There are times in German cookery and baking that you really need a scale. Here, we discuss what the advantages are to using a scale and how and when you can do without.
Americans have been doing without scales for cooking since they moved to the New World. They have, instead, developed elaborate rituals for reproducing weights, using standardized measuring cups, telling you how exactly to measure ingredients (packed brown sugar or sifting and re-measuring flour). A scale doesn’t care if your butter has air spaces or your flour is scooped just right. An ounce is an ounce for the scale.
You can reproduce a recipe more accurately when you measure by weight. In cooking, where you add seasonings and other ingredients to taste, the differences don’t show up as much. But in baking, following the recipe can mean the difference between a flat loaf and a fluffy loaf of bread. The scale helps with this problem.
A scale is a great tool for the math impaired.
Having a scale on hand lets you use more recipes without messing around with conversions. Since Great Britain and Australia also use weight in their recipes, you can use them right off the bat, without a calculator.
A scale need not be expensive.
You can find non-electric scales for $10 (Polder) which work in 5 gram increments. Electric scales can be found online and at the hardware store for $30 - $50. They have the added benefit of switching from ounces to grams at a touch, so you don’t have to remember that 28 grams equals 1 ounce, or work with fractions.
Shopping For a Scale
- Choose one that can switch between grams and ounces. For baking, try to find one that measures in 1/2 gram increments. Don’t buy according to other frills such as clock or thermometer.
- Look for one with the longest automatic shut-off time; More than a minute is handy when you are adding ingredients to the bowl sequentially.
- A flat scale with a large surface to rest your own bowl is handy, and should pack away easily.
- For breads, make sure your scale can weigh up to 5 pounds or more.
How to Work With Weights in Recipes
I prefer to work in metric, because it is a simple system based on tens. I can multiply by ten. The conversions I can remember are:
- 1 kilogram (1,000 grams) is a little more than 2 pounds, so half a kilogram (500 grams) is a good pound (454 grams).
- A stick of butter is about 100 grams (112 grams). One tablespoon butter is about 14 grams.
- An eight ounce tub of something (cream cheese, whipping cream) is about 225 grams. German tubs tend to be 250 grams, so it’s almost the same thing.
- Liquids are measured in milliliters (ml), which convert roughly to grams for water and milk. One American measuring cup is 225 ml, and equal to almost 1/4 liter (250 ml).
on scales.
