Cooking conversions calculators

[AlphaDog]

Does anybody have one online that they like? I do have a kitchen scale, but since I've never used it, I was trying to do some conversions so I had a feel for how many cups of flour it would take to equal 500 grams. I'm finding a ridiculously big variation in the answers. One converter says 500 grams of flour is equal to just over 2 cups, and another converter says it's equal to a little over 4 cups. It's even worse when I try converting grams to teaspoons. Something tells me the converter that says 65 grams of salt is equal to 13 teaspoons is way off! However, it's the same converter that gave me the more accurate conversion for flour. This is just dumb. It's no wonder one person who used the recipe was so unhappy with the way it turned out!

So, does anybody have a link to a converter they would feel comfortable using?!

[Mini 9]

Just cook to taste. Measuring is for weenies. (double entendre?)

[OWC Jamie]

I went out and bought measuring cups and spoons with volume equivalents on them.
You get into trouble easy going from volume to weight but there are some relative charts - maybe this one ?
http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml

[OWC Jamie]

Mini 9 wrote:
Just cook to taste. Measuring is for weenies. (double entendre?)

I prefer not to need the Stihl to slice the blueberry pie.

I may not measure precisely, but close tends to make my dentist happy.

[Doc]

AlphaDog wrote:
I'm finding a ridiculously big variation in the answers. One converter says 500 grams of flour is equal to just over 2 cups, and another converter says it's equal to a little over 4 cups.

You can use Google for most conversions.

Google for "convert 5 tablespoons to cups" and it responds "5 US tablespoons = 0.3125 US cups."

But that specific conversion -- grams to cups -- depends upon the substance that you're measuring. There are no good shortcuts until you learn to eye it.

Different kinds of flour will have different volumes at the same weight. This is where you should use your scale. Weigh the empty cup, then weigh the cup with flour. Subtract the weight of the cup and you'll have the weight of the flour.

Do the math and you'll know how many cups of flour it will take to equal 500 grams of flour.

[AlphaDog]

Mini 9 wrote:
Just cook to taste. Measuring is for weenies. (double entendre?)

That works fine unless you're baking. I'm asking because the recipe I'm, looking at is for brioche.

The link billb put in is just as strange as the ones I'd already found. There's just no way that a recipe would be calling for 3 tablespoons of salt to four cups of flour.

I feel really bad for anybody who uses these converters and wonders why their baked goods don't turn out right!

[Doc]

BTW: A level teaspoon of typical table salt weighs 5 grams.

65 grams is actually 13 teaspoons.

That's not wrong.

[OWC Jamie]

60 grams of salt sounds like too much to me, too.


I would use 2 teaspoons tops. :-)
(course, I have a Stihl)

[AlphaDog]

Doc wrote:
BTW: A level teaspoon of typical table salt weighs 5 grams.

65 grams is actually 13 teaspoons.

That's not wrong.

I'm glad you told me, because this is exactly why I was trying to get the amounts to something I'm more familiar with. I was wrong about how much salt the recipe called for, but according to your information, I still need to cut down the amount or it'll be way too salty. What your information does tell me is that I found at least one site where the conversions seem to be consistent. Thank you!

Of course I'm now questioning the integrity of the whole recipe.

[JoeH]

Perhaps there is a decimal point missing or that you are not seeing. 6.5 grams of salt sounds more like the right amount.