I have a hand sifter (squeeze handle type) and my hands are killing me when I'm done with a bag of sugar. For people that do this professionally or even semi professionally I know there must be an easier way. What's yours?

Thanks for asking this.....I was wondering the same thing.....

With a fine mesh colander-type strainer with a handle. The big one at Wal-Mart is like $5. Works great.

I use a wire whisk and whisk it until it's nice and fine in a great big bowl.

Shelle

I use a fine mesh colander too, but no handle - I found it at a Dollar Only store. I just put it over a large mixing bowl.

I use my good old fashion strainer

I'm glad to find this out. I have been trying the squeeze handle kind and it just won't work. My hand loves you guys! You have saved it from the torture...

I also use the mesh colander. But the 10x sugar does not have to be sifted.

I have a sifter with a crank thingy on the side. Besides my hand hurting I sure make a powder sugar mess! I think I will give the colander a try.

I know what you mean. My hand got so tired of sifting but I read a lot of posts on CC of folks who didn't sift ~ so I stopped sifting. I ususally by 10x at Sam's club but I don't even sift the others either. I haven't personally noticed any difference

I have gone through 3 hand sifters and they all have ended up breaking! Thanks for this post! I was wondering it myself.

This is the sifter that I have

you guys are great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So much help.

I also use the strainer thingy with the handle. Goes pretty fast with it.
FYI... I tried the battery operated sifter from www.KitchenKrafts.com (see pic) but it kept jamming up and it takes too long.

See? I learn something new everyday.

i also have 2 hand sifters, i bought them after always using the strainer. And thinking it would be much easier and faster, boy was i wrong! So i'm back to my old ways w/the strainer and a spatula to help things along. I still think it takes up too much time, but what to do?! i think i sift things 1/2 the time only. The confectioners sugar i buy is good, unless i get it in the box. the box one is usually the clumpy one.

I also bought the squeeze handle sifter from walmart. I gave it way, it stinks. I have been borrowing a sifter from my mil. It's about 30 years old and it has a crank style handle on the side. It works so much faster than the metal strainer with the handle I have. Maybe mine is too small but that thing took forever too. My issue is sifting cake mix. I only sift my powdered sugar when i made fondant. Otherwise I dont worry about it.

I have a large hand-crank sifter. It holds 2# of powdered sugar at a time. I find I always have to sift 10x. Maybe it's the humidity where I live, but even the large bags have boulders in them!

I don't crank it all the way around; just back and forth across the screen. Works for me!!

I use the mesh colander witha handle over a bowl with a whisk!

Grocery List

...pick up fine mesh strainer...

thanks, I've not had much luck in getting the 10x sugar at my store. For the most part I use the 2lb walmart bag.

I have the hand sifter and it is no good.

I like using my mesh collinder also, but my favorite is my food processor.

It works great and quickly as long as you don't mind one more dish.

I bought a nice stainless steel sifter with the squeeze handle and boy that hurts your hand if you have to sift a lot of powdered sugar! It also would jam if you added too much sugar (it has 3 screens). It also took forever to sift the sugar.

So now I use an old fashioned hand crank one - sifting goes fast and is not painful at all. I am hoping it will not rust - I don't know what kind of metal it is made out of...

Like beachcakes, I don't crank all the way around either.

I use this over the sink colander for a sifter-its handles move back & forth, so it can be adjusted to fit any sink. I have a retangle plastic bin that fits under the strainer and covers the entire sink. I don't know how many lbs it holds, but yesterday I did 20 lbs of sugar in 1/2 an hour. It took several batches, it's not able to do 20 lbs at once-but it works wonders for large quantities.

I use the hand squeezie one from Walmart... it's metal and is nice except it has two screens in it, one on top the windmill lookin thing and one under it, PS always gets stuck in there and I think that's nasty.... especially when you go to wash it and it doesn't all come out. I bought large mesh bowl shaped strainers for like spaghetti and such, and they work alright except they would need to sit all the way inside a bowl and still have room to be smacked around because the mesh part comes all the way up the entire side to the tip top rim... not a good idea lol.

Now we don't sift it unless it's really clumpy... it seems to do alright without being sifted...

I USE THE SAME THING AS ANTYLUCIFER DOES. I USE A LARGE S/S SPOON TO PUSH THE SUGAR THRU.

stupid question...how exactly are you using the strainer? My carpal tunnel wants to know.

I don't sift.

But to answer 2508s42, when I DO sift, I just put some into the strainer and hit it on the side with my hand and shake the sugar into the bowl. You can also push through with a spoon.

I use the mesh colander with a handle over a large mixing bowl. I like 4starcakes' idea of using a whisk - I was kind of shaking it against my hand and it sort of makes a mess.

I sift when I really want to be sure that I have smooth icing but I honestly have not found there to be much difference... I only had problems one time with icing clogging up my grass tip when I was making Cookie Monster fir once. But that was a total pain! So whenever I use that tip, I make sure to sift and also add some piping gel to make my icing extra smooth.

I use one w/a crank handle too. I quit sifting my powdered sugar because it never had any lumps in it. I do always sift my cake mix and flour when using the enhanced cake formula. It seems to make a difference in the texture of the cake.