My last posting examined the disagreement between the expectation and reality when trying to assign a weight to a volume of dry ingredients. I wanted to follow-up with three additional examples to emphasize that the variability exists between brands of flour and not just between my measuring cup and the statements on the side of the bag.
The all-purpose flour example I used in the last post came from a bag of King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour.
Expectation.
From the side of the bag of flour, it suggests that 1/4 cup flour = 30 grams – so 1 cup flour = 4 x 30 grams = 120 grams.
I converted this weight into ounces. Since 1 ounce = 28.3495 grams, 1 cup flour = (120 / 28.3495) ounces = 4.233 ounces.
So 1 cup flour should weigh about 4 1/4 ounces.
Using the “Scoop & Sweep” method to extract 1 cup of flour, I got the following result:
1 cup flour – reality.
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I wanted to show you how there is actually variability from brand-to-brand – not just variability between expectation and reality. This time, I want to show you the results of using the “Scoop & Sweep” method to extract 1 cup of flour from three different bags from different companies.
Example 1 – Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour
Expectation.
From the side of the bag of flour, it suggests that 1/4 cup flour = 30 grams – so 1 cup flour = 4 x 30 grams = 120 grams.
I converted this weight into ounces. Since 1 ounce = 28.3495 grams, 1 cup flour = (120 / 28.3495) ounces = 4.233 ounces.
So 1 cup flour should weigh about 4 1/4 ounces.
Using the “Scoop & Sweep” method to extract 1 cup of flour, I got the following result:
Reality.
Expectation: 4.2 oz. Reality: 5.6 oz.
Example 2 – Pillsbury All-Purpose Flour
Expectation.
From the side of the bag of flour, it suggests that 1/4 cup flour = 31 grams – so 1 cup flour = 4 x 31 grams = 124 grams.
I converted this weight into ounces. Since 1 ounce = 28.3495 grams, 1 cup flour = (124 / 28.3495) ounces = 4.4 ounces.
Using the “Scoop & Sweep” method to extract 1 cup of flour, I got the following result:
Reality.
Expectation: 4.4 oz. Reality: 5.9 oz.
Example 3 – Big Spring Mill, Inc. – Best Patent Flour
Expectation.
From the side of the bag of flour, it suggests that 1/4 cup flour = 32 grams – so 1 cup flour = 4 x 31 grams = 128 grams.
I converted this weight into ounces. Since 1 ounce = 28.3495 grams, 1 cup flour = (128 / 28.3495) ounces = 4.5 ounces.
Using the “Scoop & Sweep” method to extract 1 cup of flour, I got the following result:
Reality.
Expectation: 4.5 oz. Reality: 5.4 oz.
Please note that for this example, the information from the side of the bag suggests that this flour SHOULD weigh more per volume than all of the other flours (it suggests that 1/4 cup should weigh 32 grams while the other bags quoted weights of 30 grams and 31 grams) – BUT in my “Scoop & Sweep” 1 cup test, this flour actually weighed less per volume than all of the other flours.
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Takeaway – Again, using volume to measure dry ingredients generates wildly inconsistent results (in terms of weight). Even professionally published results differ on the relationship between volumes and weights! Perhaps even more disconcerting here is the fact that of the four bags of flour I used to weigh-out 1 cup, there three different expected weights taken directly from the information on the bags AND four different actual weights. Scaling dry ingredients is ALWAYS a better way to generate consistent results in your baking – weigh your ingredients whenever it is feasible.
You should never scoop and sweep flour. You should spoon it into your cup and the sweep it. You should see better results.
Spoon and level, not scoop and sweep, is the recommended practice by culinary professionals, if measuring without an accurate food scale is not possible.
Even then, because one’s spoon and level action is not done with robotic precision, there may be slight differences.
However, it is far more reliable than scoop and sweep. Comparisions on the scale may be 1 or 2 grams of a difference.