Flour ?

[Italiancook]

Which way would make the most flour:

Sifting the flour, then measuring out 2 cups? Or,
Measuring 2 cups of flour by the scoop, then sift it?

When I made the Cranberry Nut Bread, I spooned flour into the measuring cups. Normally, I'd scoop, but I was near the bottom of the canister & had to spoon. I remember Mom's C.N. Bread being extremely moist, but what I made is more moist that I like. I'm thinking next time I should scoop the flour and then sift. But I don't know which method yields the most flour in the batter.

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[S_Wirth]

Italiancook...Measuring the flour by the scoop, then sifting it will yield more flour.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--Perhaps the bread needed to bake longer? Maybe the cranberry orange relish was wetter than the cranberry-orange relish that came in a jar in the 1970s?

[Italiancook]

Thanks, S_Wirth for the assist. Next time, I'll scoop the flour.

BakerAunt, the bread bake time was okay. I inserted the cake tester to the bottom of the pan, and it came out clean. But I was worried about it, so I cooked it an additional five minutes. That made the top way too brown.

Yes, it's totally possible that the relish I used is wetter than what Mom used. Maybe I'll cut it back by 1/4 cup next time.

I've eaten restaurant Banana Bread that has the texture and moistness I achieved today. I don't really like the texture of it. Since it's the restaurant's normal, over time, bread, I have to imagine that it's a fully baked product, as I think mine is.

Maybe all I need to do is scoop the flour. Maybe I'll try that next time and use the full amount of relish. I hate to change more than one variable at a time. Or, more probably, I'll scoop, then check the consistency before adding relish. It if seems soupy, I'll cut back on the relish. Yet, it is supposed to be a moist bread.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--another thought. Is it possible to drain the cranberry-apple-orange relish to remove some of the liquid? Perhaps use a strainer or cheesecloth?

Increasing the flour by perhaps 2 Tbs. to 1/4 cup might also help. Do you know how the flour was originally measured? A lot of older recipes had people scoop the flour with the cup, which would result in more flour being used. I did it that way for years. I think that I only started fluffing it with a scoop and using the scoop to put it into the measuring cup after I began ordering from KAF, and they made a point of saying it should be measured that way or weighed.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for thinking about this, BakerAunt. I've certainly given a lot of thought to it. But I hadn't thought about draining the relish. That makes a lot of sense. I'll do it next time. Unfortunately, that may be a week or so, since I have to have ripe bananas and now have none.

I've also decided to eliminate the milk in the recipe, since the batter was so soupy. My Banana Bread recipe uses the same amount of bananas as this one, but obtains all it's liquid from the mashed bananas.

Since I don't know how the flour was originally measured, I will use the scoop method next time. I may opt not to sift the flour, although I really don't know whether that will solve anything.

There will definitely be a next attempt, because I know how special this bread is when made as my mom did. So thanks for helping me think this through. I'll let you know after I make it again.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Italiancook.

[Mike Nolan]

As flour sits in the container, it tends to compact. The dip, scoop and level method can also compact flour.

To make matters worse, many measuring cups are not very accurate.

So when you scoop out a cup of flour, you could get anywhere from under 4 to over 5 ounces of flour.

Sifting the flour, stirring it before measuring and shaking the container all uncompact flour, so there's less flour by weight in a cup.

I tend to weigh any amount of flour over a quarter cup. If a recipe doesn't say what it considers the proper weight of a cup of flour, I assume 4.25 ounces. Interestingly enough, the USDA database assumes 125 grams in a cup, which is about 4.4 ounces.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike, for the information.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks. Is this the same for all flours?

[Mike Nolan]

All flours will compact as they sit, and it is always a good idea to loosen it up before measuring flour. Weighing flour is always more accurate than dry measuring, but if a recipe doesn't give weights or doesn't say what it assumes a cup of flour weighs, you're going to have to figure it out by trial and error. That's why I take careful notes on any new recipes I try.

Things like sugar and salt that have a more defined crystal shape will not compact very much, so powdered sugar will compact more than granulated sugar.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks. I've tended to either weigh or scoop flour (usually scooping). I'll have to start weighing it. Something that is very nice about weighing over measuring that I've never seen anyone talk about is that it is easier to keep track of the amount when you are interrupted in mid-measure. We have a very busy kitchen and a very active three year old who will toddle in and decide she wants to help. If I am three cups into a measure of five cups I usually have to start over. If I am 16 oz. into 20 I can just pick up where I left off (so long as the scale has not switched itself off).

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