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Kitchen scales have become increasingly popular with home bakers, and for good reason. Scales allow bakers to have more precision and confidence while baking.
Why Use A Kitchen Scale?
A lot of home bakers start with measuring spoons and cups and never see the need for a kitchen scale. Well, let me introduce you to all the benefits!
Precision
Scales are the most precise way to bake. When measuring with measuring cups, dry ingredients can get packed down and liquid ingredients can be measured incorrectly (you need to be at eye level and measure the meniscus). Suddenly, that batch of lovely cookies will have an extra 10 to 20 grams of flour or couple milliliters of milk and that will affect the end product. With scales, 10 grams is 10 grams, so as long as your scale is working properly, you can be sure your desserts are exactly the way the recipe designed them to be.
Consistency
With precision comes consistency. Once you know a cookie recipe works, you can trust it will be the same every time because the amount of ingredients you’re adding is exactly the same. Scales are also useful to divide dough, batter or fillings into even portions.
Less dishes
A scale can be wiped down in seconds. An entire collection of measuring spoons, dry measuring cups and a liquid measuring cup? Not so much. So for all us lazy souls, a scale is the way to go.
Easy conversions
Grams are easy to convert compared to volume measurements. You can do the mental math or plug the numbers into a calculator and scale any recipe to fit any pan or serving size. 100 grams divided in half? 50 grams. 3/4 cup divided in half? You can search it up online, but that takes more effort.
How to Use a Scale
Did I mention scales are really easy to use? If you haven’t used one before, here’s how.
- Place your bowl on the scale.
- Press the power button to turn on. The number on the scale should read 0, so you’re only measuring the ingredients, not the weight of the bowl.
- Measure your ingredient.
- If you’re adding a different ingredient, press the TARE button the reset the number on the scale to zero, so you’re only measuring the new ingredient.
It’s that simple!
When to Use a Scale
Sometimes, I’m lazy and feel the temptation to revert to my lovely measuring spoons and cups. Here’s a quick guide for when to use kitchen scales so when you’re feeling lazy too, you know if you can use measuring cups instead.
When you might not want to use a scale
This is the only time I don’t use a scale, but if your scale is more accurate, this shouldn’t be a problem. But feel free to laugh at this story of scale struggles!
When I first started measuring with a scale, I didn’t think my scale could fail to measure something, but it can. I was scaling gelatin for jelly in an entremet (a fancy layered cake), and my scale was showing numbers, so I thought I was scaling correctly. However, the jelly ended up oddly chewy, so I did some investigating. After testing quantities under 5 grams on my scale, I realized that it couldn’t scale those amounts consistently nor accurately! I probably just added too much gelatin. It would have been better if I simply used some measuring spoons.
Moral of the story? Measuring spoons can be helpful. This is why my recipes contain weights for almost all ingredients, but any small quantities will be in volume measurements like a teaspoon.
When a scale is helpful, but not necessary
Measuring even portions of dough and batters
Professional kitchens use kitchen scales so customers all get the same amount of dessert every time. If you’re just baking at home, it doesn’t matter as much if there’s an extra big cookie. However, scales can be helpful in some of situations. For example, if you want even layers of cake for a neat slice, you can weigh out the amount of cake batter that goes in each cake pan to ensure they’re all the same.
Measuring mix-ins that don’t affect the base recipe’s texture
I’m using the term “base recipe” to refer to whatever is the main component of your dessert, like cheesecake batter. Some mix-ins need to be precise because they will affect the base recipe’s texture. For example, if I’m adding chocolate chips to a muffin, a little extra chocolate won’t affect the muffin’s texture, so it doesn’t matter. However, if I add a bunch of pineapple or zucchini, the added moisture could make the muffin more gummy or dense.
A recipe is forgiving
Generally, drop cookies, quick breads, and cakes will be okay if measurements aren’t super accurate. However, they might not turn out as well, so using a scale is still best.
When a scale is necessary
Some desserts like macarons are just sensitive and finicky, so don’t mess with them and use your scale. These desserts probably won’t tolerate an extra 10 grams of flour. You’ll be able to recognize them because the recipes will have weights and may include phrases like “don’t be intimidated” or “advanced”. Don’t be afraid and go for it, it’ll be lots of fun! Just use your scale.
It’s that simple (or complicated, depending on how you look at it). Kitchen scales are almost always your best bet for precision and accuracy, so I recommend you use them as much as possible. However, they are not necessary 100% of the time, so I hope this guide helped you understand where you can and can’t use volume measurements instead of weights.
With love,
Your baking friend Sherene ❤️
