No prep work needed, right? In most cases, flour doesn't require much tending to, but occasionally a recipe necessitates sifting, and it's not a step worth skipping. Sifting is a cooking technique ...

I’ll admit it: Every time a recipe demands that I sift an ingredient like all-purpose flour, I raise my eyebrows. Do I really have to break out an extra tool that’s notoriously tricky to clean?

In Sift, Lamb marries the two. The first section focuses on the “building blocks of baking,” including in-depth examinations of flour, sugar, eggs and fat — the second centres on 100 recipes ...