Although sifting isn't always the most important step in baking or cooking with flour, it's a necessary step when a recipe ...

You may be familiar with the kind of hand-cranked sifter you see in the photo at the top of this story. If you have one, great. Otherwise, “you don’t have to buy anything special,” Sheehan says.

Many bakers will sift dry ingredients (such as the flour, baking powder, and spices) together to make sure they’re evenly distributed. I recommend still whisking your ingredients together for at ...

4 cups all-purpose flour. ½ teaspoon salt. 1½ teaspoons cracked black pepper. ½ cup olive oil. 1½ teaspoons fennel seeds, optional. Olive oil. Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup water.

There will be some lumps. Accept it and move on -- it will not hurt your fried shrimp. If you want to season the batter with a little garlic powder, black pepper, or some dried herbs, be conservative.

Sifting flour is a fundamental step in many baking recipes, promising lighter, lump-free concoctions. But let's face it — traditional sifting can often leave you with a cloud of flour dust and a mess ...

Beyond flour, it’s good to sift ingredients such as confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder that are almost always clumpy straight out of the package, especially for use in something like a glaze.

I’ll admit it: Every time a recipe demands that I sift an ingredient like all-purpose flour, I raise my eyebrows. Do I really have to break out an extra tool that’s notoriously tricky to clean ...