Best flour shakers – on test

This basic model is a classic dredger design, and while it's super-basic aesthetically speaking, every element of the shaker is strong and high quality. It has a high-grade gauze lid that screws on tightly and a pleasing, well-sized shape, which feels nice in the hand.

Available from Borough Kitchen (£10).

Buyer's advice

Why buy?

While we often like to get stuck into flouring surfaces with our bare hands, a flour dredger with a sieve or punched metal lid ensures an even dusting of flour and better control of ingredients than a traditional sieve, plus they also act as small storage vessels. As well as flour, they can be used for dusting cocoa, icing sugar or spices, which is handy when you need to finish off a bake with a nice neat, fine layer.

What should I buy?

The most important thing to look for is a shaker with an ultra-fine sieve, although chunkier metal shakers with larger round holes are fine to use when roughly dusting surfaces for kneading bread dough, for example. If you’re pressed for cupboard space, you might want to choose one without a handle. A see-through design allows you to monitor levels of powder, or indeed what the powder is – you don’t want to end up dusting your finished cake with flour after all...

What did we look for?

A quality sieve: For the purposes of a flour shaker doubling up for use as an icing sugar duster, you should buy a shaker with a super-fine gauze, but those with sturdy metal tops are good for bread-making.
Easy to clean: It’s important to keep the sieve clean, so we looked for tops that scrub up easily.
No waste: We looked for a shaker that didn’t lose too much of the ingredient inside.
A secure lid: As you're constantly tipping the shaker upside down, it's essential the lid screws on tightly.
A compact cylinder: All three bakers preferred a small, compact shaker to models with handles as they require more storage space.

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This review was last updated in September 2020. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.

For more product rundowns, visit our review section. For more flour power, visit our baking page.