Sheldon wrote:
> maxine in ri wrote:
> >
> >
> > I've been using a scale for a while now, makes a wonderful difference
> > in my non-machine baked goods. Both types of flour say 4 cups to the
> > pound.
>
> Why are you measuring with cups if you have that nifty new scale...
> there's your problem... flour runs darn close to three (3) cups per
> pound (5-5 1/2 oz/cup)... check it with your wonderful scale.

Not measuring by volume, but the number of 1/4 cup servings in a bag
(where do they come up with the idea that you're going to eat a 1/4 cup
of flour??) comes out to 4 ounces per cup. Which goes along with what
you're saying about a pound of flour plus a cup of liquid

You
> stuffed a whole extra cup's worth into your ABM.

No, just described it differently. The flour I use weighs out to a
pound.
....
> With ABM recipes, before using it's best to do the math, be sure all
> dry ingredents add up to one pound and all liquid ingredients add up to
> one cup... with baking, fats (even cheese) are considered liquid.
> Additions such as nuts and fruit need to be figured in too... if you
> like to add more nuts/raisins cut back a bit on the fat/liquid/flour.
> With baking, as all cooking, to be sucessful you need to develop a
> sense for extrapolating...

Interesting. The machine I'm using calls for 1-3/4 cups liquid per
pound of flour. Just tried that same recipe again, and this time it
didn't get quite as close to the top on the second rise, but it seemed
pretty high, so I slashed the top as you suggested, deflating it a bit,
but the result was fine. Used honey this time, also, so if more
sweetener will decrease the CO2 output of the yeast, that may have been
the problem before. Goes against everything I knew up til now, but
that's what learning's all about.

Thanks for the pointers.

maxine in ri