When picking flour for cooking, have you ever wondered how many cups of flour in a 5 pound bag? If the answer is yes, then this article is for you. Read now!
When buying a five-pound flour bag, your imagination might be loads of cookies you can make or dozens of loaves of cakes you can bake. However, if you’re a pizza lover, you might also want to consider the best type of flour for making the perfect pizza crust.
We know flour is packed by weight, but in many recipes, it is listed by cups. And when you are baking, it’s critical that you measure flour exactly. But do you know how many cups of flour in a 5 pound bag? We can tell you in this article. Let’s dive right in!
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How Many Cups Of Flour Are In A Pound?

When it comes to cups of flour in a pound, it varies on the flour’s type you have. For example, cake and rice flour are heavy and thick.
These flours will hold more cups in a pound than lighter flours, such as all purpose-flour. To be specific, you can refer to some of the calculation below:
- All-purpose flour: One pound contains around three ⅔ cups.
- Bread flour: One pound has nearly three ½ cups.
- Cake flour: One pound is about 4 cups.
- Pastry flour: One pound has about 4.28 cups.
How Many Cups Of Flour In A 5 Pound Bag?
Knowing how many cups of flour in a bag is all about knowing the type of flour; and how you measure it, affecting the volume of flour taken.
The way you scoop the flour into the measuring cup influences the quantity of flour in a cup and the number of cups in a bag of flour.
For example, you dipped the cup into the bag to get flour, and then scooping it out results in your cup filled with much flour. Thus, the number of cups taken from a bag has decreased significantly.
On the other hand, if you sift the flour into a cup, you can cause more air volume in a flour cup. Therefore, there will be more cups of flour taken from a bag.
Also, as we said before, different types of flour have different weights and volumes. Here we provide you a list of different kinds of flour with their cups of flour in a 5-pound bag:
Name of flour | Cups of flour in a 5 pound bag |
All-purpose flour | 18.1 cups |
Bread flour | 17.45 cups |
Cake flour | 19.9 cups |
Pastry flour | 21.4 cups |
Whole-wheat flour | 20.05 cups |
How Are Sifted Vs. Unsifted Flour Different?
To solve clumps in the flour and make it lighter, bakers often sift flour before noting it into a recipe. The sifted flour usually has less weight but occupies much volume than the unsifted flour.
When you sift flour, keep an eye on the recipe. If it says “One cup of sifted flour,” then you have to sift it before measuring the flour.
Sometimes the recipes say, “One cup of flour, sifted,” then your flour should be measured, then being sifted.
What Should You Do To Measure Floor Exactly?
You need to measure the flour before baking or cooking precisely. If not, your finishing may not be perfect as you expected. Here we give you some advice on measuring flours exactly.
Be sure that you’re using the right measuring cup made for dry ingredients. And we recommend you spoon flour into the cup, then get the back of a knife to level off the surface, instead of directly scooping flour out of the bag.
When spooning flour to the cup, don’t shake the cup or put it hard down the counter, or you may flatten the flour by pressure and get much more flour you need.
Final Words For Article How Many Cups Of Flour In A 5 Pound Bag?
As you can see, a 5 pound bag of flour is about 17 to 21 cups of flour. Of course, this estimate is not entirely true in all, depending on the brand name, the type of flour, and the flour sifted when poured from the bag.
We hope our answer to how many cups of flour in a 5 pound bag satisfies you and helps you cook your dishes. Goodbye and see you in our next article!