>From: "Steven Leof" <leof@compuserve.com>
>Subject: Weighing liquids, amount of protein and amount of yeast
>Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 10:59:59 +0100
[snip]
>Following the recent thread about using scales coincidently I have been
>struggling to convert my bread recipes from avoirdupois to the metric
>system. Weighing dry ingredients seems straightforward (rightly or
>wrongly I assume that 1 cup of flour is equal to 8 ounces or 228 grams).
The best way to determine the weight of flour is from the nutrition label
on the bag. Here are some weights for 1/4 cup: Ceresota whole wheat, 30g;
Pillsbury whole wheat, 33g; Pillsbury bread flour, 31g; Ceresota
all-purpose flour, 30g.
>However converting liquid measures from teaspoons, tablespoons and
>cups to grams has left me scratching my head.
Here are some volume conversions:
1 tsp = 5 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 cup = 236.6 ml
>Weighing a cup of water isn't a problem for my trusty old-fashioned
>English Weylux Queen scale. But what is the weight I should assume
>correct for a cup of water?
1 cup of water weighs 236.6g (or 235g if your scale has 5gm resolution like
mine).
>Does the weight of water vary in a colder or a warmer room?
1 ml water weighs 1 gm; strictly speaking at 4 degrees C, but I don't think
variation with temperature is going to matter much in baking.
>I have not seen a conversion table anywhere. When substituting milk,
>buttermilk, olive oil and other liquids in recipes should I assume that
>all liquids weigh the same?
No. Specifically, you need to know the water content of milk when
substituting for water. Whole milk weighs 244g per cup and contains 214.7g
of water. 1% milk weighs 244g per cup and contains 219.8g of
water. Another way of figuring the amount of milk to use is to assume
whole milk is 88% water by weight and 1% milk is 90% water by weight.
Oils all weigh 13.6g per tablespoon.
>Recipes with percentages are much easier to>replicate time and
>again and to modify than traditional recipes; even the
>new wave of bread books fall down when it comes to liquids....
Recipes by weight are more common in Europe. Hopefully, American
publishers will pick up on this one day.
Howard Larson