Do I need to sift flour for quick breads?
I am making mini quick breads for Christmas. The recipe calls for 3 cups of flour.
Do I need to sift the flour? If so, should I sift it before or after measuring?
Best Answer
quick breads are typically dense and do not require sifting, they also do not require kneeding. They are supposed to be quick and easy :)
If the recipe calls for "3 cups of flour, sifted" then you would measure 3 cups of flour, and sift that. I have never seen a recipe call for "3 cups of sifted flour" but if it did you would have to sift, and then measure. Hope this helps.
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Should you sift flour for quick breads?
Sifting flour isn't necessary when making bread. Flour is sifted to incorporate more air into a mixture, but bread is risen by the CO2 that's produced by the yeast and any air added at the start will be pushed out when kneading. You may want to sift flour if it contains certain impurities or bran.Should I sift my flour for banana bread?
Do we rreeeaalllyyy have to sift the flour when baking? No, and yes. Sifting is meant to aerate flour before it is incorporated into a dough or batter.Why is sifting important in quick bread?
Putting your flour through a sifter will break up any lumps in the flour, which means you can get a more accurate measurement. Sifted flour is much lighter than unsifted flour and is easier to mix into other ingredients when making batters and doughs.Does sifted flour make bread dough lighter?
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Answer 2
Sifting flour is to introduce air into a cake mixture.
Any air you introduce in this manner to bread, is going to get knocked out when you knead anyway. Bread gets its lightness from rising with yeast (or soda). So, there's not need to sift flour when making bread.
Reliable bread recipes give flour quantities by weight, precisely because the amount of flour in a cup can vary hugely depending on how compacted it is.
If your recipe gives a weight alternative, use it.
If not, just pour or scoop and hope for the best - make a note of the weight you end up with, then you can fine-tune if you make the recipe again.
Or find a better recipe!
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Images: Klaus Nielsen, Klaus Nielsen, Andres Ayrton, Klaus Nielsen