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Comment by geuis | Hacker News Reader

It absolutely is different. It may not seem so to a non baker, but regular cooking has a lot more leeway. Baking consistently requires a much finer degree of control over the variables. The difference between "a pinch of baking powder" vs "5 grams of baking powder" is entirely different. In the first case, you're left wondering why pancakes came out good last time and why are they inedible this time.

I'm no great cook or baker, but I've learned through trial and lots of error how to bake bread and a few other things. Get a scale and always convert to grams.

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I disagree, as long as we're talking in ratios instead of absolute amounts. The difference between "a pinch of baking powder" vs "5 grams of baking powder" is about a factor of 20. I think the main differences between baking and other cooking are that: 1) There are often very large ratios of certain ingredients in baking which -- except for spices -- is not generally the case in other cooking; 2) You can often taste the food in an intermediate stage when cooking, and adjust the ratios -- e.g. for spices -- which is not generally as useful when baking.

Of course using a scale is a good way to keep the ratios from getting too out of wack, and I usually do it too when baking and almost never when cooking.

I bought a scale a number of years back and, yes, I pretty much universally use it for baking--it's just easier as well as being more repeatable/accurate--and rarely for other types of cooking.

scales are wonderful for measuring oil/liquid though. Putting a bowl on a scale and pouring 54 grams of olive oil is so much easier and accurate then measuring out 3 table spoons of oil

I find those sorts of measurements are less likely to be given in recipes though. I do agree that weight is generally better than volume when it's given in a recipe.

The best cake baker I know weighs her eggs and scales all other ingredients accordingly.

It is a matter of scale, it is essential to measure accurately for commercial products that do not tolerate loss of bread/pizza etc. For home baking you have many challenges, from the oven temperature (less than ideal and the dutch oven is meant to simulate commercial oven conditions and temperatures at home) to protein content of flour. I do not measure anything for baking bread or pizza because I use it as therapy not as a chore.I bake pizza with love, by taking my time and adding the best ingredients I can get, from wheat germ to best quality flour and fresh Mozzarella. The family has voted, my pizza is better than any delivery they have ordered.

Ooh I've thought about doing that. Totally makes sense since egg sizes range a bit.

And the best cake maker I know whips ingredients together by her mood, inventing cakes on a whim. The margin of error is wide enough.

This is the different kinds of cooking. I have recipes I have to follow very precisely. If I dont it basically breaks the thing being made. Other things I can vary it wildly on how I feel and the dish will come out pretty good. Confectionaries (such as cookies, pancakes, breads, etc) I have to stick very close or it will be a bad time. But something like a beef stew where I am basically blending it together I can vary a lot of items and still come out good. Now if I want exactly the same thing I had the previous time then I have to follow it closely. Some ingredients lend themselves to being measured precisely. Others like say a pound of hamburger can vary in what was in the original meat. Like a lean cut will want more oil/butter. Whereas a fatty cut probably will want less oil/butter.

Precisely. Exactly the same experience over here. I make a chili by experience and it never goes wrong, except for that one time a decade back.

I accidentally dunked my scale in the sink the other day. Luckily it's working now but it wouldn't turn on for a few days. So I was doing pancakes and couldn't precisely measure stuff and they came out terrible, like before I dialed in the precise ratios I use by weight. Scale is working again, so today they came out perfect.

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