why isn't it fair just to tell people to get a kitchen scale? They are not that expensive...

I make a point of getting British editions of cookbooks with the weights instead of the American measures (many times, Canada has the U.K. edition) because I find that the product turns out much better, and not just the baked goods. It is just a more accurate way of writing a recipe.

I'm making Hot Cross Buns from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook today, and I love that it has the weights for everything along with the cup measures! It gives me much more confidence with a new recipe. I think using the scale is a good way to go, but I'm glad to know this technique for when I don't have one handy.

Not everyone digs the electronic equipment. When I weigh stuff out like that I feel more like I'm making a buffer solution at work, it's just not very homey. I still use it for things like weighing potatoes etc but weighing powders is just to analytical for me after hours.

It may not be "homey", but weighing is the best way to measure powders, especially for baked goods. I have a little analogue kitchen scale that does not remind me of lab equipment at all. My bread has gotten a lot better since I started weighing the flour.

I agree that weighing is best. But probably only 10% of my cookbooks include weight measurements. And, some recipes I just have memorized as 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, etc.

So the cups come out! And when they do, I want them to be accurate.

I agree, why isn't it fair to tell us to weigh everything? Is it because we can't change our ways to do things differently even when we learn there are methods that get us better results? I hope that’s not the subtext when you say it’s not fair.

I know it’s hard to break old habits but we just need to hear (or see, or do) things a few more times before we’re convinced. Like “use reusable bags instead of plastic or paper at the grocery store.” Or “eat more whole grains.”

Or “weighing your ingredients is definitely the way to go!”

It took years of baking before I made the switch. But it is much more accurate and scaling recipes up and down is so much easier when everything is in grams. I also find that I now understand the proportions of a recipe much better when all the ingredients are represented using the same measure, e.g.: 50g sugar 25g butter is easier for me to see that there is twice as much sugar as butter than say with 1/2 cup sugar 1-3/4 TBS butter.

But the best part about weighing is that there is so much less washing up to do afterwards since you only use one or two bowls (one for measuring and one for the actual mixing, or just one bowl if you measure all of your ingredients right into the bowl you use for mixing). I bake a lot so it adds up. For me, using a scale in baking is a win-win situation appealing simultaneously to perfectionism, laziness, AND environmental responsibility. In fact, now I can’t remember why I was so resistant to the idea in the first place.

Hey, why did all of my quotation marks and apostrophes come out funny?

"homey" is just what you are used to -- all the recipes I have from my beloved (and now deceased) grandmothers are in weights -- because that is how the whole of Europe cooks.

If North America would make the switch, over time you would feel weighing is "homey" too, just like I do...

I agree completely with monika1! :-) Happy Easter!

I think baked goods--particularly yeasted baked goods--turn out better if the ingredients are weighed, especially when first learning to make them. Not everyone knows how dough should feel when stretched or kneaded so this helped me learn.

Most other recipes I don't bother to weigh ingredients (I'm not good at following recipes anyway).

I never weigh anything - its too much hassle to get the scales out and then wash the bowl afterwards.
I use mostly european recipes that measure by weight and I use tablespoons for ounces - so 3 ounces of flour is three heaped tablespoons of flour.
Butter over here comes in 250g packs - thats roughly 8 ounces so you just mark out 8 sections on the pat of butter and there are your ounces marked out. (American "sticks" of butter are roughly 4 oz)
The only thing I measure accurately is liquids in a jug.
The way of measuring above has never failed me - its how my mother and grandmother made everything and taught me and if you cook often enough it becomes second nature to know how much of something you need to put in just by looking at it.
I do get annoyed with American recipes with their "cup" measurements - they invariably make huge amounts of whatever it is your making - whenever I'm making a US cup recipe I nearly always halve all the measurements to get a reasonable amount of prduct.

Hm. This baffles me. Every single other cooking source I've read says that it's best to scoop flour into a measuring cup and then level it off. Ok, they all say it's best to measure, but second best is the scooping and sweep. Why do you think it's best this way?