My old bread mentor changed my mind about using a scale

I always thought measuring cups were fine until I worked a shift with this guy named Dave at a bakery in Portland last summer. He watched me scoop flour and said, 'You're packing in an extra 40 grams easy, that's why your crumb is dense.' I didn't believe him so he made two loaves side by side later that week, one by volume and one by weight. The weight one came out perfect with an open crumb and the other was a brick. Now I don't even own measuring cups for baking anymore. Anyone else had a mentor call them out on something small that made a huge difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer9811d ago

That old baking trick has a way of showing up everywhere once you notice it. Start measuring your coffee grounds by weight instead of scoops and the morning cup hits different every single time. Same goes for seasoning food to taste versus following a recipe's exact pinch of salt. Small shifts in precision stack up fast, whether it's dough or dinner.

the_simon1d ago

Totally agree with this. My buddy called me out for not letting my salt dissolve fully in the dough once and I thought he was being a jerk. Made two batches the next weekend one where I mixed the salt in early and one where I just tossed it in at the end. The first one was way more even tasting and the second had these weird salty pockets. Now I mix my salt water separate before adding. Tiny tweaks like that are the whole difference between good bread and great bread honestly.

allen.kai1d ago

That Dave sounds like the kind of baker everyone needs at least once. I had a similar wake up call when someone pointed out my water temperature was all over the place, too cold one day, too warm the next. Fixed that and my dough started actually behaving like dough should, not like some sad lump. Little things really do stack up to a huge difference in the final loaf.