I prefer to measure my ingredients. Baking is not like when you are cooking that you can add a little here and a little there. It is all about precision and accuracy so that you get the same end results every time. And yes, it’s true; there are many things that contribute to baking errors.
The quality of the ingredients, the mixing method, the baking pans, temperature, humidity, and most of all, your oven all can be variables that you can’t control when baking. But here is one thing for sure that you can control, and that’s measuring your ingredients.
Unfortunately this is not always true when measuring your ingredients with a measuring cup, especially with dry ingredients. The way you measure your ingredients in a measuring cup, is just another reason why you should weighs your ingredients. Some people “dip” or “spoon” and each technique will give you different results every time.
Weighing ingredients is about accuracy, but it’s also makes things quicker and easier. A scale is so simple to use. Just place the scale on “zero” or “tare”, weigh the ingredient, and you are done. No need to worry anymore about whether you should “dip” or “spoon” your flour into your measuring cup.
Why am I weighing in “grams”? Well to start, it is so much easier to work with. You can take a recipe and double it or you can halve the recipe if you don’t need as much. I tend to stay away from the “ounce” measurement for it refers to both volume (capacity) and weight (mass). The US Measurements have a “weight ounce” and a “fluid ounce”. You can have 4 ounce of flour (weights) as well as 4 fluid ounces of water (volume). Two different ingredients, as well as two different types of “ounces”.
Another question I get asked a lot is “Why does flour weigh 130 grams while sugar weighs 200 grams?” Well, I then ask, “Well, why does 1 cup of rocks weigh not weigh the same as 1 cup of feathers?” We all know that rocks and feathers are two different objects even though they are measured in a cup. Their characteristics are different. Rocks take up more space and are heavier than feathers. The same thing can be said for ingredients as density, therefore weight, does vary from ingredient to ingredient.
In my “Measuring Matters” video, I demonstrate the important of why you should measure your ingredients. Here I use all-purpose flour and sugar as examples.
