• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Traditional Cooking School by GNOWFGLINS

Dish up the simple joy of healthy, down-home foods your family will LOVE… tonight.

Join 12,000+ families served since 2010!

  • Join Now
  • About
    • About Wardee & TCS
    • Our Team
    • FAQs & Help
    • Contact
  • Recipes
  • Blog
    • Recipes
    • Archives
  • Podcast
    • #AskWardee
    • Know Your Food with Wardee (retired)
  • Shop
    • Bible-Based Cooking Program
    • Print Textbooks
    • eBooks & eCourses
    • Recommended Tools & Supplies
    • More Books We Love
    • Complete Idiot’s Guide To Fermenting Foods
      • Errata
  • Login
You are here: Home » Food Preparation » How To Sift Flour… aka Homemade “All-Purpose” Flour #AskWardee 117

Want our free no-knead ancient grains sourdough bread recipe? Click here to download it FREE!

How To Sift Flour… aka Homemade “All-Purpose” Flour #AskWardee 117

We only recommend products and services we wholeheartedly endorse. This post may contain special links through which we earn a small commission if you make a purchase (though your price is the same).

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

sifter full of whole grain flour turning it into homemade all-purpose flour with text overlay: "How To Sift Flour"

Want our FREE “Home Grain Milling 101” eBook? Click here to download the “Home Grain Milling 101” eBook for FREE!

You want lighter baked goods? Like fluffier bread and light cookies?

Besides using fresh-ground flour, there’s another thing you can do to achieve this. You can make your own “all-purpose” flour at home…. by sifting!

It’s not exactly like the store-bought all-purpose flour (we can’t get it that fine), yet it really works to give you lighter baked goods!

So on today’s #AskWardee, I’m showing how to sift flour into your own homemade all-purpose flour!


Subscribe to #AskWardee on iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube, or the Podcasts app.xx

The Question: How To Make All-Purpose Flour By Sifting

Jeannette R. asked:

If you use Einkorn flour and mill it yourself in your Mockmill, do you only bake with the whole wheat flour? How do you make it into all-purpose flour?

Thanks for this question, Jeannette. 🙂

What Type Of Flour I Bake With

I bake with all whole grain, a combination of whole grain and sifted, or sometimes all sifted flour.

For our hearty bread, I stick to whole grain. This Whole Grain Primer will teach you about the different grains, their uses, and nutrition.

If it’s a pastry item, I often sift or use a combination of sifted and whole grain.

Wait! Isn’t Sifted Flour Unhealthy?

I know, I know…

In whole grain circles, everyone says that non-whole grain flour isn’t as healthy. Because it’s not 100% whole grain anymore.

Right? You’ve heard it, too?

Part of that is true. But it’s not the whole story.

Besides the fact that sifted flour helps you achieve lighter baked goods, there are two health consequences from it. One is good, the other is bad. Neither are the end of the world. 🙂

One is that, sifted flour being more like all-purpose flour, it is more refined than whole grain and therefore may have more of an impact on blood sugar. (So combining with some whole grain or using it in true sourdough recipes, where the starch is reduced, can help mitigate this.)

Second, when you sift flour, as I’m going to show you, you are removing the tougher, outer part of the grain called the bran. The bran is what contains the anti-nutrient phytic acid. (Phytic acid binds to minerals and prevents their absorption, leading to mineral deficiencies.) So in this way, you’re actually making the grain healthier, if you’re not going to use it in a sourdough recipe that would otherwise neutralize the phytic acid.

So you see, it’s not quite cut and dried. There are benefits to using sifted flour just as there are benefits to using whole grain flour.

You have to take all the factors into consideration, such as your desired end result and the method of preparation (such as sourdough).

And thus, I give you permission to make your own homemade all-purpose flour… by sifting!

sifter full of whole grain flour being turned into homemade all-purpose flour

How To Sift Flour a.k.a. How To Make All-Purpose Flour

If you do decide that using some or all sifted flour (a.k.a. “all purpose”) in your kitchen is something you want to do, here’s how to do it.

By the way, you can do this with freshly ground flour —OR— flour that’s been sitting around awhile. In fact, freshly-milled flour is already pretty light and fluffy like sifted flour! You can get it even lighter by sifting, though.

Personally, I prefer using freshly ground flour AND sifting when needed. (In #AskWardee 118, I showed how much flour to grind for your recipes.)

I mill flour with the Mockmill. It’s a great, afffordable home stone grain mill that’s attractive on your counter and can produce flour on-demand for whatever you’re baking! See info about the Mockmill below.

And for sifting I use this 8-cup hand-crank sifter.

The steps are:

  1. Mill your flour (if using freshly ground). Generally, if grinding fresh, you need about half as many berries as cups of flour called for. So if the recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, you’ll grind 1 cup of berries. If you’re sifting, you may need to grind a bit more to account for what’s sifted out.
  2. Put the flour in the sifter a bit at a time, while the sifter is over an empty large bowl.
  3. Turn the crank on the sifter and the sifted flour will fall out into the bowl, while the chaff and tough stuff will stay in the sifter.
  4. Turn the tough stuff out of the sifter (into the compost, if you don’t want to waste it).sifter having turned whole grain flour into homemade all-purpose flour so that just the bran is left in the sifter
  5. Repeat until all flour is sifted.
  6. Yay! You just made “all purpose” flour at home… or close enough!

My Favorite Grain Mill: The Mockmill

As you can tell from this series, the Mockmill is my favorite grain mill and the one I recommend! I’ve been recommending it for a year and lots of you have already gotten one in your homes. Mockmill tells me you’re very happy and I’m glad about that. 🙂

The Mockmill is a home stone grain mill, and it’s engineered and manufactured in Germany by Wolfgang Mock. He started making home grain mills back in the 1970s, so he’s been doing it for over 40 years. It’s estimated that nearly 70% of the stone mills out there are made by him.

man in a beautiful kitchen with open shelving with a Mockmill, the best affordable home grain mill, next to him on the counter

This mill is super exciting because it contains the best features of Wolfgang Mock’s milling career, yet it’s much more affordable. The reason it’s more affordable is because this mill comes in a durable recycled material housing (instead of expensive wood).

I love the Mockmill because it produces super healthy freshly-ground flour with a really fine texture. It doesn’t warm the flour up like some mills do, so the flour is more nutritious. Finally, the flour yields wonderful, light bread!

This mill will also grind all grains, even gluten-free. It can even crack grains for porridge, and it has many other uses (like some spices, nuts, and seeds). Are you ready to unbox your own Mockmill?

See How The Mockmill Works In This Video…

All the details — including the very affordable price and FREE SHIPPING — are on this page. By the way, it also comes as a KitchenAid attachment — very exciting for those who don’t want another appliance to take up any more room!photo collage of two eBooks: "The Mockmill Farm Directory & Milling Guide" and "The Mockmill Recipe Guide"

Also with your purchase of the Mockmill, you’ll get two fantastic eBooks from the Mockmill team: The Mockmill Farm Directory & Grain Milling Guide and The Mockmill Recipe Guide. Both of these eBooks are fabulous!

woman standing in kitchen next to a Mockmill, offering free eBooks with purchase of a Mockmill through January 21st, 2019

And, for a limited time… if you decide to purchase the Mockmill, I’m ALSO throwing in complimentary copies of both my Sourdough A to Z and Einkorn Baking eBook and Video Packages. They’re each worth $64 for a total of $128 in additional bonuses from me.

To claim your extra free bonuses from me after purchasing the Mockmill, just go to tradcookschool.com/millbonus. Have your order # handy, because you’ll need it to claim the two free eBook packages! (Your bonuses from Mockmill will come from them.)

Want our FREE “Home Grain Milling 101” eBook? Click here to download the “Home Grain Milling 101” eBook for FREE!

Helpful Links

  • The Mockmill — my favorite and recommended (affordable) home stone grain mill — Hurry! The limited time offer to get my eBook packages valued at $128 won’t last long!
  • Claim your FREE ($128 value) bonuses from me with your purchase of the Mockmill here!
  • 8-cup hand-crank sifter
  • Free “Home Grain Milling 101” eBook — our entire 4-part series combined into a single, FREE download from me!
  • Home Grain Milling 101, Part 1: The Basics
  • Home Grain Milling 101, Part 2: Milling Gluten-Free Grains Into Flour
  • Home Grain Milling 101, Part 3: Baking With Fresh Ground Flour 
  • Home Grain Milling 101, Part 4: More Fun Things Your Grain Mill Can Do!
  • Where To Buy Whole Wheat Berries, Grains, and Flour #AskWardee 148
  • How To Store Flour & Grains #AskWardee 149
  • Do Sprouting, Culturing, Or Sourdough Reduce Carbs? AW905
  • FREE Webclass: Baking With Fresh-Ground Flour
  • FREE No-knead Sourdough Einkorn Bread Recipe
  • Why I <3 Einkorn — in case you want to know why we bake with the healthier 5,000 year-old wheat called einkorn!
  • Where To Buy Einkorn

Did you know how to sift flour? Do you often bake with homemade all-purpose flour? Share your thoughts and/or tips in the comments!

We only recommend products and services we wholeheartedly endorse. This post may contain special links through which we earn a small commission if you make a purchase (though your price is the same).

Posted in: #AskWardee Food Preparation Home Grain Milling 101 Q & A

About Wardee Harmon

Wardee lives in the Boise area of Idaho with her dear family. She's the lead teacher and founder of the Eat God's Way online cooking program as well as the author of Fermenting, Sourdough A to Z, and other traditional cooking books. Eat God's Way helps families get healthier and happier using cooking methods and ingredients from Bible Times like sourdough, culturing, and ancient grains.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Linda says

    February 27, 2019 at 3:24 pm

    Can you recommend a smaller flour sifter?

    Can you use the bran in fermented cereals?

    Reply
    • Danielle says

      February 27, 2019 at 5:51 pm

      Hi Linda,

      Here’s a 5-cup sifter: https://amzn.to/2EAKEh4

      Yes, you could use the bran in fermented cereals. 🙂

      ~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team

      Reply
  2. Deb says

    May 23, 2020 at 2:26 pm

    I am sprouting einkorn berries. I will then grind them in my manual grain mill. If I sift this flour will it be the same as the einkorn all purpose flour you can buy? https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/food/flour/einkorn-flour/einkorn-all-purpose-flour-organic/24514?package=FL344

    Thanks,
    Deb

    Reply
    • Danielle says

      May 26, 2020 at 8:42 am

      Hi, Deb.

      Wardee mentions sifting sprouted flour in the video. 🙂

      Once you dry and grind your sprouted berries you can sift them.

      Home sifted flour in small batches is not as refined as store-bought but the quality will be better as will be fresher.

      ~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team

      Reply
  3. Sheri says

    February 9, 2021 at 10:12 am

    What about the endosperm? I would guess that it is not sifted out, therefore this A/P flour is not as shelf-stable as the flour you get in the store. This just has the bran sifted out of it. Is that right?

    Reply
    • Peggy says

      February 12, 2021 at 11:23 am

      Hi, Sheri,
      Both store bought and freshly milled flour contain the endosperm. The endosperm takes up approximately 80-85% of the grain so after sifting you will have the endosperm in the flour. Store bought is rancid by the time it reaches the consumer. Home-ground, when ground on-demand is the best way to ensure it is fresh. Otherwise it is best to keep it in a cool location or in the freezer after grinding.
      ~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team

      Reply
  4. Michael S Kaplan says

    February 28, 2022 at 3:11 pm

    Hello, Is there a quality sifter to make all-purpose flour that you can recommend. The ones above have some bad reviews. Thank you, Mike

    Reply
    • Peggy says

      March 2, 2022 at 12:01 pm

      Hi, Michael,
      The sifter she shows above is the one she uses and recommends.
      ~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team

      Reply
  5. Linda says

    January 25, 2024 at 4:30 pm

    Do you use the same usual finest flour setting to grind the flour that you will sift? Wouldn’t the finest flour setting merely make the bran and germ so small that it goes through the sifter?

    Reply
    • Danielle says

      January 25, 2024 at 4:43 pm

      Yes, you would still use the finest setting.

      Home-milled flour will never be as fine as commercially milled grain so you will still have a siftable flour. ?

      ~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team Lead

      Reply
  6. Jackie says

    March 12, 2025 at 4:59 pm

    Does the size of the mesh matter? I have a 40 mesh sifter. It looks different – it’s round and flat like a cake pan. Would that work well to make AP flour? Or would it take out too much of the bran? Thank you.

    Reply
    • Makenzie Reed says

      March 13, 2025 at 9:36 am

      Hi, Jackie.

      That sifter should work great to make “All-Purpose” Flour. 🙂

      ~Makenzie, TCS Success Team

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hi and Welcome!

I’m Wardee Harmon and I help Christian families who know they should eat healthy but are tired of complicated, time-consuming, weird-tasting, and unsustainable “healthy” diets…

…who want to look and feel better, save time and money, and have more energy for enjoying family life and serving Him fully!… like I was. Click here for more…

Recently on the Blog

  • Fizzy Apple Cider Switchel (VAD)
  • VitaClay Review & Buyer’s Guide
  • How to Make Healthy Cookies #AskWardee 006
  • Bean and Barley Soup (Instant Pot, Stove Top)
  • Soaked Spelt Banana Bread (VAD)
  • Ancient Grains 101
  • How to Heal Digestive Issues Naturally (Leaky Gut, SIBO, IBS, Celiac & more)
  • How To Meal Plan In 4 Easy Steps (KYF103)
  • Debunking 4 Sourdough Myths (& How To Overcome Them)
  • How To Use A Pressure Cooker 101

Recently Commented

  • Anonymous on Middle Eastern Kefir Cheese Balls {with free video!}
  • Genelle Johnson on Sourdough Einkorn Rosemary Focaccia
  • SUE mom divorced on 5 Ways to Take Care of Yourself During Your Period
  • YTmp3 on How To Make Healthy Mild-Tasting Mayonnaise #AskWardee 128
  • Debbie on 45 Real Food Copycat Recipes (Olive Garden, Chipotle & more!)
  • YTmp3 on Homemade Sauerkraut In A Stoneware Crock
  • AJ on Homemade Dog Food In The Instant Pot

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Before Footer

g-NOWF-glinz

…are what we eat! God’s Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season.

We love working with other Christian families who love good food and want to eat according to God’s design…

Not only because we believe it’s the healthiest way, but because we want to give Him glory for creating good food as the best medicine!

Learn more about GNOWFGLINS here…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOcH27DM1dI

Eat God’s Way Cooking Program

Our Eat God’s Way cooking program is for Christian families who know they should eat healthy but are tired of complicated, time-consuming, weird-tasting, and unsustainable “healthy” diets…

…who want to look and feel better, save time and money, and have more energy for enjoying family life and serving Him fully!

Join 12,000+ families served since 2010! Learn more here…

Copyright © 2025 Traditional Cooking School by GNOWFGLINS • About • Help • Privacy • Partners

photo collage of how to make all-purpose flour for light and fluffy baked goods, with text overlay: "How To Sift Flour"