We were making bread last night and had one of those moments. You know. When you're counting out cups and then someone asks you a question from the other room and by the time you get back...."Dang, did I add 3 cups or 4?" Do you have any tricks for keeping track of what you've already added?
Of course, the very best way to keep track is to measure everything out ahead of time before even going near the mixing bowl. This is called mise en place by the culinary pros, and yes, it's a very good way of making sure you don't accidentally add the salt twice or short-change the sugar.
We usually do this when making a new or very complex recipe, but with our everyday cooking, we tend to take shortcuts. We'll get out all the ingredients we need for a recipe and arrange them to one side of our work station. As we use what we need, we move the containers to the other side so we can keep track of what's been added and what is left.
If we get interrupted while counting out cups of flour or sugar, we usually make a few quick hash marks in the flour itself to indicate the number of cups we've already added. We'll also sometimes treat the mixing bowl like a clock face and position our measuring cup at the hour that corresponds to the number of cups (two o'clock for two cups, three o'clock for three cups, and so on).
What do you do?
Related: Memory Tricks: Remembering How Many Cups in a Gallon
(Image: Flickr member alex-s licensed under Creative Commons)
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unless my dog is on fire, i'm not answering any questions from the other room while measuring multiple units for a recipe. that's my trick. ;)
Great idea positioning your measuring cup like a clock face! I'd never thought of that, but I'm sure I'll use it someday.
I usually count aloud, which for some reason makes it easier to remember than if I count silently to myself.
I agree with counting out loud. Mise en place is my way to go, it seemed dumb at first and a lot of extra dishes but honestly, my stuff comes out so much better when I'm not scrambling all over the kitchen to grab things as I go along.
Weigh everything!
Sorry. :-)
Since I tend to make the same baking recipes over & over again, I've kind of memorized what they look like in the bowl. Sad to admit my brain remembers little details like that :) When I'm making a new recipe or something with lots of flour (like a triple recipe of pizza dough), I use hatch marks on the recipe.
Another out-loud counter, here. I learned that from my mom when I was just tiny. I'm sure it was as much for her remember while I was "helping" her in the kitchen as it was to teach me. :o]
Count out loud, and don't talk to me!
Measure it out first before baking anything. I've had enough disasters to take the extra time and use a couple extra bowls.
I get my mise en place baby. My attention span is too short to remember how many cups of flour I've incorporated, let alone if I already added the salt. Plus it's fun to pretend like I have my own cooking show.
I'm glad to see others do it, because I also count out loud. Very forcefully. Otherwise I definitely lose track, a LOT.
Count out loud. Always works. Really.
I'm sure to have my ingredients make hills (dry) or puddles (wet) for each unit. For rice I usually make 4 or 5 cups and counting out loud doesn't work for me. I make 4 hills around the edges of the bowl and a 5th in the center if I wish. Then I put the water in the valleys between the hills with the last cup wiping out any hill/valley structure so I know I'm done adding.
Ha! what a great post! I'm with nenasadije, enjoy some selective hearing and ignore the question! at least until you've finished your task.
I'm with Brooklyn Baker: weigh everything. The end results are far more consistent and reliable.
Usually when people try to interrupt me I just say "hold on I'm measuring!"
But when I'm making bread or something else where I have to add a cup or something, mix a while, add another cup, and so on, I use bottle caps. I have a little juice glass with bottle caps in it sitting on my counter. I'll take out 8 bottle caps (for example) and then each time I add a cup, I'll put the bottle caps back in the glass. Then when I run out of caps, I'm finished with that part!
This is where mise en place comes in handy :) Not sure how much you measured into your little bowl? Dump it back into the container and count again.
Counting out loud and keep saying it in my head over and over until the person stops talking, and not letting anyone talk to me until I've put in all the amount for that particular ingredient, or put it all back if it's not mixed with other things already and start again.
Ehhhh I dont measure anything. Ill weigh it occasionally to check my "sight measure" (which is usually pretty dang accurate) but seriously. I. Dont. Measure. Sooooo I never have this issue! LOL. :)
@Tara
You're not a baker, are you? ;)
Another vote for counting out loud, although the clock face idea is interesting. If I have to stop in the middle of measuring I may try that!
Count me in (bad pun...) the counting out loud camp. I also say out loud "baking SODA" or "baking POWDER", so I don't mix those up as well.
I can usually remember if it's 2 or 3 of something. And if I have a bigger number than that I batch it in 2 or 3. So no matter what, I scoop three cups of flour. It's a lot easier to say "is that 9 or 6?" than "is that 9 or 8?"
Yeah, um, if you are measuring in cups for baking bread, you are doing it wrong to begin with. Weighing is far more consistent, and you eliminate this problem.
It gets a lot harder to keep track after you've had the second glass of wine while you're making the bread whether you count out loud or not, ha ha.
Yup, I ignore them until I've finished what I'm counting. I don't have kids so it's usually just my husband.
i sing. its kinda silly but i dance and sing in place like on sesame street? ONE ah ah ah TWO ah ah ah Three ah ah ah....i like to bottle cap idea.
Mrs. Mack:
I am a little ashamed to admit that I AM a baker who just doesnt measure! I used to but I got varying results! I was putting too much flour in one cup as opposed to ~5oz/150g. SO I started weighing it a couple times and now I am freakishly accurate at eyeballing. So its what Ive been doing forever. Sometimes (like 2x a year) I check with my scale and Im usually realllly close. I eyeball it all. IMBC, cakes, crusts, cookies, pancakes, scones, muffins... yeah everything. I will conceed I have terrible luck with rice though, so I measure that... lol. I am a "go be feel" cook. I also make stuff up all the time, so eyballin' is where its at!
I use the clock-face trick with whatever is on hand.
I don't have scales, so I tend to count out loud. But I sometimes dump my units of measurements out on a sheet of wax paper so I can see the little mounds of flour (for example). But I am also a dedicated, confirmed sifter. I sift everything. So I measure into one large measuring bowl, the "sift" them into another large measuring bowl.
I count aloud (in French, oddly) and tell everyone around me to STFU for a second while I do so. :)
my son's birthday cake yesterday turned out fine... i don't know how though! i switched recipes in the middle of mixing the cake, realizing that 1 of the recipes wouldn't make enough batter for a double-layer cake. the first few ingredients were the same except i forgot that the sugar was more in the new recipe! the sweetness level was perfect, though ... so i guess it's all good!
I weight when I bake bread and never answer unless I'm done measuring with cups etc in other times.
I use these on my kitchen window:
http://www.crayolastore.com/product_detail.asp?T1=CRA 58-8165
When making a huge batch (or measuring more than 3-4 cups of something) I'll make hash marks to keep me in line. They're also great for keeping track of a menu to-do list that never gets covered in flour, lost, or in the way.
(also a scale)
I have a small whiteboard hanging in the kitchen for writing down recipes so I don't have to have my laptop eating up precious countertop space (v. small apartment kitchen). So I also use it to keep track of measurements when anyone else is home and I anticipate frequent interruptions. (Though it never seems to save me from the "Wait, did I just put in 3 TABLEspoons or 3 TEAspoons of salt?")