Gesine Bullock-Prado Thinks You Should Break This Baking Rule

It's not often we hear of baking rules we can break, especially from a professional chef nonetheless. While some culinary masters refuse to weigh baking ingredients (looking at Ina Garten) and others (ahem, Martha Stewart) preach to follow the directions and ingredients to a tee, Food Network's Gesine Bullock-Prado has her own thoughts when it comes to baking — particularly about flour.

"You really don't need to sift flour," she told Food Network. A majority of baking recipes (cakes, muffins, or breads, for example) call for all-purpose flour and may suggest in the instructions to sift prior to incorporating with other ingredients like sugar, eggs, or baking soda. Bullock-Prado, who is an acclaimed pastry chef and hosts "Baked in Vermont" on Food Network, says this is not necessary; however, if a recipe calls for cake flour, then she advises to sift the flour. Cake flour is more likely to clump, she explained.

Whether the recipe needs all-purpose or cake flour, Bullock-Prado highly recommends to "whisk flour with leavening to make sure it's distributed well." Depending on the baked good, leavening could be baking soda or baking powder, or both.

The battle of flours: Cake vs. all-purpose

Unless you're someone who bakes frequently, you may not be aware of the differences between cake and all-purpose flour. And no, it's not that cake flour is used only for cakes and all-purpose for everything else. According to Sally's Baking Addiction, the biggest difference between the two types of flours is the amount of protein, which affects a baked good's softness and fluffiness.

Because cake flour has less protein, it also has less gluten and these recipes are often the softest. However, cake flour is finer and more delicate than all-purpose flour, so it's not suitable for cakes that use fruits or veggies. The same can be said for chocolate cake because it has cocoa powder, which is too fine to mix with other fine ingredients. Per the baking outlet, cake flour is best for vanilla, white, and red velvet cake.

If you can't find cake flour at the grocery store or want to test it out before committing to purchasing, you can make it at home in a flash. Simply scoop one cup of all-purpose flour into a bowl. Then, remove two tablespoons and replace it with two tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift through this new mixture twice, fully incorporating. Voilà! Cake flour!