Cool Tip: For the Cookie Monster in all of us: Weigh Your Way to Baking Success!

One of the reasons that many cooks have a fear of desserts is that it’s really a fear of baking. While cooking has a lot of forgiveness in the measurement of ingredients, baking has almost none. And one ingredient in particular, flour, is actually extremely tricky. You can measure it in a very good dry measuring cup, but even then your results will be far from consistent. You will get a different weight for the same volume depending on whether and how much you sift the flour, whether you scoop the flour into the cup or spoon it into the cup before you level it with a knife. As a matter of fact, the results can vary as much as 10%, and that can make the difference between a successful recipe or a disaster: between cookies that are just right and ones that are rock hard.

So what’s a cook to do? Spurn baked desserts out of fear? Never! The key to consistent measurement is weight, not volume. Here’s a handy chart Based on Bob's Red Mill flours to convert flour volumes to weight:
Let your scale take the fear out of baking!