How to measure flour

The most accurate way, and the way used by bakers around the world, is by WEIGHT.

A cup of WHEAT flour weighs between 120 and 135 grams, depending on the type of wheat, in most cases,

If that is out, then spoon the flour into the measuring cup [use a cup made for solids and not a cup designed for liquids] so that it is relatively loose and then use the back edge of a straight knife or a spatula to scrape off the flour over the top of the cup. That gives you a cup of flour. Do NOT scoop the cup through the bag of flour - that packs it too much.

FWIW

RsH

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Weighing is the best, however, be sure to check the cookbook, recipe or whatever to see if the author tells you what weight they used for measuring. Janet

As RsH said, measuring by weight is most accurate. Measuring by volume is, in the end, even less consistent than he suggested.

However, the goal is to be able to duplicate the intent of whoever wrote the recipe. So, you should ask how they measure their flour. There are scoopers, there are sifters, there are sprinklers, and then there are the sifters and sprinklers. If you pick a way that is not the same as the author of the recipe, then you will be inaccurate with regards to the recipe.

If the cookbook or recipe doesn't tell you how to fill a cup, then do whatever you want and be prepared to adjust your dough this time and next time too.

Mike ]

In the US, it would be quite unlikely for someone who doesn't know how to measure flour to own a cookbook with the ingredients stated by weight. Nutrition labels on ingredients are often stated in such a way that you can determine the equivalent weight for a volume measure. For instance, most flour says "one serving = 1/4 cup or 30g. The USDA nutrition database is a great resource for finding the weight of a given volume measure of an ingredient.

RsH wrote on 18 May 2005 in rec.food.baking

Not that is common but you should stir the flour before doing the spooning to undo any settling of contents and/or to break up clumps.

I know my baking courses always measure. However, I don't have quite the same resources or time in my shop and certainly not at home. I am a "scooper" and so far, have not had any complaints about my baking. For me, it comes down to what is easiest. That might make me lazy but there it is./ Wendy ----- Original Message ----- From: RsH Newsgroups: rec.food.baking To: Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 9:56 PM Subject: Re: How to measure flour

Janet

However, Janet, the KA book does and it's one of the best I've come accross. I really must get my notes on it (and some others) to you for the abr FAQs Graham

1. MasterCook is relatively cheap and will do the conversions very quickly. I use it all the time, and it uses the USDA food info for the conversions it does do. For the few ingredients that it does not convert correctly, I have added information to the database to do the job for me. An example is eggs, where I use large eggs and have set it up to use 50 grams for one large egg.

1. For a non-US food guide look at
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   For the Canadian equivalent of the USDA document
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you will find some additional ingredients NOT in the US list. Thebulk of the list [over 68%] is identical to the USDA material...The big difference is that the Canadian online file also gives you theserving size, while the US site does NOT always give you a servingsize. Both give the weight of a cup of flour and the information on100 grams of flour, for example, but with barley flour the Canadiansite allows you to select the serving size of 20 grams as well as the100 gram size and the cup size. The Canadian site also gives you morevitamin data... for whatever that is worth and for those of you whocare.

1. Baker's percentages are sometimes found in books in the US, and that is always weight based. Professional baking books for bakeries are always in this format. Of course the instructions that are in those books often are for making a hundred pounds or more of dough, so it doesn't translate well unless you use something like MasterCook to reduce the total weight to a smaller value more useful to you.

1. From one source of information: Flour Type Approximate weight per cup Grams Ounces Rye Light, sifted 88 3.1 Dark, sifted 127 4.5 Soy Full Fat, sifted 60 2.1 Low Fat 83 2.9 Wheat All Purpose, sifted 115 4.1 unsifted, spooned 125 4.4 instant 129 4.6 Bread, sifted 112 4.0 unsifted 137 4.8 Cake, sifted 96 3.4 spooned 111 3.9 Pastry, sifted 100 3.5 Self-rising, sifted 106 3.7 Whole-wheat, stirred 132 4.7

RsH

-------------------------------------------------------------------- On Thu, 19 May 2005 07:34:59 -0600, "Janet Bostwick"

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As everyone has been pointing out, measure by weight is the best. And a few people have pointed out that if the recipe measures by volume then it will depend on how the person who wrote the book measures things.

A lot of recipes I have seen measure by volume. If I'm trying a new recipe, I will go middle of the road (not loose but not packed). I'll note how much the flour weighs. I'll then examine the results and make a note. Next time I try the recipe I'll use a little less flour (by weight). I'll examine the results and make a note. I'll play with the recipe each time I try it until I feel confident I found the right amount by weight. I'll then update the recipe with the exact amount I think is right.

Considering the horrendous crap being accepted by consumers, that people eat your goods without complaint isn't necessarily a sign that they are good.

I find that weighing ingredients is much faster and generates fewer dirty cups and spoons than measuring by volume.

thanks for the vote of confidence! They pay a good price and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do that if they didn't like the taste. They can always buy Mr. Christie. A small correction - I was in a hurry when I said my baking courses always measured - I meant weighed. Wendy ----- Original Message ----- From: Vox Humana Newsgroups: rec.food.baking To: Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 2:14 PM Subject: Re: How to measure flour

I am going to describe my method for making a bread or two, using my scale and the basic recipe I follow... It takes only a few minutes, at most... I use this recipe and converted everything to weight using MasterCook. The only issue was the egg weight, since that keeps varying.

1. Take out scale... mine is accurate to 2 grams and goes up to 11 pounds or 5000 grams...

1. Put bread machine pan ON scale [paddle in place] and turn on scale. The scale goes on and shows 0 grams, having automatically tare'd itself.

2. Crack egg into pan - scale goes up to 48-52 grams

1. Take carton of egg white and pour in until scale reads 100 grams

2. Take milk and pour in until scale reads 374 grams

1. Take Crisco or Safflower Oil or butter or margarine and add until scale reads 416 grams

2. Add sugar or molasses or honey until scale reads 466 grams

1. Add salt or sea salt or kosher salt until scale reads 474 grams

2. [optional] Add Whole Wheat Flour until scale read 574 grams

1. Add All Purpose White flour until scale reads 886 grams [whether or not you do step 9, this weight remains the target.

2. Add Large Rolled Oat flakes until scale reads 966 grams

1. Add Clean Bran until scale reads 976 grams

2. Add Sunflower seeds until scale read 996 grams

1. Add Sesame seeds until scale reads 1016 grams

2. Add Brown Flax seeds until scale reads 1036 grams

1. Add Bread Machine yeast until scale reads 1042 grams

You can also add 25-30 grams of dry milk or dry buttermilk powder, as well as small (10-15 gram) quantities of other grains, seeds, etc. if you want more of a multi grain loaf.

Set machine for regular crust and sweet bread cycle and turn it on...

This is just about 2.25 pounds and should NOT be baked in your bread maker if it cannot handle that size loaf... but rather should be baked in the oven. You CAN bake it in the machine if you skip steps 11 to

15 and at step 5 only add milk to 274 grams. Adjust every weight AFTER 5 downward by 100 grams to compensate for the lower weight of the milk used.

Note that I did not need measuring cups or spoons, I simply pour each ingredient in, except the flour, and I use a larger cup for that simply because the flour bag weighs over 20 pounds when new. It is simply easier to pour if the item is liquid or a powder, and otherwise I use a spatula [for things like Crisco] or a ladle for things like flour.

After about 5 minutes of kneading, check the dough ball to see if it is the correct consistency... and stickiness. If so, fine. This is when you may find that you need to add a teaspoon or two of water. I have never found this to be overly wet, where flour would need to be added.

After 1st rise and punch down, remove dough to a floured board, split in two and use two 4*8 loaf pans. Put a pan on the scale, tare the scale, and pop in what you think is half the dough, read the weight and then repeat with the other pan and dough. If required, pinch off to make the two batches of dough equal. If the first was 500 grams and the second was 542 grams, pinch off until the second weighs 520 grams and add the removed dough to the first pan. If the first pan weighed more, add to the second pan until it reads the correct half of the dough weight.

Flatten and shape the dough, then put into the two loaf pans and spread out evenly.

Allow to rise in the oven with the light on for about 40-50 minutes, until it is OVER the top of the loaf pans... then simply turn on the oven to 360°F for 25 minutes or so and the bread should get its oven rise and bake.

Remove from oven and cool, etc.

All that pouring only takes one or two or three minutes, because I take out all the ingredients before I begin, and every loaf is consistent if I use the SAME version of the recipe again and again and again, because the weights are always the same...

The above, I believe, demonstrates why weighing is relatively simple... and very consistent. ======================================================= Copyright retained. My opinions - no one else's... If this is illegal where you are, do not read it!

snip It's true that there are lots of conversion tables around. But, if the author of the bread/cookie/cake recipe used a 4.75 ounce cup of flour for constructing the recipe, you are going to have trouble reproducing that recipe unless you know that. Some recipes will not give the weight of flour used, but will tell you the method used for measuring. In that case, you would want to initially use the given method to measure the flour. Janet

I have found that in most instances I can use the MasterCook conversion and get a usable first loaf [I do limit the yeast, however, to about 75% of what most recipes call for], THEN make adjustments based on the end result. If the crown collapses, I reduce the liquid or increase the amount of flour the next time I use the recipe. If it is too dry, I increase the liquid or reduce the amount of flour the next time I make the recipe.

IF the recipe lists the way a cup of flour was produced, or what it weighed, I will adjust the MasterCook result to show the weight of the flour as given in the recipe and then use MasterCook to convert from Ounces to Grams, if the weight was given in Ounces and was not given in Grams.

In the case of a recipe that calls for 3 cups of flour, where a cup weighed 4.75 ounce, that becomes 14.25 ounces of flour, which is what I would enter and let MasterCook convert to 404 grams :-) I use TapeCalc to do these kitchen or weight conversions for email when I do not want to start up MasterCook, but I use MasterCook when working with recipes, and it will automatically round. [Note: The precise conversion for 14.25 ounces [avoir] is 403.98070453125 grams, if anyone really cares]

The recipe I posted is the main one I use to get what I personally like the most... and it is a dairy Challa unless you add the extra grains and the whole wheat flour. I also bake it with only 16-20 grams of sugar in it when I do NOT want a sweet bread, such as when I add 10 grams of freshly ground pepper or jalapeno peppers or dried chilies to the mix for a 'hot' bread. I sometimes add a citrus zest, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dried cherries, raisins, chopped dried apricots, chopped preserved ginger, pecans, glace fruit, or other assorted ingredients to vary the resulting bread, and have also been known to take it and split it into three equal parts and braid it into a more traditional Challa format... The recipe seems to work with ANY of those changes made to it as a basic starting point. Obviously the milk has to be replaced if you do not want a dairy Challa, and then it can be made with plain water, or with a juice that matches a dried fruit, etc.

FWIW

RsH

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Measuring flour is not a complex undertaking.....You just have to stick to the system you are used to; either by weights or by volume. Accuracy is not rule, unless you are trying to create and develop and institutional recipe where it can be scaled up in later time. Then precision in quantity units is important as it needs to be reproducible if the particular recipe is to be evaluated by other investigators You have to eliminate every variable that can led to fluctuation of the performance and that starts with the recipe. However If you just want to measure flour for household use, keep things simple Besides flour weight can vary and the amount of flour solids can fluctuate when its moisture content lessens with storage. A cup of freshly milled flour does not have the same quantity of total flour solids as the same cup of well stored flour, and that can influence hydration. You may wonder why is this batter or dough appear slightly wet or drier than my previous bake when I am doing the same measurements by weight. But cooks have that instinctive feel that is something does not feels the same they can intuitively feel that it needs more flour or water whatever... Even though with such expected flour moisture loss , that is not a big factor in household baking , there are no accountants or similar individuals that counts your actual ingredients use and losses in the same way as in the industry. Even in that situation they still give allowance for such kind of material losses and take that into account in the final ingredients inventory. Besides if you painstakingly measure flour but you extravagantly use unmeasured amount in dusting purposes then what is the relevant of such exacting measurement? Purely academic. Roy

Look at:

there are a lot more such sites if you look for sites in Europe,Australia, etc. You have to search outside North America for theserecipes...

All of the cookbooks you mentioned are US books and therefore will NOT be by weight. There are books in the library for BAKERS that are all full of recipes by weight or by baker's percentage, but otherwise what you typically will find and be able to buy in the US or Canada will be, indeed, full of recipes by cup, tablespoon, etc. Go to England and France and Germany and you will find books that are by weight.

RsH

----------------------------------------- >> Can somebody tell me what the most accurate way to measure flour is? I

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More by weight recipes...

Veldt Bread (Namibia) http://www.goodlook> Well, I did a search on "White Bread Recipe" All of the recipes were

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