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Hi Brenda - I think that rule may date back to when flour had more of a tendency to clump. All of our Milk Street baking recipes assume that you have not sifted the flour before measuring and we strongly recommend weighing dry ingredients in baking for accuracy. When I did recipe testing a few years ago for an Angel Food Cake recipe, I found that sifting and whisking achieved the same basic results. So, for ingredients that might tend to clump such as cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, and cake flour, you can simply whisk them to break up any clumps after measuring. The only exception is if a recipe you are using calls specifically for sifted flour, since the weight of sifted flour is quite a bit different than unsifted flour. Here's a great article about sifting in which several chefs are interviewed on their opinions as well. Best, Lynn C.
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Hi Brenda - I think that rule may date back to when flour had more of a tendency to clump. All of our Milk Street baking recipes assume that you have not sifted the flour before measuring and we strongly recommend weighing dry ingredients in baking for accuracy. When I did recipe testing a few years ago for an Angel Food Cake recipe, I found that sifting and whisking achieved the same basic results. So, for ingredients that might tend to clump such as cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, and cake flour, you can simply whisk them to break up any clumps after measuring. The only exception is if a recipe you are using calls specifically for sifted flour, since the weight of sifted flour is quite a bit different than unsifted flour. Here's a great article about sifting in which several chefs are interviewed on their opinions as well. Best, Lynn C.