Measuring ingredient correctly is a necessary part of baking because baking rely on specific chemical reaction. These chemical reactions require specific ratio of ingredients to ensure that the food has the correct texture and structure. You must understand the difference between volume and weight because volume and weight are different way to measure ingredients.
A cup is a measurement of volume, and volume is a measurement of the space an ingredient occupy. A gram is a measurement of mass, and mass is a measurement of how much an ingredient weigh. Because different ingredients has different densities, different ingredients will occupy the same amount of space but have different weight.
How to Measure Ingredients Correctly
For example, a cup of flour may weigh much less than a cup of sugar because flour is less dens than sugar. If you use volume measurements incorrect, you may add too much or too little of an ingredient, and adding the incorrect amount of an ingredient can cause a cake to become dense or gummy. Professional bakers use digital kitchen scale because digital kitchen scales provides measurements by weight.
When you measure ingredients by weight, you remove the human error that occur when you measure ingredients by volume. Human error occurs in volume measurements because you might pack an ingredient too tight into a cup or leave too much air in the cup. The weight of a cup of flour can change depending on whether you use all-purpose flour, bread flour, or cake flour.
Because the weight of the flour change, the ratio of flour to other ingredients change, and changing the ratio of ingredients can cause a pastry to collapse. Therefore, using a digital kitchen scale is more accurate way to ensure that you are using the exact amount of an ingredient that a recipe require. If you choose to use volume measurements, you must use specific techniques to ensure that your volume measurement are accurate.
Many people use dry measuring cup for dry ingredients, and you should use the spoon and level method when you use dry measuring cup. To use the spoon and level method, you must gently spoon the ingredient into the measuring cup and then use a flat edge to scrape the excess ingredient off the top of the cup. You should not dip the measuring cup direct into the ingredient container because dipping the cup into the container compress the ingredient.
If you compress the ingredient, the ingredient will occupy less space in the cup, but the ingredient will have more mass than the recipe intend. For liquid ingredient, you should use clear liquid measuring jug so that you can view the liquid at eye level. You must view the liquid at eye level because looking at the liquid from an angle can lead to an incorrect measurement of the liquid.
Different ingredients require different handling during the measurement process because some ingredient change density based on how you handle the ingredients. For example, recipes often require brown sugar to be dense, so people often pack brown sugar firm into a measuring cup. Packing brown sugar increase the density of the brown sugar, and increasing the density of the brown sugar increase the weight of the brown sugar.
Granulated white sugar does not require packing, so granulated white sugar have a different density and a different weight than packed brown sugar. Similarly, fats such as butter and oils behaves differently during measurement. A cup of butter is a solid mass, but a cup of vegetable oil is a liquid, and a cup of butter will not weigh the same as a cup of vegetable oil.
Grains and starches also present challenge because grains and starches change size during the cooking process. A cup of dry rice occupies a different amount of space than a cup of cooked rice because the rice expand when the rice absorbs water. You can use conversion chart to understand how much volume grains and starches will gain after they absorb water.
Additionally, small ingredient like chocolate chips, nuts, and seeds has unique weight per cup. A cup of peanut butter is heavy and dense, but a cup of shredded coconut is light and airy. Because a cup of peanut butter weigh more than a cup of shredded coconut, you must be careful when you use volume measurement for these ingredient.
Precision in measurement is important because precision in measurement ensure that the ratio of fats and solids in your recipe remain correct.