Equipment : Weighing

The correct equipment is essential when baking some dishes and for others, it's not really important at all.  Throughout this blog I'll be sharing ideas about utensils I use which I couldn't do without and also the tools I use which aren't so conventional.
 
Scales:  There are recipe quantities which you just 'know' are right.  If you're experienced at making batter, you get to know the consistency and colour, whether to add another egg, whisk a little more or add more flour.  If you like runny custard you add more milk than the recipe states, if you like it thick you add less.  Measurements are not important.  But if you're making choux pastry, the weight of ingredients is essential and it's worth the extra time and fiddling around to make sure the recipe is followed to the gram or oz.  When making jams, the correct amount of sugar is imperative to ensure it sets.  The scales I use are digital and can be reset when loaded.  If a recipe calls for eggs, sugar, flour and butter to be mixed at once, I can add each ingredient to the bowl and reset the scale to zero to weigh the next ingredient.  They are also interchangeable so I can measure either metrically or by imperial weight.  However, if you do have a recipe that states both, make sure you stick to one method of weighing and never mix imperial and metric.

Reflecting on this, I remember my Mum having old fashioned brass balance scales.  I used to love helping her weigh ingredients, watching the pans go up and down as weights were lifted and replaced on each side and waiting for the final wobble to cease when the scales balanced.  Then tipping the ingredients into a bowl and then starting again with the next ingredient.  Sometimes we'd end up with four or five bowls all neatly lined up and accurately weighed.  It took ages but as a kid I didn't have to rush off to deal with other responsibilities, so it was fun.  Whilst I was dabbling around, she used to potter with other chores. She got rid of those scales a few years back and I am rather sad really, as given the chance I know I'd use them again on an afternoon when I had a little time to potter with them.

Cups:  American recipes are becoming extremely popular in the UK and the measuring system is most often in cup measurements.  It's worth investing in a set.  You can get online conversion charts that give equivalent weights, but why bother referring back and forth to a chart if you can just scoop your ingredients up?  It also makes measuring ingredients incredibly speedy, so if you need to make something in a hurry, cups are great.  Stainless steel is best.

Measuring spoons:  Take a look in your cutlery drawer and pull out five teaspoons.  If your drawer is anything like mine, you'll pull out five completely different shaped and sized ones.  Which one is a REAL teaspoon in terms of baking weight?  A level one of them may only fill half another one, so when you're measuring baking powder, how do you know you've got enough or too much?  If you need a flavour extract, a larger teaspoon may end up overpowering your entire dish and ruining it.  A smaller one can leave the finished dish lacking in taste.  Measure too much salt into a dough mix and you risk inhibiting the yeast. Like cups, measuring spoons are accurately calibrated and it's worth having a set in your basic equipment.  Again, if you can, get stainless steel.

With both cups and spoons, remember not to pack the ingredients tight. Just tap the excess off and if necessary level off with the back of a knife.