Guides

Practical guides to measuring ingredients and converting recipes, by Patrick.

• How to Measure Flour Correctly (and Why Your Cup Might Be Off by 30 Grams)

  Scooping flour packs it down and can add a quarter more flour than the recipe intended. Here is the spoon-and-level method, why it works, and when to weigh instead.

• Why Bake by Weight? The Case for a Kitchen Scale

  Weighing ingredients makes baking more consistent, cuts down on washing up and makes scaling recipes simple. Here is how it works in practice.

• US, Metric and UK Cups: How Big Is a Cup?

  A US cup is 236.6 ml, a metric cup is 250 ml, and older British recipes may use a larger cup. Here is how cup and spoon sizes differ, and when it matters.

• Butter Measurements Explained: Sticks, Tablespoons, Cups and Grams

  One US stick of butter is 1/2 cup, 8 tablespoons and about 113 g. Here is how sticks, blocks, cups and grams convert, plus how to measure butter without a stick.

• How to Convert Any Recipe from Cups to Grams

  A step-by-step method for converting a recipe written in cups and spoons into grams, with a worked example, rounding tips and what to do with eggs and liquids.

• Choosing a Kitchen Scale: What Actually Matters

  A practical guide to digital kitchen scales: capacity, precision, the tare button, units and the features worth paying for.

• Packed, Sifted, Heaping, Scant: Recipe Measuring Terms Explained

  What recipes mean by packed, lightly packed, sifted, heaping, rounded, scant and level, and how much difference each one makes.

• How to Measure Honey, Syrup and Peanut Butter Without the Mess

  Sticky ingredients cling to measuring cups, so you end up using less than the recipe says. Here are four ways to measure them accurately and cleanly.

• Common Baking Substitutions (With Amounts)

  Out of buttermilk, brown sugar or cake flour? Standard substitutions for common baking ingredients, with amounts and notes on how each one changes the result.

• Tablespoons and Teaspoons: Sizes, Conversions and Measuring Tips

  How many teaspoons in a tablespoon, tablespoons in a cup, and grams in a tablespoon of common ingredients, plus how to measure spoonfuls accurately.

• How to Measure Brown Sugar: What "Packed" Really Means

  How to pack brown sugar into a measuring cup, why recipes say packed, how many grams a cup holds, how much is in a 1 lb box, and how to deal with hardened sugar.

• Why a Cup of Oil Weighs Less Than a Cup of Water (and How to Measure Liquids)

  Why a cup of oil, milk, water and honey all weigh different amounts, how fluid ounces differ from weight ounces, and the right way to measure liquids in cups or on a scale.