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Hi Bold Bakers!
As all of you know, delicious and high-quality baked goods are built from the ground up! From the actual ingredients you use to the tools and techniques you practice, Bold Baking is all about striking that balance between taste and technique.
To truly learn how to bake, you should be learning the basics. My Bold Baking Basics series was created for that reason and features things like how to make your own Homemade Butter or Homemade Brown Sugar. But, I think it’s important to go even deeper — even more basic. Let’s talk How to Measure Flour.
What kind of measuring cups do you use to measure flour?
To start off, you want to make sure you are using the right tools for the job. A drinking cup, a coffee cup, and things of that sort are not actually a proper way to measure a cup of flour — or any ingredient for that matter.
Treat yourself (or the baker in your life) to a nice set of measuring cups. Here are the cups I use for Bigger Bolder Baking.
How to Accurately Measure Flour
Now that you’re all set with the correct kind of measuring cup, you’ll want to address the way you scoop your flour. There are two ways to skin this cat, you’re either a spooner or a scooper.
The spooners fill their cup up spoonful by spoonful and they level off with a knife. If you spoon this will give you a little more air in your cup. This means 1 cup could be somewhere in and around (4 1/2oz/128g).
However, I’m a scooper, so for all of my recipes, I dunk my cup into my jar of flour and level off. This method means that my 1 cup of flour will weigh (5oz/142g). So if you following my recipes just note that I like to scoop and maybe my cup is a little fuller than other websites or blogs. The good thing is that my weight is consistent across all my recipes so along as you follow them accurately, your recipes will work out perfectly.
![how to measure flour, measuring flour, measuring flour properly, how to measure flour properly](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 683 1024"></svg> "How to Measure Flour")
Do I have to level off my flour?
Once you’ve scooped enough flour into your cup, you absolutely want to make sure to level it off. I always do this. I like to level off my measuring cups with the blunt edge of a butter knife.
To do this, I swiftly run the knife’s edge over the cup allowing the excess to be swiped away. If my cup isn’t full after I level, I add a bit more then level it off again. This, in combination with spooning the flour into the cup, ensures there is never too much flour and never too little, and my measurement is always just right!
Not All Flour Is Created Equal
The last thing to know is that just like brown and white sugars have different weights, different kinds of flour vary in weight.
From whole wheat to white to rye, each one of these grains is ground differently, and while they all end up to be a fine powder they can still vary in the weight per cup. To get the MOST accurate measurement of all, I suggest using a scale to get the grams and ounces measurements. Baking is about precision and a scale will get you the most exact weight. You can take a look at my handy Weight Conversion Chart for more information.
I also know this is a kitchen tool not everyone has, but I suggest making the investment if you love to bake. I have had an OXO Digital Scale for many years and it was well worth it.
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