Measuring by weight isn’t just easier, it’s far more accurate.
By Abigail Rose March 15, 2021
As a pastry chef, I use grams for my recipes because the accuracy and simplicity makes my work easier. Grams are more often whole numbers so if you need to adjust the size of a recipe, it’s easier to calculate than trying to multiply or divide fractions of cups or teaspoons. When recipes call for a “packed” or “heaping” cup of an ingredient, say maybe brown sugar or flour, those descriptions are vague and confusing. A weight measurement is a clear number so recipes come out consistent no matter what you are baking.
Once I read through a recipe, my next step is always to rewrite the recipe using grams, converted from the volume measurements (cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons). This might sound unnecessary but, for me, it is the most helpful step in the process. If the recipe is written in cups and teaspoons, I’ll scribble the conversions in the margin, from 1 cup of sugar to 190 grams, and so on, based on a conversion chart I keep handy in my kitchen. Then, instead of searching for my mismatched (or misplaced) measuring cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons, I grab my kitchen scale and start weighing the ingredients.
When I begin measuring out my ingredients, I turn on my scale, place the mixing bowl I’m using on it and set it to zero. Rather than keeping track of how many cups of flour I have added to the bowl, I keep adding the flour until the scale reflects the number of grams needed in the recipe; and then, click the button again to zero it out. Next, I add my baking soda by pouring in enough that, again, the weight comes to the correct amount — such as 6 grams, which is a teaspoon. I click the button to zero out again and add my next ingredient. This approach to measuring is so much faster than finding multiple different measuring utensils (and washing them too). All it requires is the push of a button.
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