Baking book w/measurements by weight?

[dcSaute]

Originally Posted by Joshatdot

.. I've Googled conversion charts .. but they all seem to have different weights for stuff

oh yeah. if you want to start a war, just proffer an opinion on how much a cup of flour weighs.

lard, sugar, salt, water, whatever is reasonably consistent - but not flour. different mills do it different, different 'types' weigh in different (AP, bread, cake, etc) and then there's sifted / non-sifted / packed / scooped / fluffed....

I always buy the same brand of flour - KA Bread flour, Ceresota unbleached AP, Pillsbury cake. from experience I know how it reacts and how much "a cup" weighs. never buy the "store brand" - they get it from the lowest bidder per batch - changes constantly.

also to note, some experimentation and experience required. it is not a reasonable expectation to simply and blindly follow the numbers, temps and times in a baking recipe - especially breads - and think it's gonna work right out of the box.

[natt12321]

Buy British!! We don't really 'do' cups over here. Infact when I come across American recipes with cups it's quite an inconvenience because it means I have to dig my cups out of the back of a draw.

Pretty much every baking book I have is in weights rather than cups (with the exception of two which I bought in America.)

[Silversage]

The Cake Bible, or just about anything by Rose Levy Beranbaum lists all recipes by both weight and volume.

And she's a very highly respected baker & author. You can't go too far wrong with her books.

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Originally Posted by Joshatdot

I can read English fairly well . Good point bout European cookbooks.

Do they still speak English in England? Isn't England in Europe? I haven't checked since the Japanese earthquake, but I don't think it moved. At least not very far.

[taxlady]

Originally Posted by Joshatdot

.. I've Googled conversion charts .. but they all seem to have different weights for stuff

Yup, that's what I found too.

I have started doing my own conversions. I follow a recipe that uses cups and measure it out in cups and then weigh it. If it worked fine, I now have the measurements in grams. Liquids aren't realy a problem, my liquid cup measures all have US cups on one side and ml/litres on the other side.