My aunt told me to always weigh my flour and I thought she was nuts

For years I just scooped flour straight from the bag with a cup measure. My aunt, who ran a bakery in Portland for 30 years, would not shut up about it. She said, 'You're packing in 30% more flour than the recipe needs, that's why your cakes are bricks.' I finally bought a $25 scale six months ago. The first loaf of sandwich bread I made with weighed ingredients was a total game changer. It was lighter, rose higher, and the crumb was perfect. I was so wrong and she was so right. It's the single best change I've made in my kitchen. Anyone else have a 'weigh your ingredients' success story, or am I the last one to figure this out?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliotjenkins2mo ago

Your aunt was spot on. A scale is a total game changer for baking. Just to add one small thing, the 30% extra figure she gave you might be a bit high for most people's scooping, but the point stands. Even a 10 or 15% difference completely throws off the balance of a recipe. It's wild how such a simple tool makes everything so much more reliable.

seth_craig852mo ago

Yeah, and a cheap kitchen scale fixes that whole guessing game.

blake_cooper16d agoTop Commenter

I get what you're saying, but I've actually had the opposite experience with my own baking. I used a scale for years and honestly, for cookies and quick breads, measuring by volume with a light scoop and level gave me consistent results within maybe 5 percent. The scale just added another step to clean up and never felt worth it for those recipes. For finicky stuff like sponge cakes or bread, sure, but for everyday stuff, I'd rather save the dish space.