Even if a recipe doesn't state that sifting dry goods is needed, Williams says she always does it. "I don't think it hurts—it lightens the load," she says, meaning that the result will be a more cloud ...

Should You Sift Flour for Cookies? Fortunately, our Test Kitchen says you can skip the extra step of sifting flour when making cookies. Thanks to advances in the commercial production of flour, most ...

Sifting can also be helpful in very wet batters, as “The King Arthur Baking School” explains with regard to its sticky toffee pudding. The more you stir flour with water, the more gluten forms, which ...

I’ll admit it: Every time a recipe demands that I sift an ingredient like all-purpose flour, I raise my eyebrows. Do I really have to break out an extra tool that’s notoriously tricky to clean? The ...

Q. When a recipe calls for a cup of sifted flour, do you sift before measuring or measure after sifting? A. It depends on the recipe writer, and how well-versed he or she is in recipe writing style.

Here's everything you need to know about cake flour and all-purpose flour, including how to substitute or convert them for ...