A lot of people know that you should use a scale when baking. Baking is probably the only form of cooking that I can say is a science without people arguing with me. (Try saying "stir-fry is a science" or "candy-making is a science" without having the science vs. art discussion.) This is because just about every cookbook that covers baking discusses the importance of balancing acids and bases and precise measurements are of paramount importance when trying to transform a wet glob of batter into a glorious, fluffy dessert. To get precise measurements, we are told to toss out the measuring cups and use a kitchen scale. But is baking the only reason to use a scale?
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The first and foremost reason is of course precision. Precision is how repeatable a measurement is. For example, if we measured a cup of all-purpose flour in a 1 cup (8 ounces) dry measuring cup, we expect the mass of the flour to be 125 grams. Assuming that the dry measuring cup is constructed to strict standards, the cup is accurate but not precise. Every time flour is measured, it is a bit more or a bit less than 125 g. How tightly packed the flour is, whether it has been recently sifted, if we scooped the flour or spooned it, all make an impact to the repeatability or precision of using a cup as a measuring device. On the other hand, a scale is precise (and accurate if calibrated). When a cup of flour is weighed on a scale, it is possible to add or take away flour until the scale registers 125 g. The precision of the scale is dependent on how easy it is to read the scale. In baking, using a scale to measure all the ingredients will ensure that you are following the recipe correctly (at least in terms of the proportions of ingredients). Using measuring cups could result in having a little more flour than leavening, etc.
Repeatability is a big reason why I use a scale. When I've figured out how much sugar to put into a recipe or how much butter is needed, using a scale means that next time I make the recipe it will have a greater chance of ending up exactly the same as I made it last time.
If precision and repeatability aren't motivating factors for getting a scale (and for most home chefs they don't sound too compelling), here's a good one: faster measuring. No more scooping with a measuring cup and then leveling the top with a straight edge. Simply pour into a bowl set on the scale and stop at the desired point. With fast response digital scales, the weight display is updated fast enough that you can pour until you hit the desired value. Then you can zero out the scale and measure your next ingredient in the same bowl. Less mess to clean up, faster measuring, and more precision. There are no drawbacks to using a kitchen scale (except perhaps the initial impact to your wallet).
Types of Scales
There are three main types of scales available for use in the kitchen. Balance, mechanical/spring, and digital. The three operate on different principals for measuring weight. The balance operates by performing comparisons between known masses and the object to be weighed. (Technically, a balance determines mass not weight and is the only type of scale that will work properly if you plan to cook on the moon. The balance in all other disciplines is considered separate from a scale, but in cooking we lump the two together.) The problem with the balance is that it only reports if the object you are measuring is greater or less than the known mass. For example, when using a balance to measure a cup of flour, 125 g of known mass is placed on one side of the balance while flour is placed on the other side until the mass on both sides are in balance.
A beam balance has a beam with adjustable masses that move along the beam to increase torque applied to counteract the torque on the other end of the beam from the weight of the object being measured. (Exactly like the physician's scale at your doctor's office.) In general, a good balance is extremely accurate and can be extremely precise, but no matter how skilled the operator of the balance is, I feel it's a bit slow for use in the kitchen.
Mechanical scales use a platform mounted on a heavy spring to measure weight. An ideal spring compresses proportionally to the force applied to it. This means the weight placed on the platform is directly related to the distance that the platform moves down. The problem is that in actuality, springs aren't ideal. For the most part, they do exhibit the property of linear compression, but they also may change compression rates over time, may not return to their original length, and sometimes even break. Also, another problem with springs is that small quantities are harder to measure than large quantities. For example, if a scale is designed to measure up to 5 lbs. then then measuring one ounce of something will be more difficult than one pound. This is because the small amount of movement in the spring caused by one ounce will be difficult to detect because the scale is designed to move evenly throughout the whole five pounds. However, high quality mechanical scales can be quite precise, but they also carry a hefty price tag. 
Cheap mechanical scales can cost less than $10, but aren't terribly accurate or precise, but if these scales are the only ones you can afford, purchase a set of dry measuring cups instead. Properly used, the dry measuring cups will be more accurate and precise than the sub-$10 scales.
The final option is the digital scale. These scales range from $25 to over $100 with the vast majority in the $50 range. A good digital scale provides easy to read measurements with high precision. They work based on an electrical component called a strain gauge (also known as a load cell). The resistance of the strain gauge changes based upon the compression or change in shape of the component. A simple computer in the digital scale is preloaded at the factory with a table of values that allows it to calculate the weight of a load by the change in resistance. Many scales update about once a second, but better scales will update their readings much faster. This means, if you're pouring sugar into a bowl, the scale will provide almost instantaneous feedback so you don't pour too much. Most digital scales also have a tare function that allows the user to subtract the weight of the container from the measurement.
Features To Look For
A few months ago, WoodlandSprite directed me to Old Will Knott (retailer of fine scales) and the My Weigh i5000 Bowl Scale. I purchased the scale for $50 plus shipping and gave it a spin. This scale is well designed and is the perfect example of what features are important and how My Weigh managed to incorporate them. (Too bad I don't earn commission on the My Weigh i5000, because I'm about to explain why it's a great kitchen scale.)
Large Display - An easy to read display is important when measuring with a large mixing bowl on the platform. If the display is too small, it might be obscured by the bowl. Not only does the My Weigh i5000 have a large LCD display, a backlight turns on to illuminate the display so it's readable even if the shadow of the bowl is covering the display!
Avoirdupois (U.S.) and metric units - The ability to quickly and easily switch between U.S. (pounds and ounces) and metric (grams) units is useful when you have some recipes in grams and some in ounces. I receive some recipes that have both, so having a handy switch is a must. A few brands have their switches underneath the unit, so you can't switch while weighing. The i5000 has a nice button on the front that allows you to switch between grams, pounds and ounces (e.g. 1 lb. 8 oz.), pounds (e.g. 1.5 lb.), and counting mode (where the i5000 counts the number of jelly beans or whatever you put on the scale - which is, truthfully, the reason I bought the scale).
Tare - Taring is measuring the weight of the container. The tare function allows the scale to subtract the weight of the container and report only the net weight of the object being measured. Most scales allow you to repeatedly press the tare button, allowing you to measure many ingredients in the same bowl (e.g. measure flour, tare, measure sugar, tare, measure chocolate, tare, etc.). This is a wonderful feature and thankfully almost all digital scales have it. The i5000 also allows you to recall the gross weight (the actual weight) at anytime with a press of a button.
Seamless buttons - Some scales have buttons that are not, on the surface, formed from the same piece as the exterior of the scale. This means there are cracks where liquid or fine particles can get into and make cleaning a pain. Seamless buttons are a must especially if your fingers get dirty while working in the kitchen.
Removable bowl - Some scales have built-in bowls which makes cleaning more difficult and recipe preparation inconvenient. The ability to remove the bowl that comes with the scale (if it comes with one) and replacing it with your measuring cup, mixing bowl, or pot just makes everything that much easier. Although the i5000 came with a plastic bowl, I've never used it except to demonstrate to my friends the Jelly Belly counting trick.
Capacity - Most kitchen scales at the $50 price point measure up to 5 pounds (2.25 kg). This limits your ability to measure ingredients when using a glass mixing bowl or a pot which may weight a few pounds to begin with. The i5000 has an 11 pound (5 kg) capacity and manages to maintain a precision of 0.05 ounces (1 gram) throughout the range (most 5 kg scales have a 2 g granularity).
Recommendation
If you haven't guessed, my recommendation for a digital scale is the My Weigh i5000.
The My Weigh i5000 can be purchased for about $50 plus shipping from Old Will Knott. It's a bit more expensive elsewhere.
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-WoodlandSprite
You know what would be cool would be an computer automated mass balance. When you put a weight on, it automatically shifts the weights around to balance it. I bet you can this system extremely fast by fixing the "needle" instead of waiting for the seesaw action. The computer can just check when there was no pressure exerted by the needle to know when it is balanced. You can use the amount of pressure on the needle to calculate 1st and 2nd derivatives to make the balancing even faster. But someone's probably already thought of this already. =)
I've been looking to get a new scale. My current scale turns off way too quick...While I'm measuring stuff! (Very frustrating).
How long does the i5000 stay on before auto-off?
I'm not sure what you mean when you say humidity. Are you asking what to do if, let's say, the flour gets wet? Then the scale would not measure the correct quantity of flour (and for that matter, neither would measuring cups). Hmmmm... I'm not sure what to do in that case. Anyone have some ideas?
re: i5000 auto off timer
I didn't find a specification on this, so I just timed the auto off on my unit. I turned it on and waited for it to zero. Then I looked at my watch and waited until the scale turned itself off. 1 minute 10 seconds. So, I guess the auto-off is on a one minute timer starting when the scale has decided that it's stabilized.
re: strain gauges
It is possible to damage a strain gauge by applying too much force. At some point, the device will be unable to return to its normal shape. That's why you shouldn't put anything more than 11 pounds on an 11 pound scale.
re: hypothetical computerized beam scales
Wouldn't you need at least one strain gauge to tell if the two sides are balanced? Or one at the fulcrum to see if the needle was pulling to one side? The system would still have to wait for the oscillations to settle before a reading could be made because otherwise it would detect imbalance and keep swinging masses around on the beam. Interesting concept though. It appeals to the nerd in me... I wonder if you could do something with accelerometers. I'll think about it some more tomorrow (if I get some free time).
Michael
I don't know about flour, but I'm thinking that there must exist some ingredients that can vary in moisture content up to some point without drastically changing in bulk volume. Maybe they'd be horribly stale and unfit for use at that point, but this is a hypothetical question.
Thanx, keep up the great work.
I just realized that I misread and you had it right all along, nevermind.
My Weigh's i2600 may fulfill your needs.
It can handle 2.6 kg at +/- 0.1 g. Almost all home kitchen needs fall below 2.6 kg (just don't use heavy pots or glass mixing bowls to measure with. The bad news is: this scale is $150.
Excellent suggestion. A pots & pans article has been planned for a while but I haven't managed to write it yet... there are lots of pots, lots of materials, and lots of uses...
* This digital scale offers an easy-to-read 4-digit LCD display, auto zero/tare function and 1 oz./1 gram gradation.
* Features include auto shut-off in 30 seconds and a low battery indication.
* Operates with 1 9-volt battery.
http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=y...697
I think we got ours on sale for $25 or so...
If anyone has any better suggestions, Like a spredsheet of common items etc, I am all ears.
Most decent baking cookbooks will present information in mass or weight instead of volume. Many non-baking cookbooks (like The New Best Recipe) will list weights when it is necessary to be exact.
I do my best to include both volume and mass values when presenting a recipe, but in the course of my own cooking and experimentation I have a mental cheat sheet (and in some instances I have written on the box or container).
Butter: 1 cup = 8 oz. (1 Tbs. = 1/2 oz.)
same as water
Sugar: 1 cup = 200 g
Brown Sugar: 1 cup = 220 g
Flour: 1 cup = 125 g
These are the main things that I keep measuring over and over on my scale. Measuring flour or sugar on the scale is a time saver since you just pour until you get to the right number.
Sometimes I need to measure something on the scale and do not know the weight, but the nutrition info box on the ingredient product tells you what a serving size and mass is. So, a quick calculation usually leads you to a decent result. You'll need to remember the following:
3 teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon
2 Tablespoons = 1 fluid ounce
8 fluid ounces = 1 cup
For small measures (1/4 teaspoon, etc.) it is more convenient to use measuring spoons.
This is not true mechanical scales have knives as the pivots which can get damaged. Be gentle with any scale if you want long life.
I have been trying to steer other folks away from Salter & the usual brands towards iWeigh, since they have a lifetime warranty and seem to be well-reviewed everywhere - and they're not even more expensive!
The 7001DX is slightly cheaper, but if anyone has used these scales, some comparison/input would be appreciated.
Accuracy is a measure of how closely the measured value approximates the actual value. It is often stated as a percentage of the measured value (e.g. "+/-5%"). So we can say that the mass of flour is 150g +/-10% (or, if you prefer, 150g +/- 15g). Implied in this statement is a level of confidence, typically 95% (so "150g +/10%" is a shorthand for "we are 95% confident that the actual value is between 135g and 165g"). A higher confidence level (e.g. 99%) would require a wider confidence interval.
Repeatability is a component of accuracy that takes account of only the random (as opposed to systematic) error.
Precision is a measure of how "finely" the measured value is stated. For a digital display, it is a matter of how many decimal places are displayed. For example, if the display reads 152.24 g, the precision is 0.01 g. For a needle moving around or along a graduated scale, the precision may be equal to the smallest marked graduation, or with experience you may be able visually to divide the smallest graduation into 5 parts and achieve increased precision, so that if there is a marking for every 25g, you can estimate the measured value to the nearest 5g.
The important point to make about precision is that it says nothing at all about whether the measured reading is accurate or repeatable.
Nice article. I have a question though; How do you translate recipies using cup, Tbsp, qt, etc... into measurments in weight? is there some chart of quantities for known goods that one uses?<<
I found this gem a few years ago stumbling around as usual (kind of like how I found this site :P ) -
http://joshmadison.net/software/convert/
Since the program runs straight from the exe, I suggest getting the zip file (153kB) instead of the setup pkg (780kB). :shock: ¿wtHUH? 5x the file size just for adding a start menu shortcut??
It may not be all inclusive or quite what you're looking for, but it's handy to have for quick, on-the-fly converting...it's getting harder to memorize and retain info as the years go on :huh:
Now you can finally answer those asinine/irrelevant-in-modern-day-life aptitude test questions you loved to hate "back in the day" :P such as -
"How many pecks are in a bushel" or "Jack has only 782 fortnights left in mortgage payments until his house is completely paid off. How many years of slaving does Jack have left?"
...BTW, Tbsp/Tsp is located under the "Volume" tab. ;)
[http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking#subs], which keeps telling me that the weight of 1 C All Purpose Flour is 100 g. Know of any great sites for this kind of info?
Keep up the great work!
One feature I find very useful is the ability to read negative values. If I need to add a small amount, say 30g of ginger, I weigh the frozen lump, zero the scale then grate off some and re-weigh the now lighter lump until the scale reads -30g. This is a feature of my old Philips HR2385 I do not know if it is a feature of other scales.
Both the MyWeigh scales that I own provide negative readings.
Was that a misprint for $150? Or do you have a secret source?
(nice work though!)
Was that a misprint for $150? Or do you have a secret source?
Old Will Knott is currently selling the MyWeigh i5000 for $47 plus shipping and handling.
How would one go about measuring brown sugar using a scale?
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=41 says:
"Set aside 2 cups all-purpose flour in a large mixing bowl. Prepare 6 tablespoons cold butter, 3/4 cup milk, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt"
cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. A scale helps with this how?
Can you point me to (for example) a recipe for a whole wheat pie crust that gives ingredients by weight?
A pet peeve of mine are volumetric recipes with ingredients and measurements like "one cup plus two tablespoons flour." Geeze, how stupid a measurement is that! The first time I saw that, I had no idea what they were talking about, let alone what to do with the two tablespoons. Is nine ounces too hard for the typical American cook to measure? I would have been impressed if they asked for a specific weight, in grams of course.
Improper measuring is probably the number one reason recipes fail. Flour is crucial to the structure of baked goods; too much flour and your product will be tough and dry. Too little flour, and your product will collapse when it comes out of the oven, and have wet spots and dense layers. To correctly measure flour, use a spoon to lightly scoop flour out of its container into a measuring cup. Continue until the cup is overflowing. Then use the back side of a knife to level off the flour even with the top edge of the measuring cup. Repeat as necessary, with 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and 1/4 cup measures.
For the most accurate flour measuring, you should weigh the flour. This is what home economists do when they are testing recipes before publication. One cup of white flour weighs 120 grams. One cup of whole wheat flour weighs 140 grams. One cup of bread flour weighs 130 grams. One cup of cake flour weighs 114 grams.
The most common mistake made in measuring flour is to dip the measuring cup into the flour instead of lightly spooning flour into the measuring cup. This can result in up to 25% more flour than the recipe calls for. To see this for yourself, measure 3 cups of flour into a bowl by scooping the flour with the measuring cup. Then stir the measured flour, and re-measure by lightly scooping with a spoon. When you have measured 3 cups this way, how much flour is left in the bowl? This extra flour will make your baked products heavy and tough. The best way to measure flour and powders is to weigh them.
http://www.nigella.com/news/detail.asp?article=1814&area=2
Conversions
TEMPERATURES
Gas Mark 1 = 140C = 275F = Very cool
Gas Mark 2 = 150C = 300F = Cool
Gas Mark 3 = 160C = 325F = Warm
Gas Mark 4 = 180C = 350F = Moderate
Gas Mark 5 = 190C = 375F = Fairly Hot
Gas Mark 6 = 200C = 400F = Fairly Hot
Gas Mark 7 = 210C = 425F = Hot
Gas Mark 8 = 220C = 450F = Very Hot
Gas Mark 9 = 240C = 475F = Very Hot
VOLUME AND LIQUID MEASUREMENTS
5 ml = one-sixth fl oz = 1 teaspoon
15ml = half fl oz = 1 tablespoon (NOTE: Australian tablespoon = 20ml)
30ml = 1 fl oz = 2 tablespoons
45ml = 1 and half fl oz = 3 tablespoons
60ml = 2 fl oz = quarter cup
75ml = 2 and half fl oz = one-third cup
125ml = 4 fl oz = half cup
150ml = 5 fl oz = two-thirds cup
175ml = 6 fl oz = three-quarters cup
250ml = 8 fl oz = 1 cup
600ml = 1 pint = 2 and half cups
900ml = 1 and half pints = 3 and three-quarter cups
1 litre = 1 and three-quarter pints = 4 cups
SOME USEFUL CUP CONVERSIONS
Please note that these are approximations
1 cup sugar = 200g
1 cup icing sugar = 125g
1 cup flour = 140g
1 cup rice = 200g
1 cup frozen peas = 125g
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs = 70g
1 cup grated cheese - 100g
1 cup chocolate chips = 175g
1 cup sultanas = 150g
1 cup honey/syrup = 300g
1 stick of butter = 110g = 4oz
WEIGHT CONVERSIONS
15g = half oz
30g = 1 oz
45g = 1 and half oz
60g = 2 oz
75g = 2 and half oz
90g = 3 oz
100g = 3 and half oz
125g = 4 oz
150g = 5 oz
175g = 6 oz
200g = 7 oz
250g = 8 oz
275g = 9 oz
300g = 10 oz
325g = 11 oz
350g = 12 oz
375g = 13 oz
400g = 14 oz
450g = 15 oz
500g = 1 lb
CAKE TINS SIZES
20cm = 8 inch
23cm = 9 inch
25cm = 10
It is an extremely sad state of affairs when only two countries other than the United States have not adopted the Metric System, actually the SI, and they are Myanmar and Liberia. We're keeping BAD company on this list.
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/
Basic Pastry for two crust 9 inch pie:
unsalted, cold butter 14 TB, 7 oz. 200 grams
pastry flour 2 1/4 cups+2 TB 11.25 oz 320 grams
all purpose bleached flour 2 1/4 cups(dip and sweep method)
salt 1/4+1/8 teaspoon
ice water 5 to 7 TB 2.6 to 3.6 oz 74 to 103 grams
cider vinegar 1 Tb 0.5 oz 14 grams
For whole wheat pastry she says to use 2/3 all purpose flour and one third whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour.
If you are looking for a good bread baking book that uses weight I would recommend Peter Reinhart's "The Breadbaker's Apprentice".
I have shelves and shelves full of cookbooks and all of my better, newer ones provide both weight and measurement recipes. I have found in my years as a baker/pastry chef/ etc that professionals prefer to use the weight method for it's accuracy and reliability. In much the same way science likes to repeat experiment after experiment, so do we prefer that we be able to repeat a bread or pie recipe over and over and over again. No fuss, no muss, no wondering if it's going to turn out well. Likewise, the public to whom we sell our products expects to get the same taste and texture time after time.
I love this site! I'm not an engineer so I hope it's okay that I use this site for reference and a good read:-)
Thanks
Bredbakker aka plantfreek :)
I use it for many kitchen duties, including weighing hops and other kitchen ingredients like sugar and flour.
Love the website, keep up the good work!
Cheers,
OTRPU
Cheers,
OTRPU
The wife of a much older friend of mine told me that the MIND is the SECOND thing to go!!!!!!!!!
I then ordered the Escali L3000 from amazon for $55. It is perfect, it is accurate to .5 gram and has adjustable feet and a bubble level. It only will weigh 3kg, less than half of what the kd7000 will weigh, but it is dead on accurate.
Adam
I think 3 Kg of food is a lot to weigh at one time--it's more than a food store sized sack of flour or sugar and is certainly more of anything you'd add to a baking recipe at one time. Unless you are weighing a large roast or a big bird, which you probably know the weight of anyway, you don't need a large capacity on a food scale for cooking ingredients.
It's not perfect. When I started, if I was careless, I put the heavy plastic protection plate up when I changed modes or tare and blocked movement of the platform. Haven't done that after the first week or so.
It would be a bit more useful if the minimum was 0.1 gram or 0.01 gram, for measuring very small quantities of some things (yeast or powdered spices, for example.) I'm going to buy one of their smaller scales that does this.
The 7kg / 15 pound maximum is very handy as I use a lot of cast iron and ceramic bakeware, and I don't have to worry about putting a gallon of something, and the pot holding it, on the scale.
All in all, very happy with it.
(cute captcha variation; I hope it works.)
Typing something like "cup to oz" will return:
"1 US cup = 8 US fluid ounces"
Or even typing "1/2 cup to teaspoon" returns:
"(1/2) US cup = 24 US teaspoons"
Even does the "peck to bushels" conversion:
"1 US peck = 0.25 US bushels"
More info:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html#calculator
Its plastic doesn't seem to have molded well. I've never seen the regular plastic version but I can't believe it comes out as poorly. More likely they use the same injection molds for the hemp material even though it has different material properties like shrink rate.
The batteries seem ever poised to spring out and one of rubber feet fell out and disappeared.
Mine arrived this past week (the i5000) and it's being sent back. It's just like the other poster described: the plastic around the digital screen is bulging off, three of the five pads on the bottom of the scale were m.i.a. upon arrival, the batteries refused to stay in place (kept popping out as I was trying to install them), and -- worse still -- the scale wouldn't even turn on. The dealer was apologetic and mentioned in her reply that one out of every 50 of these models are defective.
It's very easy to use:
http://onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm
that site is not going to do you a whole lotta' help.
how many gram of flour is equal to one cup?
the site tells you all purpose flour is (some density) example: g/ml
if you go look up one cup you'll find it given as 236.xxxxxx ml
if yo use 0.42 g/ml * 236 ml/cup = 99.xx g/cup - well, that's not going to work out too well in most baking.
The only time my scales creep are when they aren't on a smooth countertop. I find that tile doesn't work as well as a wood table, laminate/formica counter, or granite/stone counter. On those surfaces, the scale is evenly positioned on its sensors. If your scale creeps and you aren't on an uneven surface, I think you may have a defective scale.
Great site!
http://www.digitalscalesaz.com/MyWeigh-iBalance-5000-Digital-Scale
No affiliation with the site, just thought I'd share.
I purchased the i5000 scale from Old Will Knots in hopes it would meet my needs for bread baking (measuring 3kg-4kg total and the ability to measure 5-20g items like salt as it's being poured). Here's what I found.
First, I set up the scale and did some tests with 1g weights. I put 10 1g weights on the scale and it displayed 10g. Same with 20, 30, 100, 500 - excellent.
Next I took 10 1g weights and dropped them onto the zeroed scale one after another as though I was pouring an ingredient like salt. To my amazement and disappointment after adding the first the scale still showed zero, after the second - zero, third - zero and on and on. It was zeroing out the weights as I added them so that even after 10g was on the scale it was still reading zero. Oddly enough, once I removed the weights the scale displayed -10g (negative 10g) as though I had added the weights tared the scale then removed the weights. The scale exhibited this behavior whether it was just the 10 1g weights or I added 1g increments to an already poured larger weight. Pretty disappointing!
Has anyone else experienced this behavior? Can anyone try it on their i5000 and let me know if theirs does the same thing?
The My Weigh website has a FAQ which talks about a behavior their scales have called "dribbling" where if you add weight to the scale in increments of less than 50% of the smallest supported increment (in this case less than 0.5g) the scale will zero out the added weight assuming it's environmental error. It will continue to zero out the weight as you pour if you pour slowly enough. The real problem for me is it's happening when pouring at this scale's supported increment of 1g not below 0.5g so it makes slowly adding things like salt impossible to do accurately without sometimes losing the weight. I've had this happen in real baking situations. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions for me? Or maybe a recommendation of a better scale for pouring?
Has anyone else experienced this behavior? Can anyone try it on their i5000 and let me know if theirs does the same thing?
Yes, this behavior is repeatable on the i5000 and other scales with 1g minimum precision. MyWeigh now makes a newer scale that is about the same size as the i5000 with similar specifications except it has a 0.1 g precision which would fulfill all your needs: the MyWeigh iBalance 5500. Unfortunately, it comes at a heft price of over $150, but that's the cost of precision over such a large range (0.1 g precision from 0-5kg). What I do instead is use a small scale to measure tiny portions of things. I currently use a MyWeigh GlasScale 100 that has 0.01 g precision but a max load of only 100 g. It's small and portable and I use it for measuring salt, pepper, and spices. Any of their 0.1 g or finer precision instruments should serve your purpose.
The reason I make this comment is because today, while baking bread, my digital kitchen scales began giving irreglar readings. I checked the 9V battery and it is fine, and since the instrument was stood firmly on the table top, the fluctuations can only be due to the circuitry or the load cell. I nearly blew a fuse, but soon calmed down again, calling a halt to the baking while I converted the mass of the ingredients into volumes. I am happy to say that the wholemeal baps were a success in the end.
I was always against buying such cheap domestic equipment as this, but because my wife always wanted it I couldn't really protest too much. But now the baking of bread has landed on my plate so to speak, it is volumes all the way.
Full cream milk and skimmed milk has for practical purposes the same density, 1030 kg/m3 at room temperature. SIFTED wheat flour has a density of about 530 kg/m3.
Since all of the measurements are relative and you are really using them to get the proper ratios of ingredients, wouldn't any of these options "technically" work on the moon? (or for that matter at various elevations and atmospheric pressures?)