Had a chat with my neighbor's grandma about weighing ingredients vs volume measuring

She told me she's been using the same flour scoop for 50 years and never had a cake fail. But I just spent last Sunday baking two loaves of banana bread, one with grams and one with cups. The weighed one came out perfect every time, the cup one was dense in the middle. Now I'm wondering if it's worth hassling people about buying a scale or if old school methods are fine for home bakers. What do you guys think, is volume measuring actually ok for most stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

kevin_martin3d ago

Did you ever see that Cook's Illustrated test where they measured out a cup of flour ten different ways and got like 40% variation between the lightest and heaviest scoop? That pretty much settled it for me. I remember reading about it on a baking blog a few years back and it made total sense. Your grandma's trick works because she's been doing it the exact same way for 50 years, so her "cup" is consistent. But if my sister scoops flour and I scoop flour, we're probably getting different amounts every time. So yeah, for the average home baker who's just following a recipe from a blog or a cookbook, a scale takes the guesswork out. It's not about being a snob, it's about not wasting ingredients on a gamble.

adam_hernandez3d ago

Take it easy, it's just banana bread. If your neighbor's grandma has been winging it with a cup scoop for half a century and nobody's complained, maybe the whole grams vs cups debate is overblown for everyday baking. Your weighed loaf was better, sure, but is being a few percent off really worth buying another gadget and making everyone feel bad about their cookies?