narya and I were talking about using weights to bake – I think I was talking about bread, specifically. She was kind enough to write up a little primer on why it’s better to weigh your items instead of just measuring them, in case you were wondering about the hows and whys of it all.
I lean heavily on King Arthur’s Weight Chart, found here.
I’m having a friend come over today and we’ll be out and about, but I decided we needed a fun coffee treat, we’ve both had a rough week or two. Their bunny rescue just had 12 baby bunnies show up – five with a mamma and the others were orphans. So lots of hand feeding. Not all of them are going to make it, but they’ll give it their best. She’s up here with a bunny at a vet who specializes in small critters.
That of course, required a sweet treat. The recipe for my completely improvised Key Lime Cake with Key Lime Glaze is here. So we’ll have coffee, cake and commiserate.
==========
From narya:
How to Bake (and Cook) Better
When I went to pastry school, one of the first things they taught us was weighing (120 grams of flour) versus measuring (1 cup of flour). The formulae they gave us used grams rather than ounces. I immediately liked this method, even though it took a bit to get used to it. TaMara thought it might be useful to introduce you jackals to this, if you’re not already familiar with it.
Percentage of what?
This method is also know as “baker’s percentage.” There are two methods available: in pastry school, the “percentage” was “percentage of the total weight of ingredients.” The other method—which was used at the bakery where I worked—“percentage” was “percentage of the amount of flour in the recipe.” I don’t use the latter version, not least because not everything I make has flour in it. I also found it more difficult to do the math in the latter method; it always felt like I was adding an extra step. I think it’s more relevant to baking bread or anything else that uses a lot of flour, but, really, the former method is simpler, especially on the fly.
Metric or not?
If you don’t already love the metric system, baking and cooking with weights instead of measures will convert you to metric. All of the formulae at the bakery were in pounds and ounces, and good lord was that a pain in the ass if you wanted to increase or decrease the size of a batch. Imagine that the formula calls for 1 lb 9 ounces, but then you need to double it: now it’s 2 pounds plus 18 ounces, oh wait, 3 pounds 2 ounces. If you’re using metric, and you start with 700 grams, if you double it, it’s 1400 grams: easy peasy. A lot of cookbooks and recipes have started giving weights. However, unless it’s European, probably the weights are in ounces and pounds; most scales I’ve seen let you choose.
What I’ve done is, for a given recipe, simply change the measure to grams and write it in the cookbook. There are conversion tools online, too. Once you start doing this, you’ll memorize a few things quickly—e.g., a cup of flour is about 120 grams. Some things you can get from the nutrition panel on the package; there’s usually a notation of the weight in grams as well as ounces for whatever measure constitutes a serving. And for nearly everything, there’s a bit of fudge factor. For example, King Arthur gives a different weight for 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour and for 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour; I don’t even bother making that adjustment. Other things will also affect the weight of the flour (e.g., how dry or humid the flour is), and it’s not necessary to be that precise.
So: what are the main ways I use this, other than straight-up following a recipe?
One fabulous use is for changing a recipe to use a different size pan. Let’s say you have a recipe that calls for an 8×8 pan, but you want to make it for a 9×13 pan. First, calculate the total square inches: 64 for the former and 117 for the latter. Next, divide 117 by 64: 1.83. Use that multiplier on each item in your recipe. So, if your original recipe called for a cup of flour (120 grams), your new recipe calls for 219 grams of flour. It works the other way around, of course: the dimensions of the pan you want to use are divided by the dimensions of the pan used in the original recipe.
A second use is for scaling a recipe to match the amount of something that you have. For example, if you want to make macarons with the egg whites left over from some other adventure, weigh the egg whites and then scale the recipe based on that weight. That is, if the original recipe calls for 100 grams of egg whites, but you have 125 grams of egg whites, multiply the weight of each of the ingredients by 1.25 (125 divided by 100).
A third use is when you want to create a recipe, because you can’t find the exact one you want. For example, last week I wanted to make blondies with apricots, dates, and nuts (I’ll leave out the nuts next time). I rummaged around to find what looked like it might be a good blondie recipe, and then I referred to a gingerbread recipe that I made a few weeks ago that I liked, and I ballparked a new recipe. Why didn’t I just use the blondie recipe? Because it didn’t have a lot of invert sugar in it (invert sugars are liquid: honey, molasses, date syrup, corn syrup, ginger syrup, etc.), but the gingerbread recipe did, and I wanted to use some molasses and honey. Invert sugars work differently in baked goods, because they’re adding moisture as well as sugar. Honestly, I was pleased with the result, but it could have (and has, in the past) gone horribly wrong: that’s where a certain amount of experience is helpful (but not foolproof).
Similarly, a friend had “adapted” the Joy of Cooking banana bread recipe (most notably by replacing the lard with butter and applesauce) and then added a whole raft of stuff—seeds, nuts, chocolate chips, etc. The final result, was a dense, soggy, loaf—if he used muffin tins, they looked and felt like hockey pucks. After literally years of asking, he finally allowed me to make some suggestions: he sent me his current formula, and I compared it to one that I like, and I adjusted the amounts of a number of his ingredients. (I long ago converted him to weights instead of measures.) The first time he tried my adjustments, there was immediate improvement. I think the remaining issues are the result of way too many additions, but he won’t budge on that.
Finally, I use a scale a lot when I’m making grains. I figure out the ratio (usually given on the package), and then I weigh out the grain and the water. You can always add a little water if your grains aren’t quite cooked.
All you really need is a good kitchen scale: I have two from Escali. Get one that goes to 11 pounds or so, so that you can put pots and pans on it and weigh ingredients directly into the pot. It’ll cost you maybe $30, and it’s worth every penny.
Now on to the cooking:
One of my absolute biggest peeves is underbaked baked goods. While it’s a general complaint, and while I have way too many opportunities to haul that complaint out into the light of day, I am particularly annoyed when any kind of laminated pastry is involved. (I also object to underbaked cinnamon rolls, or any other kind of baked good where the dough is rolled.)
For one thing, underbaked stuff doesn’t taste as good as properly baked stuff tastes. If it’s underbaked, you’re likely missing all of the goodness that results from a Maillard reaction and/or caramelization (related but not identical processes). That’s the issue on the surface of the baked item. Inside is a whole other, even worse, story. Instead of being toothsome and tasty, the inside of an underbaked item is gooey. Not gooey in the way that caramel sauce is gooey, but gooey in the way that raw dough is gooey. Yuck.
Three weeks ago, friend and I went to a local bakery that produces some of the best bread I’ve ever had (also: most expensive); in addition to bread, we picked up a couple of cherry galettes for dessert, which was the start of this saga. They looked pretty good—golden on top, etc.—but they were underbaked; the layers were pale and gummy instead of flaky. This led me to making my own damn puff pastry.
First, a side note: Croissants and Danish pastry are both yeasted and laminated—that is, the dough has yeast in it, AND the dough is layered with butter (laminated) in a way I’ll describe in a minute. Puff pastry is NOT yeasted, but IS laminated. What all of them share is that part of the “rise” of the product happens during the first part of baking: the layered butter gives off steam, which makes the item puff. If it’s also a yeasted product, then the dough rose prior to baking, as well, from the yeast. Laminated dough is magic. I say this as someone who made croissants professionally for two solid years. If you do it right, and if the overnight bakers proof and bake it properly, and if baking deities are looking over your shoulder, you end up with an impossibly flakey, golden brown, buttery, airy treat. When the inside is baked properly, you see the structure of the item, and it’s not gooey.
Puff pastry isn’t yeasted, so all of the “puff” comes from that steam. A classic use of puff pastry is a Napoleon: layers of puff pastry interspersed with pastry cream. In this usage, you put a grate (like a cooling rack) over the pastry for the first 30 minutes of the bake, which gets the thing puffing somewhat, but also flattens it. For other uses, you don’t weight it down.
On to lamination. I saw descriptions of this process many, many times over the years, and . . . I didn’t quite believe it. Now that I’ve done it literally thousands of times, it’s only a little less mysterious. Essentially, you start with a dough (yeasted or not, depending on what you’re doing) and a “pad” of butter, you encase the latter in the former, and then you roll it out and fold it over on itself, so that you’re creating many very thin alternating layers of butter and dough. To start, you pound the butter into a rectangle of the size you want; a long rolling pin (the kind with no handles) is perfect for that. The butter becomes flexible—neither melted nor hard. Basically, the butter needs to be pliable. If it’s soft, it will melt into the dough, but if it’s hard it will break up as you create your layers.
Second, the butter should fit neatly into the dough. Roll the dough out so that it’s as close to exactly twice the dimensions of the butter as possible. Put your dough rectangle so the long edge is closet to you, then put your butter in the middle of it, with the short edge facing you, and join the dough in the center. (Others describe different methods for this, but it’s my go-to.) The dough needs to encase the butter, but you don’t want a lot of space at the edges where it’s all dough. After that, it’s a matter of putting as many “folds” into the dough as the formula calls for; the number of folds varies, depending on the product. A fold means you’re rolling out the dough/butter package, in the opposite direction from last time, and then folding it in on itself, like you fold the paper to put in an envelope. Doing this with a two-way dough sheeter like I used at the bakery makes the process go very quickly; doing it by hand takes longer, but not onerously so for a single batch.
Anyway, I mixed up a batch of dough on a Saturday, got the dough and butter into the right shape, and started laminating. By the second or third time rolling out the dough and folding it, I was thinking to myself that the dough felt really good; it felt “right.” It’s literally embodied knowledge, and therefore difficult to describe, but anyone who makes anything is familiar with that sensation of realizing that this instance of what one is making is a good one.
As I put the final folds into the dough on Sunday, I started thinking about what, exactly, I wanted to make, because I hadn’t had a clear plan. (Yeah, I know.) Luckily, I was heading downstairs that day—for Easter—to once again attempt to make paella for Downstairs Neighbor and another friend, so this could be a dessert. After rolling the dough out the final time, I cut the dough into squares and baked four of them and froze the rest. Here’s a pic of the baked squares. (Unfortunately, I didn’t think to cut the squares out of the middle until partway through the bake, but it worked out anyway.) In this case, instead of baking with the grate over top for the first 30 minutes, I only baked with the grate for the first 15, so it would puff a little more. I sprinkled a little sugar on them at the end of the bake time.
Baked squares
I had made some chocolate pastry cream the night before, for some leftover cream puffs I found in the freezer, so I made some cherry compote as well. Easter dessert, shown here, included a puff pastry square, cherry compote, and chocolate pastry cream. That still left one more baked square, which my friend used the next morning as a “container” for a scrambled egg and cheese.
Dessert
Last Friday, I took out two more squares and baked them, this time with a non-dessert plan. I used shredded wild turkey, carrots, onions, cassoulet beans, and some of last summer’s corn, along with turkey stock and a roux, to make pot pie filling. I did it on the stovetop and then put a square of the baked puff pastry on top to serve it. As you can see from the second picture, the puff pastry was, in fact, baked through. The only thing better than using up stuff that’s in the freezer is adding a fully baked flourish to it. There are still a few more squares in the freezer, but I don’t have a plan for them yet.
Dinner
Fully Baked
And it’s all because I got an underbaked cherry galette from a bakery that should know better. – narya
===========
That’s it for this weekend. I’m going to try and tackle a climate post on the national grid system soon – but I’m traveling this next week, so not sure how soon I can get to it. And after that…more beavers saving the planet and other rewilding projects.
Now it’s your turn, what’s on your plate this weekend? What’s cookin’ in your kitchen and what cooking tips do you have to share? – TaMara
WaterGirl
The cake sounds great – but I take it you haven’t tried it yet?
So your audio book is an AI?
Butch
I don’t use weight for bread because there are so many variables – the humidity, temperature, age and dryness of the flour….I find that a given recipe can vary by as much as half a cup, so weighing a precise amount of flour just won’t work.
Chat Noir
I love my purple Escali kitchen scale. I agree about using the metric system for weighing because it’s so much easier. I also love watching the Great British Bake Off because I learn so much!
narya
Also, these are actually two separate things I wrote that TaMara posted together (which is fine!).
sab
Where do you get a good scale? All of mine suck (electronic.). The most accurate scale I have is a very old springy postage scale. It is accurate if you don’t want precision. I do cook many things with it, but I need better for pastries.
Dangerman
I’m thinking of buying a Vitamix (Costco sale partially driven). I had my mouth wired shut for 8 weeks a long time ago. Blended and strained everything. Now, just the thought of tossing things into the blender and a quick soup sounds perfect for my schedule (read: hectic). Know any books of open up a few cans, press blend, and presto?
Somebody also referenced something called molecular gastronomy to me. A few seconds of googling showed me that was more artsy fartsy stuff than nutrition. I’m into function. Right now, chia seeds at bedtime (loaded with trytophan). Food alchemist (simple stuff I mean) here I guess.
bluefoot
I baked brioche this weekend because I was craving it and I needed a treat. The only problem is that I slightly overbaked it since I got distracted while it was in the oven. Which is frustrating since baking is literally the easiest part of making brioche.
For things I know well, I usually go by “feel” and not exact measures (weight or volume!) – i.e. by how they look, texture, etc. Even for simple things like chocolate chip cookies, the brand of flour or butter or the humidity will make a difference so I’ll tweak as I go along.
I tend to adapt recipes after I make them for the first time to get them more in line with my own personal tastes. In the same vein, occasionally I want a very specific thing and I will read a bunch of recipes which I then adapt to create a recipe of my own. This is true for baked goods as well as actual food. It doesn’t always work out, and there’s a few that I am still working on. Still, it’s fun and unless the result is awful I will still eat it since I don’t like things to go to waste.
narya
I got both of mine from King Arthur: this is the one I use most, but I also have this one. And it looks like they have a high-capacity one as well
ETA: in both cases, the little rubbery “feet” came off, but the still work just fine.
sab
@narya: Their pans have been amazingly good. How I did I get to 70 yo hating my inherited baking pans but still using them.
Delk
Michael Ruhlman has a couple of books on food/drink ratios.
narya
@Dangerman: Honestly, I’d just roast a whole bunch of different veggies and keep some stock on hand. Potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash (canned pumpkin would work in a pinch) . . . you could either buy frozen or spend an afternoon roasting and then freezing, and it’d be pretty straightforward to pull out whatever you want that night. Canned tomatoes, kale, spinach, corn . . . I could see pureeing some to make it thicker but also leaving some pieces.
Lyrebird
@narya: Thanks so much for this, and thank you Tamara!
…Is there a photo missing? I see what might be a veg shepherd’s pie, but not the pastry squares. I might have just misunderstood.
narya
@Lyrebird: There were several photos that got lost in the ether. :-) Imagine a photo of baked squares w/ the middle cut out, a square filled with chocolate pastry cream and cherry compote, and a baked but uncut square on top of the pot pie.
lowtechcyclist
Bridgekeeper: “What is your name?”
King Arthur: “It is Arthur, king of the Britons.”
BK: “What is your quest”
KA: “I seek the Holy Grail.”
BK: “What is the weight in grams of a cup of flour?”
KA: “Do you mean a cup of all-purpose flour or a cup of whole wheat flour?”
BK: “I don’t know that…AAAAGGGGHHH!”
Another Scott
@Butch: On the other hand, weighing ingredients for my bread machine made a huge difference in the reproducibility of loafs.
But, yeah, flour can vary a lot (e.g. WW from Nuts.com is very fluffy). So, one will have to make adjustments and experiment.
Baking is chemistry!
Thanks narya, great post.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@narya: Since TaMara is out and about, if you want to send them to me as email attachments, I can add them in there.
Lyrebird
@Dangerman: Here’s a possibility to try: This page on Alissa Segersten’s website shows all the beverages, with some interesting smoothie options. Could try and see if you like her recipes before buying a cookbook (Nourishing Meals and a couple others).
I can’t recall, I remember before I had kids I used to look for recipes, and I think the VitaMix brags that you can essentially blend stuff into soup from the heat of the friction or something. And of course what @narya: said. I think the insta-cooking is for more wet, quick-cooking stuff like zucchini and tomatoes.
Best wishes!
Lyrebird
@narya: mmmmm… we just ate lunch, but imagining that sure can make a gal hungry!
Kent
I have been happy with the Oxo electronic scale which has been working perfectly for me for over 10 years. They have a 5 lb. one and a bigger 11 lb. It toggles between ounces and grams so you can use it for recipes using either metric or imperial units. I have the smaller one and have never needed to weigh more than 5 lbs. at once in the kitchen for any recipe: https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Stainless-Pull-Out-Display/dp/B079D9B82W
The pull out display is a nice feature when you are weighing things in big bowls
band gap
Good stuff. Thanks narya, tamara, and wg.
I’m a noob at baking, started with pizza dough at beginning of covid isolation (I eventually got a Gozney oven for the patio). A couple years ago wanted to try make baguettes since I’ve not found any good ones around here. Looked online at many recipes and how-tos. Settled on this one, and it’s been a winner: https://ilovecooking.ie/food-tv/baguettes-masterclass-with-patrick-ryan/
I usually make a half-recipe, three baguettes.
I too use a scale, an Ohaus CX120, 1200g max, 0.1g resolution. Looks equivalent to the Escali.
I keep my flour in airtight containers, and the weight method has proved very consistent results. Bob’s Red Mill Artissan bread flour is my fav.
Kent
On the mass vs. volume debate for recipes. I find that weighing is ALWAYS the easier way to measure dry ingredients. You can get any precise mass easily and quickly using a scale. Whereas if you are trying to measure something like 2 3/4 cups of something you are messing around with multiple measurements and multiple tools and with less precision.
For liquid measurements volume is easier if you have any kind of graduated glass measuring cup.
E.
The baker’s percentage system is extremely useful with bread. You just start with the flour and however much you are using, say 500 grams, and calculate the remaining ingredients from there. So a typical sourdough loaf might be 500 grams flour, 400 grams water, 100 grams starter and 10 grams salt. The main variable is going to be water- this loaf would be an 80 percent hydration (water in this loaf is 80 percent of flour). It makes your formulas scalable and easy to remember. That said, if you aren’t someone who buys his flour in multiple 50lb bags you can probably do without it. On the other hand, I am sadly no longer in the industry but I do bake bread for my family and I use the baker’s percentage every time.
laura
my best cooking tip is keep a baggy of parmesan cheese rind in the freezer and add one to soups, stews and especially pots of beans. The depth of flavor it brings is remarkable.
I’ve got a pint of apple juice I picked up at last weeks farmer’s market and I’m going to cook it down to a syrup and make a sour apple crisp on this dreary cold and rainy day.
My other tip is to check out the New York Times cookbook edited by Amanda Hesser- it’s a solid workhorse.
Last tip- save till summer, comes from the French Laundry cookbook- not the fancy Thomas Keller palace of gastronomy, but its prior owner, Sally Schmidt (https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2020-02-21/la-fo-french-laundry-memories). She and her husband ran The Chutney Kitchen in a shopping center in Napa back in the day. Her husband Don made the milkshakes and his secret was buttermilk. Imagine, if you will, juicy, ripe, perfect summer peaches, vanilla ice cream and tart, tangy buttermilk- it is life affirming and perfect on a hot summer day or night. I peel and slice the peaches, keeping all the juice too, and chuck it in the freezer. I put the buttermilk in the freezer too, till it’s slushy, and then chuck it all in the blender with an amount of ice cream that adds just the right amount of sweetness and vanilla fragrance. Life. Affirming.
E.
@Kent: Omg yes, the introduction of very accurate scales meant we measured everything at the bakery in grams. Cinnamon, salt, vanilla, nutmeg. We kept a 250ml graduated cylinder around to make the conversions when necessary, like to figure out how much a cup of maple syrup weighs or whatever.
dmsilev
@Kent: I have the 5 kg (11 pound) version of that one and have been happy with it. Also bought a spice scale (for measuring small quantities at 0.1 g resolution); for baking, that’s useful for things like slow-rise breads where the recipe might call for 10 or 12 grams of yeast. The bigger scales aren’t hugely reliable at measuring out small amounts.
JaySinWA
I have been baking bread by weight for several years now and generally get more consistent results.
I’ve started measuring coffee beans by weight as well, it’s remarkable how much the volume differs between the same weight of different roasts and beans.d
ETA the scale is a Kammersteln 11 pound Costco find
narya
@WaterGirl: just sent them! thanks! The pics are titled where they go in the post.
Barbara
I appreciate the lesson on puff pastry, but since I found the Dufour brand (made in NYC) I have tended to use that rather than going homemade. If I baked puff pastry goods more I would probably revert to homemade but for the three or four times a year I make them it doesn’t seem necessary.
I’ve been baking with metric weight measures for awhile. I’m going to check out Escali scales.
narya
@Barbara: Yeah, I normally don’t even use puff pastry, but I’m perfectly willing to use high-quality store-bought, for sure. Every now and then I get it in my head to make something, which is what happened here. And then I either put it into regular rotation or I don’t make it again for years.
mrmoshpotato
Fun with mental math! :)
JaySinWA
@narya: Speaking of folding dough, when I make biscuits I flatten them out and fold them a few times in lieu of kneading. They tend to split easily that way to butter them.
WaterGirl
narya
@JaySinWA: I’ve heard that makes them fluffy, too! Probably that steam in action again?
SuzieC
Hi Narya. I made your citrus bars. Wonderful!!
Not about to tackle puff pastry.
narya
@WaterGirl: Woo! thank you! for readers, the bottom one is the baked squares, the middle one is the square filled with pastry cream and cherries, and the top one is the pot pie with a baked square on top. in the original post, I cut that baked square open so you could see that it was baked through.
narya
@SuzieC: Oh I’m glad you liked them! Today I’m going to use that crumble but fill it with apples instead, and maybe replace some of the butter with hazelnut paste . . .
H.E.Wolf
Thank you to narya for a fascinating and delicious glimpse into the professional baking world!
JAFD
IIRC, there’s a humorous description of the ‘theory’ of puff pastry in Robert Farrar Capon’s The Supper of the Lamb (IMAO, one of the best books on ‘the philosophy of food’)
TBone
@laura: mmmmm on all of that, especially the peaches 💜 when they’re in season here, it’s my favorite time of year. Will be making that in my blender!
BigJimSlade
Wow – what a lot of great info! Thanks!
But… rosettis (garlic knots) that are barely done and soaked in oil and garlic are heaven. When they brown anywhere past medium, they are just bread.
Also, a friend’s mom used to make one enormous batch of brownies by baking one box of mix on top of another box of mix, separated by a layer of chocolate chips. They were gooey chocolate bliss for a kid.
Personally, I make bread and pizza dough, and do not have a scale (or a mixer). I’ve gotten used to the difference between a dry dough and a wet dough (ie,. a bit too little water and not) and now just make sure it’s on the wet side. And some appropriate amounts of salt and yeast. Turns out pretty darn good each time, never precisely the same, but never far off. If I wanted to make something more specific, it would take better measuring/weighing.
Kristine
I freeze ginger—I grate it as needed and don’t bother peeling. It does result in a very fluffy mound so it can be hard to estimate how much you have, but I’m a great believer in You Can Hardly Ever Have Too Much Ginger so I grate a table/teaspoon-size piece and call it a win. It’s nice to always have freshly-grated ginger available.
I love key lime anything and must try that recipe.
I weigh flour, sugar, etc whenever possible. I have a cheap Taylor that has taken to not taring properly, so that Escali is on my list.
karen marie
If you have tortillas, you have delicious crackers.
Brush your tortilla with oil, sprinkle with salt and/or herbs/spices as you like, cut the tortilla into pieces, place on a sheet pan, and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes.
I use LaLa’s tortillas because they’re very thin. The crackers are airy and light, and so delicious!
Last night I made them in my airfryer for the first time to use as a vehicle to get some leftover Chipotle burrito bowl into my mouth.
HumboldtBlue
Iran has attacked Israel with drones.
raven
@HumboldtBlue: They’re gonna fuck a round and get vaporized.
NeenerNeener
All that talk of folding butter into pastry reminds me of the kouign amanns that Trader Joes used to have in the freezer case. They broke my heart when they discontinued those.
NotMax
Ah, choux.
Nothing to sneeze at.
:)
Mart
I like 125 g/cup more better.
emjayay
@narya: Glue the little rubber feet back on with a bit of super glue.
Anyway
My favorite things to bake (and eat) are upside-down citrus cake and mini blueberry muffins. And brownies of course.
BigJimSlade
@NeenerNeener: I once had a kouing amann from Kouing Amann! It was delicious :-)
Martin
@Barbara: Even seasoned French chefs don’t make their own. It’s one of the few things in cooking that even the French agree mechanization has improved upon. The machines make it more reliably uniform, faster, and cheaper. It’s impossible to improve upon so long as it was made with good ingredients.
It’s fun to learn to make, but everyone has better things to do. There’s always a package of Trader Joes puff pastry in my freezer.
scav
I so love scales for my bread. Measure/weigh the flour into the bowl, zero the tare, pour the right amount of water directly to the bowl according to weight, and then, quite honestly, use volume for the salt and yeast as they’re so fiddling small. But the zeroing the tare trick saves so much washing of cups and eliminates the math.
Plus access to a whole lot of other recipes that speak weight as a native tongue.
Martin
I agree that weight is more reliable, but at the same time the more I bake the less I rely on measurement. I have a good feel for how sticky the bread dough should be, etc. so there’s always some flour/water adjusting. Here on the coast we have a petty consistent humidity but if the Santa Anas blew recently with single digit humidity – that flour will be dry as shit, which will make it less dense, resulting in an even higher flour/water ratio when weighed out, requiring me to compensate with more water to get it to the right consistency. Same for pie dough.
Tip for pie dough – swap some of your water for vodka. The alcohol doesn’t cause gluten to form so you get flakier, less bread-like dough, but it still forms up/rolls out well. The alcohol then evaporates during baking. Use flavored vodka if you’re fancy – it’ll leave the flavoring behind. We keep a bottle in the freezer.
Betsy
Wow!! I learned a lot just skimming this. Gonna read it through more thoroughly. Holy smokes! This is fantastic. I’m a decent cook — no baker, but I feel like could try a few things now — this makes me want to!
Kayla Rudbek
This is making me hungry for carbs, drat it all. I should probably check and see if I have any dessert recipes in these diabetic cookbooks I have been buying…low-carb dairy free and egg free is really playing the baking game on high difficulty levels.
Ang
Weighing also works well for my frequently made recipes with annoying to measure ingredients. One cup katsup is about 9oz. Put katsup bottle on scale, zero out scale, then you can just keep squirting into the skillet until the scale says -9.0 oz. Peanut butter – measure it one time the traditional way to find the weight then never fight with getting it out of the measuring cup again. Weight the cup empty, and again when full, subtraction, and note weight on recipe card. Next time put entire jar on scale, zero, and keep spooning straight into mixing bowl until you hit your target. No more washing pb out of the measuring cup. I love my kitchen scale.
sab
@Martin: I made puff pastry a few times in my youth 50 years ago and I did a pretty good job of it, but what a pain in the ass it was. Alwaus I buy it now.
jefft452
underbaked cinnamon rolls are the food of the gods!
rachel
I prefer to weigh liquids too, especially if I’m working in metric. 1 cc water = 1 gram, and many other thin liquids (vinegar, beer, broth…) are pretty close to the same weight as water. Viscous liquids, like honey and syrups, are denser, of course, so I keep a table of weights per cup as a basis for conversions.
wjca
@lowtechcyclist:
Hardly surprising, since they are of quite different densities.