Having fun with my new mm 100 but have a question. How to measure/weigh berries or flour to fit recipes.
Cup of store bought flour is supposed to be 120 grams which if I measure 120 grams of berries it it doesn’t measure a cup. So what’s the proper way to measure berries for recipes asking for volume amounts?
If a recipe calls for i. e. 200 grams of flour can i just mill that weight in berries?
If a recipe calls for 2 cups flour can i just weigh out and mill 240 grams of berries?
Can’t find a simple fresh milled ww recipe using yeast salt water and flour given in weight. Find lots using sd starter!
I always use 130g for one cup of flour – and kamut is more like 145g.
The important thing is to be consistent if you’re wanting repeatable results.
Go by weight and mill that weight of berries. There’s basically no loss of mass in the milling process, so even if the flour comes out super fluffy and looks like 1.25 cups, if it’s 130g, you can consider it a cup.
The recipes on the Breadtopia blog give grams and cups, but in my opinion the dough is easier to assemble if you use grams (except for the salt–most kitchen scales aren’t fantastic for picking up small weights). Here’s a pretty straightforward milled flour recipe.
And here’s an explanation for how to convert a sourdough recipe to yeast. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you Melissa! That was what I kneaded to know. There is a range of grams being used for a cup of flour. Is your higher number of 130 from experience?
Thanks
Tom
I’m not sure why 120g is a fairly common amount given. I’m guessing it’s because of sifting in cake baking? 🤷 That fluffs the flour quite a bit, though I think you scoop before you sift.
I’ve measured and weighed many many times and settled on 130-135g for almost all wheat varieties. The more you venture into different kinds of wheat, the more you’ll see they have different absorbency though. So 130g Einkorn is going to behave very differently from 130g Hard red spring wheat.
However much the discrepancy is you can always go by feel. Don’t add all the water at once. Slowly work your way up till you get the consistency you want. When in doubt, as a rule of thumb, you want tacky to the touch but the dough should not be coming off in your hand. Of course there will be a range for the hydration and there is a certain amount of scope for your own personal preference but tacky is a good place to start.
@Jonkertb Good morning! I also have a Mockmill 100 and have been grinding my own flour too. I had the same question when I started baking. I agree with @Fermentada. The simple answer is to weigh out the the weight in berries that the recipe calls for. No matter what the volume of the flour is after grinding it in your Mockmill, you’ll have the right amount.
As for recipes baking breads with yeast, I found many of the recipes here on Breadtopia give yeast or sourdough measurements and instructions as well as measurements for ingredients by both weight and volume. Of course that depends on the author of the particular recipe you’re looking at, LOL! Not everyone uses the same method. Some people measure by volume; some by weighing ingredients (that’s what I tend to do); and some by using baker’s percentages (I haven’t a clue how to do that. Math was never my “thing”). If I remember correctly, when I first started checking out recipes here on Breadtopia, the amount of yeast used in the basic no-knead bread recipes was 1/4 teaspoon unless using sourdough. If using sourdough, you simply didn’t add the yeast.
Salt seems to be measured out in small enough increments that providing a weight is more difficult. For bakers like myself who have to bake lower sodium, I tend to cut the amount of salt in the recipe down to a third of the amount in every bake I do. If the recipe calls for 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt, I use only 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I have personally found that using 1/3 the amount of salt in my recipes allows for the flavor boost necessary by the use of the salt without compromising health issues. At least, that’s worked for me. If the amount of salt is listed by weight, I still use 1/3 of the amount listed and will weigh out my salt though I’m not so sure how accurate my scale is on such a small amount so I tend to be very light-handed when it comes to adding salt.
This is the basic no-knead sourdough bread recipe with measurements by weight. Unless I’m mistaken, you can easily substitute 1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast instead of using sourdough and simply add in the instant yeast to your dry ingredients and stir before adding the liquids. https://breadtopia.com/sourdough-no-knead-bread/
This is the basic no-knead recipe using yeast. In the recipe, Eric does mention the weight of both the white bread flour and the whole wheat flour. Though water is listed by volume, the weight of 1-1/2 cups of water is 12 ounces. https://breadtopia.com/no-knead-bread/
I hope I’ve been able to help a bit and not make things more confusing. In my zeal to be helpful, that can sometimes happen, LOL.
And adding to this great advice, if there is a high percentage of whole grain flour in the dough, let it soak in the water before adding your yeast to get a better idea of how tacky it will be. Otherwise, most whole grain doughs feel very wet at first because the bran needs time to suck up all the water. So let it sit for 20 - 30 minutes, then adjust before adding your yeast. If you are doing an autolyse for sourdough you are going to be waiting any way.