On Jun 9, 5:32 pm, "Paul Gilbert" > wrote:
> As a chemist who hates the English system of measurement when I stumbled
> upon this group I thought I had found the holy grail!

I am not aware that the English system of measurement relies solely on
volume measurements. But there's every reason to spread your hatred
around, regardless of your occupation and training. Careful, though,
not to thin it to impotence.

> Question 1) All of my books give measurements is cups. I can convert water
> cups to grams, but the density of flours varies all over the map. I have
> made my own approximations for the wt. of a cup of rye, bread flour, and
> all-purpose flour. Is there a consensus for this conversion?

Hi. Don't know about any consensus. What might be helpful, however, is
to begin using the baker's percentage system: all ingredients are
measured as a percentage of the total flour in the recipe. Note that
the flour is 100%. An example of a fairly typical dough would be 100%
flour + 65% water + 2% salt. Weigh all the ingredients and forget
about conversions from cups to grams, or whatever. The hydration,
usually water, in so-called "artisan" breads (term used to elicit
greater reverence than a lowly "regular" bread, which may taste and
look identical but made by someone without the credentials for
creativity that only an expensive art education can supply) varies.
But you'll likely come close to around 65% for white all-purpose
flour, say 11.5% protien. It depends on the absorption rate of the
flour you're using. Your chemistry background will no doubt provide
you with the skills to determine this by analysing in your home lab
the components of the types of flours you are planning to make bread
with. Then hydration determination will be a cinch. You can also do a
search on this site for more information on the subject. I've no doubt
it has been discussed ad naseum.

I Hope this helps.
-Erich