One of the things I started to research towards the end of last year in anticipation of getting my AGA cooker, was British recipes.
As I started to collect recipes I wanted to test out in my new oven, I noticed they all had something in common… Most of the recipe ingredients were in grams.
Which of course, being an American, was a totally foreign concept to me.
Weighing your ingredients? Who does that? Well, according to the Google, apparently pretty much everyone in the world except the U.S, Liberia, and Myanmar is on the metric system.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I took a class at the King Arthur Baking School and there too, all the recipe ingredients were mostly in grams as well.
In fact, on the first day of class we were each given a KD 7000 digital scale to use at our work stations.
I loved using the digital so much that even though I have a more traditional scale, I’m thinking about buying one because the digital scale is so precise.
Anyway… Before we began baking, our instructor went over the reason why they use digital scales in baking by asking everyone how they measure a cup of flour. And then she did a little demonstration on based on how people in the class measure their flour at home.
Note: According to the King Arthur Flour Ingredient Weight Chart, 1 cup of all-purpose flour should weigh 120 grams.
For years I always just scooped up a cup of flour, used an icing spreader to level it off and then added the cup of flour to whatever recipe I was making.
WRONG! When I did this at home and weighed a cup of flour on my husband’s tiny espresso coffee scale, the cup of flour weighed 160 grams. {40 grams of flour too much.}
Our instructor told us that if you don’t have a scale at home, the best way to measure flour is to fluff it up a bit, add it to your measuring cup and then level it off with the back of a spreader.
Then she went on to show how some people will pack their flour into the cup and how that too was the wrong way to measure.
I re-created this scenario at home and weighed the flour and was shocked to see that the packed up of flour weighed in at 180 grams {60 grams more than it should have been}.
Eventually I weighed out one cup of flour {120 grams} on my traditional scale.
And was surprised that when I transferred the flour to the digital scale it was slightly off by about 6 grams.
In a cookie or cake recipe where you’re using 1-2 cups of flour, 6 grams really isn’t going to make a difference in how your recipe turns out.
But if you were someone who packed their flour into their measuring cups, or didn’t “fluff” the flour before adding it to the measuring cup, 40-60 grams per cup {1.4 – 2.11 ounces!} is going to make a difference.
Anyway, I found the whole thing interesting and since the class, and researching new British recipes to try in the AGA, I’m sold on the metric system.
So from now on, I’ll be weighing my ingredients.
So how about YOU? How do you measure a cup of flour? Do you fluff your flour before measuring? Scoop and level? Pack it in? Weigh it? Or maybe you do something else entirely to measure a cup of flour.
Curious minds want to know.
~Mavis
Kath says
I spoon it into the measuring cup, then level it off. No scooping with the cup and no packing it in.
Linda says
I do the same, but use a digital scale for brown sugar. It makes it so much easier to incorporate brown sugar that hasn’t been “packed down.”
Katelyn says
I do everything by weight and I LOVE IT. Not only is it easier and more accurate but I don’t have to wash a whole mess of measuring cups! I even make things like homemade ranch salad dressing by weight (so no more washing greasy cups of sour cream and mayo!). You do need to get used to and comfortable with doing some math (I usually ask Alexa so I don’t also need a calculator). I think once people try it, they’ll be shocked at the difference!
KC says
YES. No dirty measuring cups! Weigh straight into the final mixing bowl – just zero it out when you put the bowl on, and zero the scale out after you add each ingredient. I have and love the OXO scale.
(use teaspoons, though; the gram measurements aren’t precise enough for that)
Also, as someone who has been known to bake “by feel”… and then be asked for the recipe, oops… I also love that the scale can accommodate “by feel” baking *and* give me the data to reproduce a recipe that I only know by feel; I can add flour until it’s “right” and the scale will tell me how much flour that was. It’s glorious!
I’d note that flour measurements should be done the same way the recipe-writer did them, though, or you’ll get odd results. I was brought up on the scoop-and-cut-level-with-a-butter-knife method, so my mom’s recipes need *that* weight instead of the 120g weight. But most recipe writers don’t specify, so I also prefer recipes that have weights now.
(and if you’re using – or if a recipe specifies – Diamond Crystal kosher salt, read up on the conversion between kosher salt brands vs. table salt for teaspoons/tablespoons, because that is another big fat mess that is easy to make mistakes with if you’re using a different salt from the recipe author. I think there’s a Smitten Kitchen page on it? But anyway, it’s much like sifted-into-the-cup vs. packed-into-the-cup and can make a huge difference in undersalting/oversalting a recipe.)
Sue R. says
Very good point about using the same method as the recipe-writer did–especially on old family recipes!
Sherry Selby says
I’m in the United States, and ever since I started making bread I like to bake using the metric system. Today I was trying to convert a cookie recipe into grams rather than teaspoons and cups. I used three different types of cups and measured them on my scale. Each one weight over 140 g. I loosely spooned the flour in to each different vessel, and they weighed anywhere from 142 to 146. How can that be? Everything I’ve read says one cup of flour should weigh 120 g. And as I mentioned, I did not pack it at all. The metric system is the only way to go.
Diana says
I don’t do much baking now, but I remember as a child doing a lot with my Aunt and Grandmother. We always sifted the flower before measuring it out. Now I know why.
Gretta says
Our mom’s and grandmoms always sifted the flour first. So that would make sense that it would fluff up the flower. I always weigh on a digital scale.
Katie C says
If it’s not something I’m weighing, I fluff the flour before scoop/level. I think it’s just one of those things that people aren’t taught so much anymore. As somebody else commented, we used to sift our flour first, which I agree, is similar to fluffing it before measuring. My mom taught me how to measure (fluff/scoop/level) and to use a scale for artisan breads, and now I annoy my young/teen kids with proper measuring, haha!
Susan says
I use a digital scale when baking because I bake a lot of bread and don’t want to risk failures.
I’ve printed out the Ingredient Weight Chart from King Arthur and have it in plastic sleeves in a folder.
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
I refer to it when using a recipe that only has Imperial/volumetric measurements; it’s very convenient.
It’s a rare day that I have a baking failure since I’ve converted to metric.
ann in E. oregon says
Thank you for the link to the King Arthur weight chart! That is very helpful! 🙂
Pamela says
I am more of a scoop and scrape off the top kinda gal. I find your experiment very interesting. I am going to have to check my flour measurements to the weight now.
I do love to weigh sour cream, mayo, shortening, and other ingredients that can tend to be messy or left in the measuring cup. Great post! Definitely something I am going to implement!
Jamie says
Weigh all the way, but I am a scientists and this is just how I work in general.
Dawn says
I fluff, scoop and level. I do have digital scales but have never used them for weighing ingredients but I may give it a try next time I bake bread.
Margo says
I learned this from my German DIL. She’s an amazing cook and baker. When I had to go gluten free, I discovered you had to mix different flours together to make a recipe work. For accuracy I started weigh all my ingredients, and it does, indeed, make a much better baked good.
LucyB says
As a science nerd, I weigh all my ingredients. It annoys my kids! They think I’m nuts. It also saves $$ because I am not using more of the ingredients than needed.
The Duck Lady says
It depends on what I’m making but generally I use my scale. I started using it regularly when I started baking bread a few years ago.
Nancy H. says
When I took Home Ec in high school a little more than a half century ago, I was taught to always shift the flour and then spoon into the cup. Mound a bit and then scrap off. Over the years I have gotten into the habit of fluffing the flour and scooping into the cup. It saved time and at one point I was with a shifter I,had discovered the hard way that just scooping it up with the measuring cup made my end product heavy and more dense.
Erin says
I started weighing everything about 5 years ago, & it’s made all the difference – especially in the gluten free baking I have to do. I even weigh the small volume ingredients like salt & baking powder. It basically makes every recipe perfect every time!
Patti Vanderbloemen says
As an avid baker, I have been weighing my flour for YEARS – makes a ton of difference in my bread baking (though I actually go by “touch” now to see if the flour/liquid ratio is correct). I use an old fashioned scale, but have been perusing digitals lately – I may have to bite the dust after reading your post today!
Lindsey says
Digital scale all the way. When I started using one, it fixed some of my baking problems—meaning I had been using too much flour for some very persnickety recipes.
Bobbi says
Digital scale for sure when baking. So much easier for me.
Jules says
I fluff the flour first before measuring. It’s what mom taught me and I have passed it on to my kids
Sue D says
I weigh using a digital scale. Mine can weight ounces or grams, which is useful. If I do use a measuring cup, I always fluff the flour first, scoop, then level with a palette knife
Mary says
I use a digital scale. However before I purchased a digital scale I fluffed with a fork for years.
Ca says
Digital scale for me, too. Here’s an interesting fact I learned from Bob’s Red Mill flour. If you look on the side panel of the flour bag it will tell you how many grams are in I/4 cup of that particular flour. I’ve noticed that different brands can have different gram weight for 1/4 cup of flour. That can help when making something that needs a more precise measurement.
Cindy Brick says
Engineers everywhere will be thrilled by this post! And my grandma, who measured by “pinch and a poke,” would be laughing her brains out.
But you’ve definitely got my DH’s attention with this approach. He refuses to cook things like rice unless he uses a MEASURING cup.
There’s an issue apparently your teacher didn’t discuss — and that’s high altitude. Nearly all of Colorado goes under that designation, even the plains. We personally live at 6250 ft. If I even off my measurement with a knife, as you’re showing, my baked goods do NOT do well. We have to use “heaping” cup measurements. Just sayin’.
P.S. Here’s a fun British cooking blog you might enjoy — “Lavender and Lovage.”
https://www.lavenderandlovage.com/
Cindy Brick says
P.S. Yes, Husband is mechanical engineer by training.
I probably fall in the middle somewhere of your argument. I’m a bit careful about measurements, but am also known to just dump in a little extra if the dough doesn’t look ‘right.’
Tammy says
The one and only time I tried weighing my flour instead of measuring, it was a disaster. I was using the NYT no-knead bread recipe and weighing the flour gave me way too little and it was a mess. Weight is inevitably going to be affected by the moisture in the air and the flour, making weight no more reliable that measurements, in my opinion. I spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level off with a knife. Haven’t had any trouble making that bread since.
KC says
It’s vital to use the same “type” of cup of flour as the recipe author did… that said, the no-knead bread recipe does generate a dough that really is a mess – the high hydration of the dough is part of what gets the extraordinary results – so I’m not sure which of many different possible ways your disaster happened.
Weight is affected slightly by water content of the flour – this week I ran across an 1800s cookbook suggestion to always warm your flour in the oven before baking bread to make sure it’s fully dry – but honestly sifting vs. packing makes more of a weight difference than flour dryness can make, at least up to the point that the flour is sticking to itself. (some friends and I experimented decades ago, and if I recall correctly, the difference in flour between sifted gently into the cup measure [one step lighter than putting it in with a fork] vs. packed in as firmly as we could *doubled* the amount of flour; even more extreme results can be had with brown sugar.)
But the really big thing is, however you can, to use the same amount of flour as the recipe author did, or as you did when you made it and succeeded (and to make any other adjustments that are necessary to your particular situation – altitude, hard/soft water, different gluten levels in the locally-available flour, types of salt, all the rest of of the fascinating chemistry of baking)… and to always pay attention to your dough..
(I once forgot the sugar in a chocolate cake recipe until I hit a late stage of the batter and noticed it was different than that recipe had ever behaved for me before – fortunately, it was a forgiving recipe and the sugar went in fine and the cake still rose, but whew, that was a close one and almost resulted in bitter birthday cake for a friend! So! Don’t be like me and make mistakes, but do keep an eagle eye out for things going weirdly before they go into the oven, because presumably even a sugar syrup won’t necessarily save a totally unsweetened chocolate cake…)(on the other hand, I’ve had doughs behave “weirdly” but it’s just that the butter is softer/harder due to ambient temps, and those you do *not* want to “fix” because the recipe will end up dry or greasy, depending on what the direction of “correction” was. It’s a science… and also an art… and also a field of unremitting minor chaos…)
Nancy D says
I was taught in 1970s Home Ec and by my mom and gramma to fluff the flour up in the container and then carefully dip a big spoon into it and place it in a measuring cup until heaping. Afterwards, you take the side of a knife and level it off by scraping across. I remember mom saying “Don’t tap the cup! You’ll make it pack down!” Funny how so many things in our lives bring back childhood moments.
Terry M. says
That is the way my mother taught me, as well. Fluff, spoon into measuring cup, then level it off with the back of a knife.
Bella says
I have always used a scale, born and raise in Europe and the caraibes. Got some cup measurements about 5 years ago while buying a few American test kitchen books.
Depending on where the recipes is from , will uses gram or cup .
Teri says
I’ve always done it the way you were doing it before you took the class. Scoop and level off. Yikes!!
Mary says
I used to sift the flour, spoon it into a cup measure and then scrape top even with spatula. For the last several years I weigh all my ingredients, taring the scale with the addition of each ingredient. I use metric. Using the scale this way, I use fewer measuring tools which means fewer dishes to wash. Get a good digital scale, one that you can read with a large bowl on it and one that is sensitive to at least a gram.
Carrie says
I didn’t get into weighing until I started sourdough and milling my own wheat. The majority of recipes for freshly milled grains use measurements and that has got me hooked. I think it is so much easier and consistent. I also love that you can just pour each item directly into your bowl, tare between items and measure the next thing.
Lana says
We always weigh for bread baking. It depends on we what we are making otherwise.
Mrs. M says
Hi Mavis,
Since you have a goal of updating your online recipes, will you now convert them to grams instead of measuring out cups?
Mavis Butterfield says
There are over 1,500 recipes on the blog so I am going to see if there is a plugin that I can use that will show the recipes in both metric and imperial. 🙂
Julie P says
Living in U.K. and being in my 60s I was taught imperial then in the 70s we went metric I was still at school and I’ve continued to weigh my ingredients ever since it was only after following blogs like these that I bought a set of cups I hadn’t been taught how to use them so I had a few failures before I found a cup to metric chart and I’ve never looked back!
Claire says
Hi, will you be updating your recipes to metric now?
Mavis Butterfield says
I am going to see if there is a plugin that I can use that will show the recipes in both metric and imperial.
Bettina says
Since I have to eat gluten free, I always weigh my flour. The volume of flour required to reach 120 grams is not even close to 1 actual measuring cup of flour. Ever since I started weighing my flour, my bakes turn out soooo much better!
PS – I picked up my digital scale at Target!
Deb says
I have always sifted four and used a scale to weigh ingredients. That is the best way to make sure baked items turn out well. I am an excellent cook and baker and this really makes a difference.
Juudit Hakala says
I’ll weigh in on this! I have been measuring all ingredients with my digital scale for years, making all the difference for this baker! I love that I just ‘Tare” the weight of a glass prep bowl and use that to weigh everything. I love not having messy measuring cups. A swipe of the glass bowl between ingredients with a tiny bit of paper towel works for me! We also use our kitchen digital scale for weighing unpackaged meat before vacuum-sealing the packages for freezing. Great thread, Mavis!
Sheri says
I was taught to use measuring cups which seems to me the norm for the U.S.
I switched to weighing my ingredients many years ago and it was a game changer.
Heck, I weight everything now!