The density of sifted white flour (made from wheat) is approximately: 125 grams/cup, or 528 grams/liter. This information is from www.cookingforengineers.com/article/63/Wheat-Flour, and it agrees with the measurement I made in my kitchen. I recommend this article; it has a good section on measuring flour. The main points are:
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Recipes that give volume measurements for flour should (and usually do) give sifted volumes, because the sifted density is fairly reproduceable, but settling can give a density as much as 1.5 as much as this.
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Measuring by weight is the best way. If you have a recipe with volumes and you want to convert to weights this density is useful – at least as a starting point.
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Some recipes may give volumes converted from weights (or vice versa) using a density of 140 grams/cup, intermediate between sifted and highly settled. There is no easy way to produce this density, so this practice is not helpful. If you have a recipe with both weight and volume given, and the weight/volume ratio is 140 grams/cup, then probably either the volume is right (for sifted flour) but the weight is too large, or the weight is right, but the volume is too small. It may take some experimentation to determine which.
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Some other things the density could depend on, besides whether it is sifted or settled:
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Which components are included; is it whole grain flour, white, or something in between?
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How dry is the flour?
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What grain is it made from – wheat, rye, buckwheat, corn, rice, etc.?
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To give some idea of how much the density can vary, here are some wheat flour density measurements I just made in my kitchen: White all-purpose flour, settled: 183 grams/cup White all-purpose flour, sifted: 123 grams/cup Hope this helps.
