Overheard a baker in Portland say they never weigh their flour and it blew my mind

I was at a small bakery on 23rd Avenue and the owner told me they just scoop and level for every batch of sourdough. They said it's worked for 15 years, so why change? But my last three loaves were flat because I didn't use my scale and the flour was packed. How can you trust the scoop method when humidity changes everything? What's the biggest fail you've had from not weighing ingredients?

3 comments

3 Comments

kaifox21d ago

My uncle's a mechanic who can tell engine problems just by sound. Some skills get baked into your hands after a thousand repeats.

dylan60421d ago

Honestly, I've messed up both ways. Forgot my scale once and my cookies were like hockey pucks. But then I also overthought a muffin recipe with the scale and they came out weird and dry. That baker has been doing the same thing in the same place for 15 years. Their hands are probably the scale at this point. They know exactly how that flour feels in their shop. My kitchen's humidity is all over the place, so I need the scale. Their method works for them, but it's not a rule for everyone.

noah_kelly6021d ago

Yeah, that's the real trick, isn't it? Knowing your own kitchen. My grandma never used a scale, but her house was always the same temperature. I moved to a place with wild seasons, and my old family bread recipe was a total fail until I got a scale. Her "two handfuls" of flour and my "two handfuls" were totally different because the air here just sucks the moisture right out.