UPDATED: February 1, 2022 at 1:56 PM EST Hi, Amy Drew, I still have trouble understanding recipes that call for 2 cups flour, sifted, as compared with 2 cups of sifted flour.

If you really want to be precise, you can use a sifter with a specific mesh number, which denotes how fine it will sift your flour. The higher the mesh number, the finer it will be.

If it calls for “flour, sifted,” you measure and then sift. This is an especially important detail if there are no weights included or you aren’t measuring by the weight called for in a recipe.

First, attack where any flour lumps are building up, then give the entire sifter a good scrub. Finally, rinse the soapy water off of the sifter and then immediately towel-dry it to avoid any rusting.

That’s why you’ll often see “sifted flour” in older recipes. With modern milling and food safety regulations, sifting has become less critical.

Hi, Amy Drew, I still have trouble understanding recipes that call for 2 cups flour, sifted, as compared with 2 cups of sifted flour. And then some recipes call for [ingredients to be sifted togeth… ...