As I watch many people measure flour for recipes I have noticed a very common mistake that can hurt the end result of your baked good. This mistake is that we measure flour incorrectly. Flour becomes packed very easily and a packed cup of flour weighs quite a bit more that a properly measured cup of flour. Many people just scoop up a cup of flour right out of the container which just packs it even more, I have made this mistake many times when I first started baking. A properly measured cup of white flour should weigh about 4.25 ounces.
So What is a Proper Way to Measure Flour
- With a large spoon, stir and fluff the flour in the container.
- Gently scoop the flour out of the container and into a measuring cup till overflowing.
- With a flat edge, like the backside of a butter knife, scrape the top of the cup flat.
See video for a demonstration of how-to do this properly.
You will have the best results with the recipes on this website if you properly measure your flour.
If you have a kitchen scale, you can measure it to exactly 4.25 ounces if you like.
Thanks for posting this! My first two baking attempts were with the white no-knead loaf recipe; they tasted fine, but I figured that they had too much flour and now I can adjust accordingly. I am very quickly getting spoiled with home-baked bread!