Each ingredient in a recipe has a specific function. Substitution of one ingredient for another may alter the taste, color, moisture content or texture of the product. For this reason, it is suggested that ingredient substitution be used in unexpected situations only.

Flavoring oils and extracts can be easily substituted for one another in most recipes. Since flavoring oils are so much more concentrated, you only need a few drops in place of a teaspoon of extract.

Common Ingredient Substitutions

Answer: Take a can of tomato sauce and try some of these substitutions: 1 cup ketchup (for use in cooking): substitute 1 cup tomato sauce, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 tablespoons vinegar.

Substitute with 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch, potato starch, rice starch or arrowroot starch; or 1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca. All-purpose flour, 1 cup sifted. Substitute with 1 cup unsifted all-purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons; or 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour.

If you don’t have a sieve or a sifter, however, fear not. You can sift flour with a whisk. A whisk both mixes and aerates in one, simple power move. You can also use a fork, but a whisk works a lot better.

Putting your flour through a sifter will break up any lumps in the flour, which means you can get a more accurate measurement. Sifted flour is much lighter than unsifted flour and is easier to mix into other ingredients when making batters and doughs.

There is a big difference in the weight or amount of flour. 1 cup flour, sifted means you put the flour into the cup and then sift it. 1 cup sifted flour means to set the cup on a counter and sift the flour into the cup until it mounds above the top. Then, with a metal spatula or knife, level it off.

Now, most commercial flour is refined and clump-free, meaning there’s no real need to sift it. (You should, however, use a kitchen scale to ensure that your cups of flour aren’t way heavier than the recipe developer’s.)

We need to sift flour because it is much easier to mix when forming batter or dough. When flour is sifted with any other dry ingredients, the sifting takes place in which it is also easier to mix with each other.

Dry ingredients like salt, baking soda, baking powder, or dry milk are sometimes sifted together, in order to distribute them better. And cocoa powder or powdered sugar are often sifted to remove lumps. Whisk: If you don’t have a fine-mesh sieve, just add the flour to a dry bowl and whisk it briskly.

If you want to thoroughly mix together ingredients, you have to actually mix them. It is not rocket surgery to mix together some flour and other dry ingredients in a bowl. This is because if you don’t sift the flour in these recipes before you measure it, you’ll end up with the wrong amount of flour.

Do we rreeeaalllyyy have to sift the flour when baking? No, and yes. Sifting is meant to aerate flour before it is incorporated into a dough or batter.

Strainer, sifter, sieve (pronounced like give with an ‘s’), whatever you call it, a sieve is an invaluable kitchen tool. Used to strain liquids or sift dry ingredients, a sieve is simply a mesh bowl with a handle attached.

It could be cooked unevenly, have too little flour or too much fruit, or merely be undercooked. Checking the oven temperature, using the right sized pan, accurately measuring ingredients, and checking the bread for doneness before taking out of the oven can keep your banana bread from being too wet.