Since baking is a science accurate measurement of ingredients is important to the success of any recipe. Here are some general guidelines to follow when measuring ingredients:
Liquid ingredients are generally measured by volume such as fluid ounces, cups or liters
Teaspoon (tsp.) 1/3 tbsp 1/6 oz 4.93 ml
Tablespoon (Tbsp.) 1/2 oz 14.79 ml
Ounce (oz.) 1/128 gal 29.57 ml
Cup (c) 1/16 gal 8 oz 36.59 ml
Pint (pt) 1/2 qt 16 oz 473.18 ml
Quart (qt) 1/4 gal 32 oz 946.35 ml
Gallon (gal) 4 qts 128 oz 3,785.41 ml
Dry ingredients are based on units of weight such as ounces, pounds or grams.
It gets a little more involved when talking about measuring dry ingredients since this is in terms of mass and the masses of some liquids vary as well as masses of solids. To add to that, the masses of liquids vary from the masses of solids! To state that a cup of a liquid will weigh the same as a cup of a solid or dry ingredient will most likely lead to disaster in whatever it is that you are baking!
The U.S. system relies on measuring for small quantity recipes in cups, teaspoon, tablespoons and sometimes by the piece, such as for eggs. These measurements are based on previously determined quantities and weights. We suggest following guidelines given in the recipe or as stated on package labels. Ingredients for large volume such as quantity food service formulas are measured by weight.
A few of the more common dry measurement equivalents:
All purpose flour 1 cup 5 oz
Granulated sugar 1 cup 8 oz
Brown Sugar, firmly packed 8 oz
Whole Butter 1 cup 8 oz
Cream Cheese 1 cup 8 oz
Solid Shortening 1 cup 5 oz
Large Egg 1 whole 2 oz
Nut meats 1 cup 5 to 6 oz
Bananas 1 medium 1/2 cup
Baking powder 1 tablespoon 1/2 oz
Baking Soda 1 tablespoon 1/2 oz
Salt 1 tablespoon 1/2 ounce
For more indepth information on conversions take a quick trip to World Wide Metric home page and give their calculator a whirl!
Download free conversion tools from Unitconversion.org
