Helen S. Fletcher

May 31, 2015 at 11:46am

I love reading what utensils are important to bakers. As a professional mine are slightly different but the scale is definitely the king. If I had only one measuring devise in the kitchen it would be the scale. And for me grams are the way to go. One word about converting recipes from volume to weight. I noticed some time ago that KA's flour measurement is different from the norm used for the rest of the baking world or the majority of the baking world including pastry chefs of which I am one. It took me a while to figure it out, but KA bases their cup weight of flour on sifted flour which is why you come up with 120 grams per cup vs. the 140 grams which is the norm. I haven't checked out your conversion table but mine, which mirrors the weights most considered to be standard, can be found at http://pastrieslikeapro.com/2013/05/ingredient-conversion-chart/. Additionally there is a fluid ounce conversion chart at http://pastrieslikeapro.com/2013/09/fluid-ounce-conversion-charts, If you go to my blog www.pastrieslikepro.com and look under baking information you will find help there. I bring this up because there is a difference in weight between a sifted and unsifted cup of flour. Since most people today do not (will not?) sift flour the standard weight of a cup is based on unsifted flour. I know flour companies say the flour is sifted and I am sure it is when it goes into the bags, but after it travels to the stores, it becomes more compact, not lumpy, just compact. Since flour is the most important ingredient in the majority of baking recipes it is important to use the correct amount. So, by all means, use KA's measurement for flour in their recipes, but if you are converting other recipes you might want to consider using the standard measurement. There is no right or wrong way but it is important to find what the author or writer intends so check it out if possible.
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