What's with the weird measurements?
The Short Story
In short? Because baking with weight is the most accurate way to bake. In every recipe I’ll include volume measurements in parentheses because I want these recipes to be accessible to any and every baker, but I would really encourage you to try using weight! The one exception to this is with amounts of ingredient under about a tablespoon, such as for spices. These are often amounts too small for a usual digital scale, and a volume measure is fine.
Investing in a good kitchen scale is not too much of a splurge, and well worth it- I’ve linked the one I use and recommend below, which is $25.00 USD at the time of writing this. If you decide to use a different scale, make sure it’s digital and has a tare function so you can clear the weight after each ingredient. If you’d like to convert ingredient weights from grams to ounces or convert volume measurements to weight in a recipe elsewhere, I highly recommend the King Arthur weight ingredient calculator, linked below.
The Longer Story
One of the things that draws me to baking the most is the intricate blend between artistry and science. It’s a fascinating and delicious application of chemistry and biology, and while that might not sound like a thrilling description, I promise you it is! In the science of baking, precision is essential. You’ll get wildly different amounts of flour, for instance, depending on whether you pack it into a cup measurer or lightly spoon it in, but when you weigh it, it’s the same every time. Weighing ingredients helps recipes translate accurately across bakers.
My other pitch for using weight measurements is that it will save you time and dishes; pouring sugar or flour straight from a container is much faster than measuring it out, and you can pour everything into the mixing bowl without measuring cups.
So we know “why weight.” But why grams in particular? Ounces are measured in fractions, and this becomes more than a slight nuisance when you’re trying to double or halve a recipe- no one wants to take the time to halve 5¾ ounces. Grams, on the other hand, are in nice round numbers, and make for quick mental math. Plus, being familiar with grams means you’ll be better prepared to read recipes written outside the US.