I couldn't wait to get a sifter. You know the one with the squeezy handle? Well I got it today and now the mesh strainer that I used to bang with a wooden spoon to sift my sugar and flour doesn't seem so archaic anymore! The squeeze handle sifter took FOREVER and a lot of the PS got stuck in it until it was rinsed out. I prefer the strainer.

How do you sift? Is there something better?

I use an old strainer and a spoon too. I've never really seen the need for anything else. But - I've heard that they have electric sifters that you can just switch on and you don't have to keep cranking away at. I've heard that people like them, too.

I prefer my mesh strainer. It's a lot faster than my sifter.

I have a large mesh strainer probably for produce. It has a medium size mesh so it is reasonable quick to sift. The only bad thing is that it's a wide bowl and it's hard to sift directly into my kitchen aid bowl.

Mesh strainer ...hands down!

Just for reference the one I use looks like this http://www.fantes.com/images/8082strainers.jpg
It's not the little hand held ones.

I was just asking myself the same question yesterday. I DISLIKE my sqeeze handle sifter. I think I'm going back to the mesh strainer! The electric one sounds fun though

I use a mesh strainer and just bang on the side of it. I don't have the patience to stir it with a spoon.

When I do my purees, I use the back of my ladle instead of a spoon. It takes way less time.

Theresa

I have a squeeze handle sifter which I use by tapping against my free hand like you would a strainer. Squeezing the handle is a lot slower, I tend to only use that function a couple times during sifting to help break up some of the lumps.

A big mesh strainer i bought at Walmart for $4 a couple years ago. I use a wisk and stir it and try to push it through at the same time. Works great!

I've nearly worn a mesh strainer out, the poor thing's handle has to be put back on and it's got a hole in the top. I have got to remember to pick a new one up!

I hate anything that makes me do repetitive action like squeezing a sifter. I have enough problems with my wrist from everything else I put it through w/o that silliness!

Just be sure to have a bowl that's quite a bit bigger than your mesh strainer to keep your sugar or flour, etc contained. I have one that fits perfectly inside my KA 5QT so no muss, no fuss when I sift cake ingredients right into the bowl.

I have an 8-cup hand crank sifter, i hate those squeeze ones, they hurt my hand like no other.

I finally got this last christmas as a gift and I LOVE IT!! i so wish i would have invested in it earlier.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000CFTYV/?tag=cakecentral-20

For flour, I use a big bowl-shaped strainer over a bigger bowl and tap it on the heel of my hand, while holding the strainer handle in the other hand.

For pure icing sugar (powdered sugar) I use a superfine 10 inch drum sieve, which is imperative to get out all the grains of sugar that may remain, especially for royal icing piping and extension work. I fit the sieve over a bigger bowl and push the powdered sugar laboriously through the mesh with a gloved hand. There's no other way I have found to get rid of every last grain of suage that is not powder!

I have also been known to first put lumpy pure icing sugar through my powerful big food processor for a couple minutes...it makes a huge difference!

I used to use the squeeze handle sifter too until I figured out how much easier the mesh strainer was. I will never use that stupid sifter again. Took me a long time to switch, because for some reason I thought the mesh strainer wouldn't sift as well. Haven't noticed a difference!

Wow! Thanks everyone for your input. Just goes to show that sometimes fancier just isn't better than old fashioned. In fact, many times that's the case. I could have kept that money in my pocket because I was already doing it "right"! Ah well, live and learn

I had the squeeze kind of sifter, I HATED IT & SO DID MY ARM & HAND....so I was using a mesh strainer with the handle, big bowl, bang bang on the sides, all done, yeppie....WELL...... dear darling hubby seen me (& really I've been using it for over a yr or 2 at this point) he asked why I didn't have a sifter, I told him I did, PS got trapped in the bottom, plus it hurt my hand to use it.......BLESS HIM he's sooooo sweet, He went to town for something at the local hardware store & came back with the crank kind & a single mesh, so nothing gets trapped...I LOVE HIM, but when he's not around out comes my strainer, so strainer in one hand, bag of PS (or scooper) in the other. One hand sifts while the other keeps the sifter (strainer) full of PS. All I want now is a bigger mesh strainer, LOL.

I use a big mesh strainer that fits on top of a 22 qt food container. I get most of a 25 lb bag of powdered sugar sifted into that. stir/sift for 20-30 minutes, sugar for a few weeks.

I had a similar experience with the squeeze handled sifter. Halfway through, my hand cramped up and I lost some of the ingredients to the sifter. I'm back to the old-fashioned but reliable method of sifting by hand. Works like a charm.

I have two mesh strainers. One with medium mesh for sifting the cake mixes, and one with very fine mesh for sifting flour and powder sugar.

I usually do not sift in the bowl I am working with because it usually makes a little mess around the bowl on the counter.

What I do is I set two big cuts of parchment paper and sift on those, as many times as I have too. Transfering it to any bowl is a breeze.

I have an electric sifter. I bought it from pastry chef central. And although it doesn't hold a huge amount, I really like it. I weigh most of my ingredients but when I do need to sift ( icing sugar for gumpaste or cocoa ) it works great. It really is not that expensive. And it sifts quite fast. The handle which holds the batteries is detachable and everything else can go in the dishwasher.

I just read on another post that an instructor told the decorator that if you store your PS in the freezer it helps cut back on the dusting effect when adding it in the mixer.

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-50039-360.html

if it starts at the beginning, it's in a quote on page 25