# Why Does Everything I Bake Taste Like Flour??



## tgrlily317

This last month it's been particularly bad.  Right now I'm trying to make blueberry muffins and the batter tastes a little gritty and a lot like flour!

I even added less flour than the recipe called for, and splashed in a little more milk and sugar.

What's the problem here?  Does the age of the flour matter in baking?


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## hvacwife

do your recipes call for Vanilla or any other flavoring to take away from the flour??
I've never had that happen.  :?:


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## tgrlily317

Well, lol, some do, and some don't.

If it says to "sift dry ingredients together" do I need to do that if the flour is presifted?  And what about if I don't have a sifter?

It's so confusing.  Actually, I did add vanilla to the recipe last night and it tasted a little better, but only in certain parts of the muffins!  It was so thick it was hard to mix.... *whines* I used to be so good at cooking.

And I bought a new bag of flour,so it isn't the age...


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## Alix

tgrlily...You must sift your flour...otherwise you will end up with too much in your recipe. You don't need a special sifter, just some kind of screen thing will do. Also try to make sure that there are no lumps left...that can sometimes give your food a "floury" taste. Sure hope you get it all worked out.


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## tgrlily317

Thanks, I'll try getting a sifter (or something like that).


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## cooking=love

*muffins*

Is it possible that you overmixed it? I have done that before. It will make muffins kinda hard and not very tasty.  
You can sift or mix alot before liquid hits it, then when it gets wet it starts developing the gluten.


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## jasonr

Sifting flour is useless, unless you're making something super-delicate, like an angel food cake or a genoise. For something like muffins, unless you have totally messed up the recipe, there is no reason for what you are describing to happen. You are definitely doing something horribly wrong, and it has nothing to do with sifting. Why don't you explain exactly how you are measuring ingredients, how you are mixing them, and then how you are baking them.


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## Alix

Jason, I am sure you know much more about baking than I do, but I have run into a similar problem and solved it by sifting and measuring the flour AFTER sifting.


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## jasonr

Hmmm. That's very surpising. How exactly do you measure your flour? You're not packing it down when you measure it, are you?


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## Alix

Not any more! That was one of those things that your mom thinks she has taught you...but forgot. I think that might be part of tgrlily's trouble. Measuring flour is one of those things that someone needs to tell you about. I have no trouble now, but for a while I made a lot of hockey pucks! I wonder if altitude is also an issue. I know that there is some rule if you are at a higher or lower altitude, but can't remember it right now.


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## Psiguyy

Tastes like flour?  Are you talking about raw flour or some other taste?  I'm wondering if you're confusing the taste of something else for the bad flour taste.  There have been instances where I have tasted bad biscuits that had too much baking powder in them.  In this case, they have a slightly bitter chemical taste.  

I'm just having a hard time getting my mind around this.  

Sometimes, flour has a lot of moisture in it so it actually measures out too heavy and you get more flour than expected and what you're making comes out more doughy.  

Is there a chance that you're using a different brand of flour?  If so, go back to the old brand.  

I wish I could help you more, but I'm just not understanding exactly what you're saying because in my mind, all items with flour in them has a certain "flour" flavor where you know that there's flour in it.


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## chefcyn

Alix said:
			
		

> tgrlily...You must sift your flour...otherwise you will end up with too much in your recipe. You don't need a special sifter, just some kind of screen thing will do. Also try to make sure that there are no lumps left...that can sometimes give your food a "floury" taste. Sure hope you get it all worked out.



You can use a wire whisk, too, in your cannister or a bowl to lighten up the flour.  Then measure it by scooping it into the measuring cup with a large spoon, and leveling it off the top with the handle of the spoon, a spatula or knife.

  The only reason to really sift it through a screen is in case you think there might be lumps or foreign matter (Like bugs!!!eww!)


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## marmalady

I'm with PSIGuy - Could it be the baking powder taste?


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## ParrotheadLizzy

I'd definitely start by sifting the flour before measuring - and not shaking it when it is in the measuring cup (or whatever you use), it settles and packs itself, and you'll definitely have more flour than you'll need!

Good luck!


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## scott123

chefcyn said:
			
		

> The only reason to really sift it through a screen is in case you think there might be lumps or foreign matter (Like bugs!!!eww!)



Because the grains are separated by air, sifted flour will incorporate with liquids quicker. This works well when you're trying to avoid gluten formation from overmixing.


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