Why would you need to spoon the flour?!


Question:

Why would you need to spoon the flour?

I have a cake recipe which calls for one to "Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup" - 2 1/4 cups worth. I've heard of sifted, unsifted, unpacked, lightly packed, firmly packed, etc - but I've never in my life heard of spooning the flour.

I was wondering if this is a necessary step, or is this just like "crack egg with your left hand and turn around 3 times" kind of superstitious nonsense? And if I really do need to spoon the flour, for how long should I spoon it - 10 minutes? Fifteen? Until it falls asleep? Okay, I'm kidding about that part, but really - what is the purpose of "lightly spooning the flour?"


Answers:

Spooning the flour is to prevent compacting it in the measuring cup. Its basically the same principal as sifting, only it doesnt break the flour into such small particles.

When baking, it is always better to measure flour by weight than by volume. A compacted cup of flour and a sifted cup of flour are drastically different ammounts, but a pound is a pound the world around.




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