for cocoa powder and powdered sugar. I'm just lazy that way.

I will add tho, if flour is from a bulk bin, it can be a good idea to sift it before using, since I've come across stray grains and seeds from nearby bins before.

I still sift if the recipe calls for it. Most flours are pre-sifted now

I have been baking for over 40 years and never owned a sifter or a scale. I do a lot of dough and other baking. Never had a problem. And I own a tons of very old cookbooks and recipes. Interesting subject, pretty sure I will not change now... I am very careful measuring flour and do as I was taught.

I sifted once, when making Angel Food cake. I think it had to be sifted 3 times, or something. I do fluff my flour it in the canister first with my large scoop then spoon it into the measuring cup.

Aeration (triple sifting is only for aeration) can make a real different. So can using cake flour instead of AP. So can a second rise. So can spring water or purified water or carbonated water. Etc. All this things can make a notable difference in baking. And successful baking can be done with none of these things. Not everyone wants feather fly away cake. Use AP and you'll get a denser, sturdier crumb. Some prefer that. My ADY daily bread likes the flour being sifted. I think it helps the absorption, thence the crumb. It's fine without. I wouldn't do it without the electric sifter, but it makes a difference.

I always sift flour for angelfood cakes....but nothing else.....and I weigh my flour for my daily bread baking....much easier to pour flour into a bowl on the scale until it weighs a pound than to measure 3 3/4 cups. and I use the scale to portion out the loaves.
And I also sift powdered sugar....both as a decoration and as an ingredient....as it is prone to lumps.

Old recipes for cakes or quickbreads assumed that you sift flour to measure it. That was "how to bake" when I first cooked. At some point, maybe in the eighties, that changed. So for newer recipes I just fluff it, then measure. I admit I sometimes look at one of my old recipes and can't remember if I usually sift or not.

I use unbleached flour. Whisk to fluff it up and put in measuring cup and level off the top with a knife or even my finger. I don't shake the measure cup - shaking vibrates the particles and packs them down. Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. What really matters is that you do it the same for recipes so the results are consistent. Bet I have not used my sifter three times in the last 15 years! lol Even powdered sugar is whisked and not sifted. Works for me and I bake all the time.

NEVER understood the point. Saw no difference, so once out from under my mother's eyes never sifted again.

Made brownies last night and the recipe said to sift the flour and cocoa.