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Are you using a scale for your baking yet? If not, it’s probably the best thing you can do to improve your baking! In fact, my kitchen scale is probably the most important thing I have in my kitchen!  Some baking can be pretty precise and being off on the proportions of your ingredients can make a big difference. Example – I scooped and leveled three cups of flour with two different cups. They were 132 grams, 144 grams, and 138 grams. 1 cup of flour is generally considered to weigh 120 grams so you might be adding around 10% more flour than you need! Using a scale also makes increasing or decreasing a recipe easier! Who wants to deal with fractions? Bonus – using a scale eliminates washing a sinkful of measuring cups and bowls! So here are some tips and tricks for using a scale in your baking!

I like this scale from Escali which you can find on Amazon. It weighs in pounds, ounces, and grams and what I really like about it is that it weighs the ounces in increments of .05 which is important for precise measurements and also weighing small amounts like salt and spices.

• Decide if you would like to weigh in ounces or grams (I almost never use the pound option.)  I like using grams for dry ingredients like flour and ounces for wet ingredients like butter or milk.
• Tare before you measure!  Tare means zeroing out what is currently on the scale so you start off at 0.  Also takes out the weight of the bowl/measuring cup.  Don’t forget to tare!
• Use bowls with flat bottoms.  Round bottoms move around and can change your measurement.
• Don’t try to weigh too much!  Make sure you know your scale’s limit so you don’t exceed it.
• Here are some weights of common ingredients to help you convert your recipes!  (From King Arthur baking website, find more at https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart)
  • Flour – 1 cup – 4.25 ounces – 120 grams
  • Sugar – 1 cup – 7 ounces – 198 grams
  • Brown Sugar – 1 cup – 7.5 ounces – 213 grams
  • Powdered Sugar – 1 cup – 4 ounces – 113 grams
  • Milk – 1 cup – 8 ounces
  • Butter – 1 cup – 2 sticks – 8 ounces
  • Water – 1 cup – 8 ounces
  • Salt – 1 teaspoon – .2 ounces
  • Baking Powder – 1 teaspoon – 4 grams
  • Baking Soda – 1 teaspoon – 6 grams
  • Egg – 1.67 ounces (Egg white – 1 ounce ; Egg yolk – .67 ounces)
  • Cocoa Powder – 1 cup – 3 ounces – 84 grams
  • Honey – 1 tablespoon – .75 ounces – 21 grams
  • Oats – 1 cup – 3.5 ounces – 99 grams
  • Vegetable Oil – 1 cup – 7 ounces – 198 grams
  • Yogurt – 1 cup – 8 ounces – 227 grams
  • Chocolate Chips – 1 cup – 6 ounces – 170 grams

After perfectly weighing all your ingredients, scaling your batter or dough can help you get consistent bakes!  Scaling your cake layers and dough helps them all bake evenly and look perfect every time!

Other uses for your scale –

• Portion control for diets – have you ever actually weighed a serving size of almonds?  I’m pretty sure I can eat twice that many at least!
• Weighing mail – skip the line at the post office!
• Mixing formula – we use ours every day to make sure my babies babas are just right.  🙂
• Science experiments with the kiddos
• DIY home cleaners  – my husband uses the scale to quickly mix up shower spray
• Figuring out how much you have of something – ie your bucket of pennies weight/weight of one penny