What is the point of sieving flour etc?

Blobbenstein

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Is sieving flour just a hangover from a time when there might be bits in flour, eg a stone, or an insect?

I've made a few cakes in my life, and I don't think flour etc needs to be sieved, although they do it on cooking programs.
 
Is sieving flour just a hangover from a time when there might be bits in flour, eg a stone, or an insect?

I've made a few cakes in my life, and I don't think flour etc needs to be sieved, although they do it on cooking programs.

Too remove any lumps and it also adds air. Moreover if you're adding raising agents such as baking powder and/or soda they will be distributed evenly.
 
Adding air increases the volume of the flour, so a cup of sieved flour is less than if it's "packed." It can affect how your recipe turns out.
 
I've made a few cakes in my life, and I don't think flour etc needs to be sieved, although they do it on cooking programs.

The answer might lie in a comparison of your own cakes with those typically shown in those cooking programs ;-)
 
The answer might lie in a comparison of your own cakes with those typically shown in those cooking programs ;-)

Not necessarily as it also depends on what kind of cake you're making. Dense cakes such as fruit cakes,muffins and rock cakes can do without sifting. However as I have previously stated it helps to distribute raising agents.