smitten kitchen

I hope you’re sitting down for this. Depending on how you measure a cup of flour, you might end up with as little as 4 oz and as much as 7 oz, a terrifying thought when using a recipe that demands accuracy. The generally accepted measuring method–and the one you should use for the funny reason that it is the one that the person who wrote your recipe used–is to lightly fluff a canister of flour with a spoon, then scoop the flour into your cup until it is over the top and level it with something flat, trying your very best not to compress it in any way. The most accurate way to measure flour, however, is to weigh it, so if you have a recipe that includes a weight, consider it a plus.

Taking available-light pictures of food at night is difficult, to say the least. Fancy flashes help, but they don’t come cheap, which is why when I saw this trick listed on photojojo.com on using a film canister to take the edge off your built-in flash, I had to point you to it at once. Check it out!

As someone who has had to (shudder) throw away more than her share of flours, trust me when I say that flours are best stored in cool places, away from moisture and in a tightly sealed container. If you use flour infrequently, you can keep it in the freezer, but do let it come to room temperature prior to using it, particularly when using recipes that require yeast. Due to a slightly higher fat content, wholemeal flours don’t keep as long as white flours. Some flours lose their effectiveness as they get older, so it is good to pay mind to their expiration dates.

For the longest time, I couldn’t find bread flour anywhere. And I live in New York City, which is not exactly a place one expects to have trouble finding pantry staples! The one good thing that came out of this was my discovery of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Flour. This stuff is a godsend. To make bread flour, add one tablespoon of it to each cup of all-purpose flour. Think of all the cabinet space you’ll save!

What’s the big deal with the amount of gluten in flour? In general, higher gluten levels create stronger baked goods, like crusty breads and bagels, and lower gluten levels make softer baked goods, like tender cakes and biscuits. Knowing flours by their gluten levels, and not just their names, is helpful when you need to substitute one for another. You wouldn’t want to use cake flour to make bread, but you can get away with all-purpose if you’re in a jam.