Is there anything better than baking season? I think not. Freshly baked cookies, cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, a good old fashioned muffin for breakfast — these make a long winter *somewhat* bearable.
Because we’re in the thick of baking season I wanted to go wayyy back to basics and share a little kitchen tutorial that you may already know, or that may change your baking game for good. Today we’re learning exactly how to measure flour without a scale! I know, I know, using a kitchen scale is truly the most accurate way to measure flour (so absolutely feel free to use one if you have it) but I have a method for you that’s even easier and more accessible in case you don’t have a scale.
This scoop-and-level measuring technique will be one you can use for almost all of your baking projects. Skip the mess and get an accurate measurement every time! I promise it will be a game-changer.
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Common mistakes when measuring flour
If you’ve been guilty of any of these methods for measuring flour, you’re not alone! Many, many people use these methods, but in reality, they’re not the most accurate.
- Scooping from the bag. We’ve all been there — baking in a hurry, trying to follow a recipe, and BOOM in goes your measuring cup right into the bag. This method is not only messy (flour…everywhere…) but it also can provide an inaccurate measurement because it will naturally pack the flour into the cup.
- The shake method. When you level off your cup by “shaking” it, you’ll typically be left with too much or too little flour because the flour settles towards the bottom of the measuring cup.
- The press method. If you press your freshly scooped flour into the measuring cup you’ll end up with a lot more flour than the recipe calls for (unless it calls for “packed” flour). Flour is very light and fluffy, so it’s really easy to accidentally pack it, which results in more flour than you want.
Tools you’ll need to measure flour
We’re keeping this tutorial super simple and accessible by ditching the scale and using what you likely already have in your kitchen:
- Measuring cup
- Spoon or flour scoop
- Knife
Yep, that’s it! I promise the results will be as close to perfect as possible even without using a scale.
How to measure flour without a scale
Are we ready to get down to business? Good. Here is the best method for measuring flour without a scale.
Step 1: use a spoon or scoop to fluff the flour in your bag or jar. As flour sits in a bag or jar it settles, naturally “packs” a bit, and can even create clumps, so fluffing it up helps it redistribute so that you can get an accurate measurement.
Step 2: use a spoon to scoop the flour into your measuring cup until it’s completely full. Be very careful to not press the flour into the measuring cup as you pour it in.
Step 3: use the flat end of a knife to level the flour off on the top of the measuring cup.
That’s it! With the scoop-and-level method, your flour measurement will be accurate and your baked goods will turn out even better.
Should I sift the flour?
Sifting flour will make for lighter and airier baked goods. I rarely sift my flour unless I’m making a super light cake as I find that fluffing up the flour in my jar before measuring does the trick! If you are making something like an angel food cake, feel free to use a sifter to sift the flour before doing the scoop-and-level technique.
What types of flour does this method work for?
The scoop-and-level method will work for pretty much any type of flour you’re baking with! However, be sure to check the ingredient list to see if you should be packing the flour. For example, many of my gluten free recipes that use almond flour require packing the almond flour (just like you would with brown sugar).
Use perfectly measured flour in these recipes
- The Best Cinnamon Rolls You’ll Ever Eat
- Tony’s Very Favorite Dutch Apple Pie
- The Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies You’ll Ever Eat
- Outrageously Fluffy Vegan Pancakes
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cream Pies with Fluffy Peanut Butter Filling
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze
- White Chocolate Macadamia Snickerdoodles
- Chai-Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins with Salted Honey Glaze
Get all of our baking recipes here!
More how-to guides
- How to Brown Butter (plus the BEST ways to use it!)
- How to Make Brown Sugar
- How to Make the Perfect All Butter Pie Crust
- How to Make Oat Flour
- How to Make a Flax Egg (plus recipes using it!)
Get all of our tutorials and how-to guides here! Looking for more baking techniques? Get our Ultimate Guide to Cookie Baking e-book here with all of my best tips and tricks for baking perfect cookies every time.
I hope you love this easy tutorial on how to measure flour! If you try it be sure to leave a comment so I know how it went. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
How to Measure Flour (without a scale!)
Ingredients
- Flour of choice
Instructions
- Use a spoon or scoop to fluff the flour in your bag or jar.
- Scoop the flour into the measuring cup with your spoon.
- Use the flat end of a knife to level the flour off on the top of the measuring cup.
7 comments
My baking improved dramatically when I started weighing flour rather than measuring. This is a great tip for those time when I can’t use the scale – or figure out the conversion quickly.
Thank you! Glad it’s helpful 🙂
I prefer weighing my flour. For the recipes on your site, how many grams are there in a cup of flour.
I found this useless! I know how to measure cups, what I like to know is how many grams to 1 cup.
I do have a scale but you don’t say how much the flour should weigh for, say, one cup of flour. It would be nice to have both types of info. But a big thanks for this info for measuring.
I was expecting to find out how to measure flour without scales, but the article does not mention size of spoon, size of cup or number of spoonfuls! I will try again and look somewhere else. Thank you.
Hi! The size of your tools depends on how much flour you need. For example, if you need 1 cup of flour, use any sized spoon to fill your 1 cup up with flour and then level it off. If your recipe calls for 1/2 cup, do the same. It doesn’t matter what size spoon you use, as you’ll just use that to fill up your desired cup.