A basic question, no doubt answered many time by now,

[BarbaRosa]

but I'm kinda new to baking.

When the recipe calls for one cup of flour, sifted, do you measure and sift, or sift and then measure?

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

1. Sift then measure.

But, a lot of flour is pre-sifted today so it's not as easy as it once was since older recipes call for sifted flour and most newer recipes tell you to scoop and level.

I'm a lousy baker so me it's easiest to weigh the flour. One cup of sifted, all-purpose flour weighs about 4 1/2 ounces.

[grasswire]

2. what you definitely do not want to do ...

....is pack the flour into the measuring cup.

[Warpy]

3. I scoop and sweep and dump it into the sifter

and then add other dry ingredients to blend them all while I'm sifting.

Sifting is only to aerate the flour and remove any lumps.

I've never had any problems with cakes when I've measured first, and they're the fussiest things I do.

[hippywife]

4. I don't really sift at all.

I put all of my dry ingredients together (scoop and sweep) and then mix them well with a wisk. Would I have any better results if I sifted? Maybe, but I've yet to have bad results. :shrug: