How Many Cups in One Pound of Flour?
If you're looking to find out how many cups there are in a pound of all-purpose flour, bread flour, cake flour, pastry flour or whole-wheat flour, look no further. Note that your measurement will depend upon the type of flour you're using because of the varying densities of different flour types.
To give an idea of weight comparison, a pound is equal to 16 ounces or 453.592 grams. However, the cup is a unit of volume, so we need to factor in the density of the flour to make the conversion accurate.
- 1 pound of all-purpose flour contains around 3 ⅔ cups.
- 1 pound of bread flour contains approximately 3 ½ cups.
- 1 pound of cake flour contains around 4 cups.
- 1 pound of pastry flour contains around 4 ¼ cups.
These measurements assume you're using the traditional method of measuring flour. This involves spooning the flour into your measuring cup, without compacting it, and levelling it off with a knife. Scooping the flour from your jar or bag with the measuring cup may give you a different measurement. Estimates are for a standard US cup.
We've set out a series of pound to cup measurements for different types of flour in reference tables below. If you're looking to convert a very specific number of pounds to cups, you can use our handy pounds and cups converter.
Let's take a look at the measurements for each type of flour. You may wish to know that we also have an article looking at pounds and cups of sugar.
Cups in a pound of all purpose flour
| Pounds of Flour | Cups (US) |
|---|---|
| 1/2 lb | 1.81 cups |
| 1 lb | 3.62 cups |
| 2 lb | 7.24 cups |
| 5 lb | 18.1 cups |
| 10 lb | 36.2 cups |
Cups in a pound of bread flour
| Pounds of Flour | Cups (US) |
|---|---|
| 1/2 lb | 1.75 cups |
| 1 lb | 3.49 cups |
| 2 lb | 6.98 cups |
| 5 lb | 17.45 cups |
| 10 lb | 34.9 cups |
Cups in a pound of cake flour
| Pounds of Flour | Cups (US) |
|---|---|
| 1/2 lb | 1.99 cups |
| 1 lb | 3.98 cups |
| 2 lb | 7.96 cups |
| 5 lb | 19.9 cups |
| 10 lb | 39.8 cups |
Cups in a pound of pastry flour
| Pounds of Flour | Cups (US) |
|---|---|
| 1/2 lb | 2.14 cups |
| 1 lb | 4.28 cups |
| 2 lb | 8.56 cups |
| 5 lb | 21.4 cups |
| 10 lb | 42.8 cups |
Cups in a pound of whole-wheat flour
| Pounds of Flour | Cups (US) |
|---|---|
| 1/2 lb | 2.01 cups |
| 1 lb | 4.01 cups |
| 2 lb | 8.02 cups |
| 5 lb | 20.05 cups |
| 10 lb | 40.1 cups |
Flour densities and conversions were sourced from: The Cake Bible (Rose Levy Beranbaum, 1988), Modern Domestic and the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations.
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