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by MereInterest 2006 days ago
The only downside to her cookbooks is that she used volumetric measurements rather than weight. Volumetric measurements are fine for liquids, but very imprecise for ingredients that may be densely or loosely packed. Depending on how you scoop it, the density of flour may vary by as much as 50%. Measurement by mass avoids this issue entirely.

Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/03/how-to-measure-flour-dip...

2 comments

It seems a bit unfair to label it a downside to just her cookbooks. At least in the US, it's only been recently that recipe providers have transitioned to weight based recipes, with folks like Kenji championing the transition.
Agreed, but this was normal in professional pastry cookery. I guess I agree with both of you. The purpose of using exact measurements is to ensure exact reproduction of the product. Not using bakers percentages when you can, takes away from that goal. However, if this had been done, far fewer people would have used the recipes.
Cooking by weight is much more pleasant. You can just put a bowl on the scale and keep adding stuff to it. It saves you a lot of cleaning.