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If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve probably seen me talk about the CORRECT way of how to measure flour at one time or another.
How you measure your baking ingredients can make or break your success in the kitchen.
It’s actually kind of crazy just how critical this one step can be! I see SO many frustrated comments and messages from you guys asking what could have went wrong when a recipe doesn’t turn out. I would venture to say at least 50% of the time (probably more) it’s due to measurement issues.
The easiest ingredient to mis-measure is flour. That’s because it can be so easily compacted into a container or measuring cup without you even realizing.
Basically, it’s all too easy to accidentally add more flour than the recipe actually calls for. You can also mis-measure other ingredients, but flour is the most common and most damaging if measured wrong. This can yield baking results that are:
- Dry (instead of moist)
- Dense (instead of light and fluffy)
- Crumbly (instead of moist, chewy, or fudgy)
- Tough (instead of tender)
- Rubbery (instead of delicate)
AKA… results that no one wants!
Luckily with a few simple tricks it’s easy to improve your baking by learning how to measure your flour accurately. I’ve laid it all out in the video and instructions below. If you follow these guidelines EACH time you bake a recipe, you’ll see much more consistent results.
How to Measure Flour
Why is it important to measure flour correctly?
Here’s a visual example. The cookie on the left was made by measuring flour with a scale, the one on the right was made with a compacted cup of flour. Those cookies ended up being dry and tough, and hardly spread out:
Do you measure flour before or after sifting?
Whether to measure flour before or after sifting depends on how the ingredient is called for in the recipe. For example, if the recipe calls for “1 cup flour, sifted,” measure the flour first and then sift. If a recipe calls for “1 cup sifted flour,” sift the flour first, then measure.
Fluff Your Flour!
The first step to measuring flour is to fluff up your flour in its container or bag. Simply take a spoon or fork and fluff the flour around inside to loosen it up.
Measuring with a Scale
This is by far the BEST and simplest way to improve your baking instantly. This is my favorite scale by OXO. This one is a cheaper alternative I also like.
Measuring with a scale gives you 100% accuracy. It also dirties less dishes because you aren’t using a bunch of measuring cups. Simply press the zero / tare button to return the weight to zero before adding each new ingredient. The video above demonstrates this fully.
Use my free measuring chart so you know how much 1 cup each basic baking ingredient weighs. Click here to download the chart.
Important note!
1 cup of every ingredient will NOT weigh 8 ounces. That’s because different ingredients have different densities.
If that’s confusing, think of it like this: 1 cup of rocks would not weigh the same as 1 cup of feathers. That might be an extreme example, but as you’ll see once you download the chart, every ingredient has a sightly different density.
The majority of my baking recipes here on Handle the Heat include weight measurements in grams. I find grams to be the easiest unit to work with. Use the chart if you’re unsure of how much an ingredient weighs, or if you’re following a recipe that doesn’t offer weight measurements.
This chart is actually an abbreviated version to get you started. There’s a larger one with more ingredient measurements within the Magic of Baking online class. There’s actually a TON more info about measuring and flour specifically in the class!
Spoon & Level Method
If you don’t have a kitchen scale, this is the second best way to measure flour. This method helps to ensure you don’t accidentally compact too much flour into your measuring cup.
For this method, you’ll place a spoon into a flour container or bag, scoop the flour into your measuring cup until you have a tall mound, then use a knife or sharp object to level off the excess flour. Step by step photos below.
Important note!
Do NOT place a measuring cup directly into your flour bag or container as you will pack in too much flour.
How to Measure Flour with a Scale:
- Use a spoon or fork to fluff up your flour before measuring from your bag or container. Flour easily settles and compacts into its container, which can make it easy to add too much to your recipe.
- Place a large bowl on top of a digital scale. Press the zero / tare button on the scale to return the weight to zero before weighing your flour.
- Spoon flour from a bag or container into the bowl until you reach the desired amount.
How to Measure Flour with the Spoon & Level Method:
- Use a spoon or fork to fluff up your flour before measuring from your bag or container.
- Spoon the flour into your measuring cup until you have a tall mound. Do NOT place a measuring cup directly into your flour bag or container as you will yield too much flour.
- Use a flat sided object, like a knife, to scrape the excess flour back into the container.
Recipes You’ll Love:
Now that you’ve learned one of the most critical how-to’s for baking, make sure to check out some of my top recipes!
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chewy Brownies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts
- Best Chocolate Cake
More science of baking articles:
- How to Prevent Cakes & Cupcakes From Sinking
- Kosher Salt vs. Sea Salt vs. Table Salt
- Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder
- Everything You Need to Know About Sugar in Baking
- Butter vs. Oil in Baking
Photos by Lauren Peachie.
Hi Tessa,
Being a baker in the UK, I find recipes that use the cups measuring system hard to convert into grams successfully. My baking always fails one way or another.
There are some amazing American recipes that I’d like to try, but with previous fails, I’m unwilling to waste ingredients and money.
Is there a foolproof conversation chart anywhere that I can download?
I always use a scale in my kitchen.
Thank you for your emails, I find them really informative
Kindest regards
Deborah
Lancashire UK
Good question. I’ve found that when I look up conversion charts, some differ, even if only by a few grams. For example, I saw one that said flour was 128 grams, and another said it was 125 grams.
I find it so irritating when so called professionals, (Martha, Ina) dig their measuring cup in the flour. Such poor technique to exhibit and getting paid to do so.
Hello Tessa!! Thanks for your tips! I don’t received the guide of measures in my mail 🙁
Get video on how to measure flour.
I learned that at king Arthur when I took my first course.
Ted
Do you ever use a sifter to measure the flour?
LOVE YOUR TIPS AND VIDEOS!
The cookie on the left looks a bit too spread out and flat, IMO. And maybe like the butter was too soft. Is that the cookie you’re saying is best, or just different because the flour has been weighed? I prefer something more like the one on the right.
Great info Tessa and it is always a pleasure listening to you explaining things. Question I have: I made cinnamon buns and froze the unbaked dough. When I wanted to transport them into a box there was liquid sugar on the bottom of the baking tray. How do I prevent that from happening as that is all the good stuff that should stay in between the layers!!
Hope you can help,
Tilly
I have found that pre-sifting flour is a good idea before measuring for a recipe. It works great for my chocolate chip
cookies!
Hi, I’m super excited to have found this blog post. It’s so helpful and I have signed up for the free ingredients chart. I haven’t gotten it yet but I look forward to seeing it in my inbox 🙂
This dish I tried. Very delicious and nutritious. I like it.
I used to wonder why I would ever want to weight my flour when I could quickly scoop some out. lol. Because of your site I always weigh my ingredients now! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge.
a guide, thank you, some of these I’ve forgotten and some I never knew, and I’m sure both forgotten and unknown factors have contributed to my baking “issues”