Weigh flour for baking
Flour settles into a dense mass in its bag. Dipping a cup straight in compresses it, so you take out more flour than the recipe writer did. More flour means less liquid per gram, and the bake turns dry and dense.
Grams don't pack down
A scale reads mass, so it gives the same number whether the flour is fluffy or squashed. Set the bowl on it, press tare to zero it, pour until the number matches the recipe, and tare again before the next ingredient.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
Two cooks measure "one cup" of flour for the same cookies. One batch is dry and cakey, the other is fine. What most likely happened?
One cook scooped, packing in more flour. A packed cup holds more flour by mass, so the dough has less liquid per gram of flour.
True or false: Weighing flour on a scale gives a more consistent amount than dipping a cup into the bag.
True. Dipping compresses flour, so cups vary a lot. A scale reads the same amount every time.
What went wrong? You drag a cup through the flour bag, level it, and make cookies. They bake up thick, dry and cakey.
Scooping packed in extra flour. More flour per cup leaves less liquid per gram of flour, so the dough turns dry and cakey.
Fill the blank: A kitchen scale measures ___, so packing the flour cannot change the result.
A kitchen scale measures weight, so packing the flour cannot change the result. The same flour weighs the same however tightly it is packed.
You have no scale and must use cups. What is the best way to fill the cup?
Spoon flour in lightly, then level with a knife. Spooning keeps the flour loose, so the cup holds a more consistent amount.
About how many grams does a spooned and leveled cup of all-purpose flour weigh?
About 120 g. Many sources rate a spooned and leveled cup of all-purpose flour near 120 g. A scooped cup weighs noticeably more.