How much does a cup of flour weigh?

[corazon]

Don't exactly know where to post this thread...
Bought a scale yesterday to use for baking. The big question is, how much does a cup of flour weigh? Does anyone know of a good website that lists such things? Thanks a lot!

 

[Haggis]

Flour generally weighs about 125-150g per cup.

However this depends on a lot of factors so do not take it as law. Variables include:

a) is that sifted? Or unsifted?
b) was the flour packed in, or simply leveled off?
c) the flour itself

Ideally when you buy a bag of flour it is good to measure out 1 level unpacked cup and measure it. Doing this a couple of times and a set of digital scales makes the process alot more accurate as well.

 

[Michael in FtW]

The weight of a cup of flour depends on (1) the type of flour and (2) how you filled the cup. For example - 1 cup of AP flour could range from 3-5 oz! That's the simple answer. We had a big discussion about Measuring Flour some time back that you might find interesting.

If you are trying to convert a recipe from Cups to Oz - you really need to know how the flour was measured in the first place. Then, you can measure out 3 or 5 cups and take an average.

If you are using a "baker's" recipe that is all in Lbs/Oz and trying to guess the number of cups needed - then the numbers Haggis gave are a good starting point - 125g is 4.4 oz, 150g is 5.29 oz.

 

[urmaniac13]

Michael is right... it is very difficult to tell depending on the type of flour and how tightly it is packed. (One thing for sure, it will weigh much less than equivalent of 1 cup of sugar) For baking where the exact composition is essential, it is much safer to go with the weight rather than volume, thus you have done right to purchase a scale! Try to make a habit of utilizing it...

Confession time....Back in my silly old days, I tried to make a cake, the recipe called for like 200g of flour, so I used slightly less than 1 cup of flour, automatically assuming that volume and weight would be the same... and for a long time I wondered why my cake never came out right!!

 

[amber]

Am I missing something Corazon? Is there any reason why you can pour some flour into a measuring cup and then weigh it on your scale?

 

[urmaniac13]

Am I missing something Corazon? Is there any reason why you can pour some flour into a measuring cup and then weigh it on your scale?

Amber it is quite possible with a digital scale.. you place the cup or whatever the container first, then you can reset the scale to 0, at this point you pour the flour in... then it will show you the weight of the flour alone

 

[AllenOK]

My digital scale has a long, shallow, dish that you can pour "whatever" into it to weigh. It also has a "tare" function, which zeroes the scale.