How do you clean a flour sifter?
#234131 - 12/28/05 02:47 PM
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Angela E.
Reged: 10/14/04
Posts: 2518
Loc: Michigan
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I think I ruined mine because I can't get the flour out of it and now it smells really bad!! Any tips to salvage this one or how to keep the next one from meeting the same fate? I was lazy and didn't clean it right away either with the holiday craziness!
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and buy a new one. NEVER get a flour sifter wet. Then just never wash it. Tap it thoroughly to get all the bits out. Oh - Martha Stewart just uses a strainer - you know those metal wire ones as a sifter - she just dumps it in and shakes it around. Does the same thing.
-------------------- Formerly HanSolo. IBS, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD times 3.
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Duh!! I didn't even think about not getting it wet. I have used it before and did get it wet and it seemed to be clean. Oh well off to the garbage it goes! LOL
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if you have the patience/desire to clean it...use a toothpick! That's what I did with mine....it works...but it takes a few mintues
Just thought I'd suggest it in case you haven't thrown it out yet
-------------------- Formerly known as Ruchie
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Good Question!
#234145 - 12/28/05 03:44 PM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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Amazing that you posted this just when I took my sifter out of the dishwasher.
Unfortunately, they're not stainless steel; they're just cheap metal that RUSTS! I took it out of the dishwasher after the dry cycle had finished, but it was still wet. I took a paper towel and dried it, and what did I get off it? You guessed it -- RUST!
I notice on all the cooking shows on TV that no one uses a sifter; they use a strainer instead. Now I think I understand why. I don't know about your strainer, but mine's rust-proof!
I'd toss that sifter of yours and, if you don't already have a strainer, get yourself one -- a GOOD one; it's worth the investment.
Bevvy
-------------------- <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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I know that when I went to a cooking demo of Heather's she uses a sifter that was her Grandmother's I THINK and she also said she never washes it.... just hits all the flour out of it.
I personally use one of these after rusting 2 of my sifters... LOL......
-------------------- www.facebook.com/shell.marr
www.myspace.com/shellmarr
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I never wash my sifter, either. I just wipe it out thoroughly after every use. I figure flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, etc. aren't really dirty. My mother never washed hers either, and I haven't died yet.. just for future reference.
-------------------- "Anyone can exercise, but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline." -Garfield
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He He! I have learned a great lesson today my friends!! Listen to this though, hubby came home and I told him about the sifter and he said " You don't wash it!! My mom always just left hers in the flour!" How in the world did this man know this? And why couldn't he have enlightened me sooner? Anyways I am way to lazy to pick out the bad stuff so it is now in the garbage on the side of the road waiting for its journey to the dump! I will be purchasing one of those hand held ones because it looks much easier to deal with!!
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Hubby's Right
#234180 - 12/28/05 07:50 PM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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I was always told never to wash the sifter. Usually I don't; I keep it in a large Zip-Loc bag. I don't keep it in the flour because it's too awkward when I want to spoon out only a tablespoon.
The problem comes in when you use the sifter for something other than flour, such as sifting flour AND cinnamon AND nutmeg AND, AND, AND.... because the spices kinda "stick" to the sides of the sifter, then the next time you use the sifter for flour alone, you get some of that spice in it. Thus, ya gotta wash it!
You're right; interesting that hubby remembered his mom left it in the flour. How many men would remember that?!?
-------------------- <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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I just asked Shane,
SHELL: Do you recall ever watching your Mom bake when you were younger?
SHANE: Yes
SHELL: Did she use one of those sifters? (I gave a hand motion of squeezing the handle)
SHANE: Yes, she did!
SHELL: Where did she keep it?
SHANE: I beleive in the flour bag
TOO funny that he remembered that!! LOL
-------------------- www.facebook.com/shell.marr
www.myspace.com/shellmarr
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LMBO!!! I was reading part of this post out loud to Shane...that was on the diet board....
Quote:
"P.S. My husband used to say I farted like a sailor"
Than Shane said: What does that have to do with sifting flour?!!?!? LMBO... I'm crying here I'm laughing so hard!!!
-------------------- www.facebook.com/shell.marr
www.myspace.com/shellmarr
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I don't wash measuring cups that I just use dry ingredients in, so I figured that I don't ever need to wash a sifter that only gets dry ingredients in it, either... I'm just really careful to never get anything "wet" in or near the sifter, and I pound it out really well when I'm done with it. I've never had ANY problem with spices or cocoa or anything like that "sticking" in the sifter.
I know that doesn't help you now, but in case you should decide to get a new one...
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Shell, we call that a sieve. I ruined mine by washing it too and it all rusted, but you can get plastic ones that can be washed and put in the dishwasher, just keep knives away from them as my last one got slashed! Must replace mine too.
-------------------- S.
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Has this things that holds about a cup of sugar/cinammon or powdered sugar. It has a lid and everything. I bet for those who don't need to sift much it would work for that. I have two and have put the sifty part in this dishwasher and never had a problem.
Besides..most flour doesn't have to be sifted anymore.
-------------------- Have a blessed day!...Rachel
stable and sooooooo thankful!
I have IBS but it doesn't have me!
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Alright, this might sound a little silly, but instead of pounding the sifter, why don't you just use the vaccum cleaner on it?
I mean, whenever I'm baking, I always have to clean the floors after (messy cook), so why not just use it while it's out?
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I Disagree
#234250 - 12/29/05 07:54 AM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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"Besides..most flour doesn't have to be sifted anymore."
It does if you want a LIGHT cake made from scratch.
-------------------- <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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That is too funny Shell! I can only imagine the look on his face when you were telling him this and he thought it had to do with flour sifting!! LOL
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I'll keep that in mind Casey when I buy a new one. The old one got pitched! It was starting to stink!! LOL
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Thanks Rachel. I love Pampered Chef so I will have to check it out. I think I have a friend who sells that stuff too! I don't sift everytime I bake.
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OK, I saw this thread when I went to look up a recipe in the index ... and I am so baffled that no one washes sifters. Mine is several years old and I ALWAYS wash it. It is an inexpensive metal one (less than $5) and it is not rusted. I rinse it out first with super-hot water, which will dissolve any leftover residue, wash it with hot soapy water, and follow with another super-hot water rinse. I let it air-dry after that and it's usually dry pretty quickly (within the next thirty minutes).
A LOT of stuff goes into that sifter -- flour, sugar, cocoa powder, spices, leavening, etc. etc. etc. -- and there is no way I would not clean it. You're always going to have some residue left over and if I'm making a white cake I don't want to have any cocoa or cinnamon in it! If I'm making two things at once that both need sifting and I skip washing in between, I am usually sorry, even after wiping it out with a dry paper towel first. There's just something wrong about white frosting that ends up with a mildly gray tinge like it is suffering from incipient cardiac arrest.
Plus, there is that "ew gross" factor. OK, yeah, so maybe only dry ingredients go into the sifter itself. But your grubby little hands are touching the handle and the sides. Even if you scrubbed them off with lye beforehand (and I am willing to bet NO ONE here washes her hands before adding each ingredient), your skin still has natural oils that will collect on the sifter, and if you store your sifter in with dry ingredients, that same stuff will be residing in with the flour or whatever. This is why you also don't (shouldn't) leave measuring cups/spoons sitting around in your dry ingredient bins.
You should also never get a sifter that has a layer in it where anything can get trapped (like hard little flour pellets). These are the kind where these is a top mesh layer and a bottom mesh layer, and in between the two layers is the sifter "blades", which are spun by squeezing the sifter handle. Mine only has one layer and it has a half wire hoop thing that I turn w/ a handle to sift everything through. Nothing ever gets permanently stuck in there! I also have a sieve, but I tend to only use it for smaller quantities since it's more time-consuming to do it that way.
OK, so maybe I seem like a germ freak, but I can't stand it when people don't wash stuff. I mean, yeah, so maybe all that's in the measuring cup is flour -- but you're handling the cup itself and most likely you're setting it down on a counter or some other surface that isn't terribly clean, so right there you should be washing it. When it comes to food preparation, you should always be safe and not sorry. There is nothing in my kitchen that does not get washed after use. Except, like, you know, the blender motor.
And remember -- just because your mother and your grandmother did it that way doesn't mean that it is right, or sanitary.
ugh, I am expressing a fervent opinion in which the word "sanitary" is used, I feel like such a reject now.
-------------------- jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
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Don't ever eat in my kitchen! Haha.
Personally, I never, ever, EVER put my hands *inside* the sifter. I don't put the sifter inside anything like a flour container, either, so I never worry about "contamination" from my hands. And ya know, that's worked for me for the past 24 years that I've been cooking, and it's going to continue to work for me, until the day that I have a full-time servant to clean my cooking equipment for me.
Then again, as much as I'm paranoid about food poisoning from perishable sources, I do believe that some germ/bacteria exposure is a good thing. I feel that some exposure strengthens my natural immunities. Maybe it's crap, but tell you what, I'm sick less often than anyone else I know.
Thank goodness my significant other is the same way. If he insisted that I wash everything, I'd boycott the damn kitchen and make HIM cook. Haha.
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-------------------- Have a blessed day!...Rachel
stable and sooooooo thankful!
I have IBS but it doesn't have me!
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