Response from CAH about Measuring Flour
#11
  Re: (...)
I just received a response from CAH, and thought I'd share it with you folks. Here it is...

In general, recipe developers use the spoon and sweep method when measuring dry, powdery ingredients. Scooping flour, for instance, with a measuring cup can result in a lot more flour than the previous method. I would recommend that you always use the spoon and sweep method first, then add more flour if needed.

Krista Lanphier
Associate Editor
Cuisine at Home
You have to know what the rules are before you can successfully break them.
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#12
  Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by Suzie_Homemaker (I just received a re...)
Please interpret that response for me---DUHHH!!! I guess I don't understand the language to well---AGAIN
"Never eat more than you can lift" Miss Piggy
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#13
  Re: Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by Roxanne 21 (Please interpret tha...)
When developing recipes, most people spoon the flour into the measuring cup until it heaps over the rim; then sweep the excess off with a straight edged tool. If you need a little more flour you can add it when needed.

That ok Roxanne?
Don't wait too long to tell someone you love them.

Billy
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#14
  Re: Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by bjcotton (When developing reci...)
Most people do use the spoon-and-sweep method, and that's what I do. However, I have come across some cookbooks that advise readers to scoop the flour into the cup rather than spoon it. Because of this, whenever I run across a new recipe that doesn't specify how the flour is to be measured, I try to contact the person or company that developed the recipe to find out. I'm a new CAH subscriber, so the first thing I did after receiving my first issue was to ask them how they measure flour when they develop their recipes. Now that I know, I can confidently try their recipes.
You have to know what the rules are before you can successfully break them.
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#15
  Re: Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by Suzie_Homemaker (Most people do use t...)
I like to weigh flour; often I won't even use a measuring cup at all, I'll just set the bowl on my digital scale, tare it and dump the flour in. This is how professional bakers do it and there is so much less room for error doing it this way.

5 ounces is what a cup of AP flour should weigh. Cake flour is 4 I think.

If you have a scale this sure beats debating scoop vs spoon.

Laura
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#16
  Re: Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by bjcotton (When developing reci...)
GOT CHA----Thanks everyone--I have always scooped and sweeped and not had a problem--that I'm aware of. Maybe some of those recipes really were not what they were supposed to be ultimately---
"Never eat more than you can lift" Miss Piggy
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#17
  Re: Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by semmens (I like to weigh flou...)
While it's true that a cup of UNSIFTED all-purp. flour weighs 5 oz. and a cup of SIFTED all-purp. flour weighs 4 oz., all-purp. flour measured by the spoon-and-sweep method weighs about 4.25 oz. (Some cookbooks use a weight of 4.5 oz. Confusing, IMO!) When I try a new recipe, I first use the spoon-and-sweep method to see if the recipe works. I then make the recipe again and weigh the flour, using the weight of 4.25 oz. per cup to see if that works. Usually, the 4.25 oz. weight is perfect, though sometimes I have to add a little flour and adjust the recipe accordingly. Once I know what the flour is supposed to weigh, I then weigh the flour from then on out, as I get more consistent results than with volume measuring. Also, weighing is faster!

If a recipe calls for sifted flour, I don't even bother to sift before measuring. I weigh it, using the weight of 4 oz. per cup. After I weigh it, I then sift the flour together with the other dry ingredients. Saves time, I tell ya!

I once spent an entire afternoon measuring flour (using the scoop-and-sweep method) over and over again, then weighing the flour after each time. I got an average of 4.25 oz. I also realized that with the scoop-and-sweep method, it was impossible to get the flour to weigh the same each and every time. By weighing the flour, the flour weighs the same each and every time.

Lastly, I avoid recipes from cookbooks that advocate the scoop method because I know that if I measure that way, a cup of all-purp. flour can weigh anywhere from 5 to 5.5 oz. Why borrow trouble?

And if you're thinking I'm overdoing things, I've gotta tell ya that my baking skills have drastically improved since I learned about all this.
You have to know what the rules are before you can successfully break them.
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#18
  Re: Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by Suzie_Homemaker (While it's true that...)
LOL Suzy, you missed your calling, you should have been one of these laboratory people who labour un sung years and come up with a cure for something important. You should be gazing in confused myopic wonderment at the raft of media with their flashing lights and gazzillion microphones. You should be explaining in quiet hesitant tones how you use the the Nobel Prize, in scholarships for people, mention how nice it would be have heating in your one room apartment, and how you want to replace the suit you bought for sisters wedding in 1956. Aaahhh, I can see it now...... Scene fades, lights lower, you are seen tracing the worn line in the linoleum, back to the refuge of your laboratory.....
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#19
  Re: Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by vannin (LOL Suzy, you missed...)
LOL! I did come up with a cure for something important: my baked goods! They turn out much better now that no longer scoop the flour. What's more, the amount of flour is particularly important when baking cakes at high altitude. I live at 4,000 above sea level. In summary, if your baked goods don't turn out the way you want them to, it may be the way you're measuring the ingredients.

That said, please note that I am not trying to nit pick. There is not a "right" or "wrong" way to measure flour. Even the well-known bakers don't agree on this issue. There is no consensus.

Because there is no consensus, IMO it's best to ask the recipe developers how the flour is measured than to make assumptions and risk disaster.

JMHO, of course.
You have to know what the rules are before you can successfully break them.
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#20
  Re: Re: Response from CAH about Measuring Flour by Suzie_Homemaker (LOL! I did come up w...)
I am not a baker myself, never have been. But oh, how I admire people who can, and do. Maybe Billy will sort me out when he comes here. We are past our shortest day now (21st) so now I can respectably start a count down. I am too scared to be excited, what if something happens. I can't think what, and I know it won't, it is just that when you want something so much, well...... it can give you the wobbles. Not that we are going to do so much, Christmas is always important to us, New Year, less so. Have a bit of a tour around, cook, compare supermarkets, you know. Meet my friends, get silly together, sit in the sun and drink wicked stuff. And talk and talk and talk....
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